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Explore the Actis Experience Centre – a state-of-the-art showcase of smart AV, unified communication, and collaboration solutions. Discover how we design future-ready digital workspaces.

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Actis Technologies is a leading AV integration company and one of the most trusted AV system integrators in Mumbai, delivering world-class AV solutions for corporate, education, and government sectors. As a top AV solutions company, Actis specializes in creating smart, functional environments by integrating advanced AV integration technology products tailored to modern communication and presentation needs. Their expertise spans from developing an optimized auditorium plan and auditorium design plan to implementing innovative human centric lighting that enhances comfort and productivity. With deep experience in the design of auditorium spaces and adherence to global auditorium standards, Actis delivers modern auditorium design that blends aesthetics with high-performance acoustics and visuals. Whether it's equipping a multi purpose hall with seamless control systems or installing a projector for classroom learning, Actis ensures impactful user experiences. Their projects often include advanced projection mapping design, showcasing their creative and technical capabilities. With a team of skilled AV design engineers, Actis stands out among audio visual companies for their precision, innovation, and dedication to delivering integrated solutions that meet evolving client needs. For more details check our website.

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7 Key Design Tips for Planning or Upgrading an Auditorium

Discover top design guidelines for an effective auditorium plan or upgrade. Learn key elements in the auditorium design plan, from acoustics to seating, aligned with auditorium standards and trends in modern auditorium design to enhance the overall design of auditorium spaces.

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Actis Technologies offers advanced AV solutions in the UAE, enhancing collaboration and efficiency across corporate, education, hospitality, and residential sectors. Their services include video conferencing, smart automation, immersive audio-visual systems, and energy-efficient lighting controls. With a focus on innovation and user-centric design, Actis ensures seamless integration tailored to diverse client needs.

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Discover advanced audio visual solutions in India with Actis Technologies. We design, build, and support world-class AV and collaboration solutions for enterprises, education, and government.

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Actis Luxe Homes – Premium Smart Home Automation Solutions

Check Luxe Homes for advanced smart home automation solutions. Experience seamless control of lighting, security, entertainment, and more for a luxurious living experience. For more call us.

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Check how video conferencing transforms the workplace by enhancing collaboration, productivity, and communication Explore key benefits and trends Read more!

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How Tighter Integration for Soft VC Rooms Improves Usability & Reliability in Meetings - A Deep Dive

Looking to optimise your collaboration infrastructure in the organisation? The key to achieving this would be aiming for a sweet spot between flexibility, affordability and power-packed features that would enhance the business efficiency.

Especially in the now widely embraced hybrid work model where digital team collaboration makes it imperative to have various technologies work together. That’s why tighter integration between software and hardware is crucial for the optimal functioning of the team collaboration tools. It helps build an effective digital working model at offices and alternate workspaces like home for conducting virtual conferencing and managing teams and everyday workflow.

To help you navigate this new terrain, we recommend reaching out to expert AV integrators who can implement a strategic approach to allow organisations better flexibility in using video for collaboration.

Also, here are a few insights that can give you a better understanding of how to optimise your collaboration infrastructure with proper integration between software and hardware.

Cloud VC allows businesses to cut down the cost of video access to a significant extent, besides saving on the amount for physical meeting spaces. That’s why it’s important that the soft VC platforms ( Zoom, Webex or Microsoft Teams), you choose are integrated tightly with the collaboration hardware in the meeting room. When integrated properly, hardware certified for your video platform can improve the quality of your video and audio conferencing experience to a whole new level and increase the meeting productivity manifold.

Rope in the experts to ensure that seamless integration and customisation is done in the shortest possible time while ensuring there is a consistent, enterprise-grade level collaboration between the teams.

To enhance enterprise productivity, unified communications and video platforms must be fully utilized. Efficient integration helps serve the purpose and lends a great amount of realism to virtual meetings.

Tools like Zoom and MS Teams provide seamless communication experience in a hybrid work model, besides offering the ease to be deployed effortlessly and with a wide range of devices for both work-from-home and work-from-office participants. Tight integration of these video platforms with room hardware and Networked AV solutions means enterprises get highly intuitive interfaces for meetings, webinars, training and town halls events.

If you are keen on maintaining a consistent experience throughout your meetings, for smaller and mid-sized meeting spaces, like huddle rooms, Poly room solutions for Microsoft Teams can be a good fit.

Devices like Creston Flex allow each participant to enjoy a native Microsoft Teams or Zoom Rooms experience as it lets users connect to any laptop or mobile device for a BYOD experience (Bring-Your-Own-Device).

Achieve effective team collaboration with our team of expert integrators

For a collaboration experience for all participants in globally diverse teams, with different time zones and locations, integrating the soft VC experience into your organization, requires expertise. Our dedicated team of experts are just a click away to help you boost your organisational efficiency, by getting your workspace up and running in no time!

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10 Tips to Run a Successful Virtual Town Hall Meeting

Town halls are an excellent way to bring everyone together in an organisation, celebrate big wins, forge bonds, make important decisions, announce goals, share updates and strategies, reward and recognise the company workforce, discuss missed opportunities and strengthen the company work culture. However, due to the post-pandemic implications and remote work culture, it is not always possible to get all your staff together in the same physical place.

That’s why several organisations are now embracing the concept of the virtual town hall meeting. They offer the same benefits as that of an in-person or all-hands town hall, alongside the bonus of enabling the ease to share content, interact with the audience in new ways and record the discussion for playback later.

However, running a virtual event can entail a fair share of challenges. That’s why we’ve curated expert tips to help you make your next virtual town hall a roaring success.

Top 10 tips on conducting effective virtual town hall meetings

1. Grab the attention of your employees with a quick icebreaker session

While hosting a virtual town hall, grab their attention at the very onset, mark the beginning of your town hall with a short icebreaker activity. Kick off the virtual town hall by conducting a quick poll or shoot fun questions like, “What is a recent accomplishment you are proud of?”, or “What is your next destination for a vacation?” Encourage your employees to ask questions and allow participation.

2. Celebrate big-small wins

Show your employees that you value them and boost your employees by acknowledging your employees’ best work in front of the entire company. Celebrate your team’s success and make them feel appreciated and secure.

3. Implement a quick, seamless video solution

Eliminate the process of a tedious meeting join. Make it hassle-free for your employees to join the virtual town hall. Incorporate the flexibility for attendees to join the virtual town hall from their smartphones, tablets, laptops or a conference room while ensuring they have the same user experience across all the different devices. This will help in preventing the meeting from exceeding its intended duration and keep the employees engaged.

4. Create the town hall agenda beforehand to keep the town hall on the topic

Provide the meeting agenda to the participants in advance, as this set appropriate expectations before the town hall. Besides, this will facilitate a clear understanding of the topics and goals being discussed for the meeting.

5. Include breaks to reduce fatigue and increase focus

You don’t want your employees to fall asleep during the town hall. So, make sure you give your team plenty of breaks so they can refocus and go to the bathroom, drink water, stretch their arms and legs, and come back rejuvenated for the next segment.

6. Avoid business jargon and eye-straining slides with small font

You may want to pack in a lot of information in a town hall event, but avoid getting swayed with overly complicated topics. Especially avoid too many slides that are illegible as they are a total waste of time, and leave the attendees struggling to comprehend what is being said or displayed.

7. Failing to check your tech can derail a virtual town hall

Technical glitches are common during a virtual meeting. Make sure that your video and audio are functioning properly, ensure you know how to share your screen and you have enough bandwidth to host or join the video call. It would be a good idea to do a quick dry run of the meeting beforehand by calling a few employees before the start of the town hall to check video and audio quality.

8. Assign a meeting moderator to ensure everything runs smoothly

Moderators are equipped with advanced in-call controls and can mute or unmute participants to limit background noise. Also, they can lock or unlock the meeting, stop a participant’s presentation and eliminate an uninvited/disruptive individual from the call.

9. Shake up things by having a variety of speakers

While it is important to have a clear leader, who will be the face of the virtual town hall, as they will keep the town hall on track and on time, it is equally important to use a variety of speakers. This will help represent different perspectives at the company-wide town hall gathering. Also, it will act as a liaison between the main speaker and attendees.

10. Don’t just glorify wins, but also discuss the missed opportunities

Address your flaws and allow people to voice issues they are struggling with, as this will help build a nurturing and conducive learning environment. Besides, it will also humanize the company.

We are here to help you with the right technology, tools and tips as this will ensure that you are able to transform your next virtual town hall meeting into a compelling and informative event.

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A Quick Rundown of the Best Lamp-Free Projector Technologies

Replaceable mercury lamps have always been commonly used light source in the projectors, but the latest to gain popularity in 2020 is the emerging tech-trend of lamp-free projectors. 

So, for those who would like to gain useful knowledge around this trend, and understand the concept of the different lamp free technologies, alongside the pros and cons of the lamp-free projectors, look no further, we have you covered. 

We have got this easy, curated guide for you on key lamp-free projector technologies and the major strength of each one of those (along with one key disadvantage) so you can decide which one’s the best fit for your projection needs.

Here are the 3 most popular lamp-free projector technologies implemented by most brands: 

100% LED

100% Blue Laser

Hybrid LED

1. 100% LED ideally caters to your home entertainment needs

For cinephiles who are looking to reprise the experience of a commercial Digital cinema movie theatre that leverages the DCI-P3 colour space approved by stalwarts like Disney, Sony, and Paramount, the LED-powered projectors are totally up to the task. They will recreate the immersive viewing experience in the comfort of your home. 

LED-powered projectors leverage LED colour saturation and accuracy to make the home theatre experience look visually spectacular.  

There are several battery-powered LED projectors with built-in audio and wireless streaming designed to enable you to easily project a movie from your phone or tablet, so you don’t have to rely on electric power anymore to share images or videos, in case of an office emergency or a fun-filled vacation. 

The only flipside is that they are not as bright as a regular projector. But you can create a darker environment so the low brightness levels are not an impediment to your work or enjoyment. It would be helpful to bear in mind that the home cinema models are under 2000 ANSI lumens in brightness, and the battery-powered projectors are anywhere between 200-400 ANSI lumens. 

Considering an aberration in case of a work emergency, these are most suitable for your home entertainment needs.

2. 100% Blue Laser option is the best fit for meetings and classrooms

This one is a clear winner when it comes to beating a dozen popular brands in projectors. 100% laser projectors allow engineers to achieve higher brightness, a stellar 10000 lumens and even beyond. These projectors are low on maintenance and are robust enough to be used on a 24/7 basis, without any concerns around warranty or high maintenance.

The only downer here is the high initial cost that supersedes the price of a mercury lamp powered projector.  

But bear in mind that the cost of purchasing, installing, and disposing of replaceable mercury lamps, runs very high, and when you buy a projector using 100% laser light, you attenuate the cost in the longer run.

3. Hybrid LED/Laser is a practical option for those who use projectors occasionally

If as a user, you are on a tight budget and only occasionally use a projector, then it might not be a bad idea to have reasonable (or mediocre) expectations when it comes to brightness. Consider the feasible option of LED / Laser Hybrid that usually offers a decent 6000 hours on most of the models. A pocket-friendly and viable option, certainly.

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Vital Tips for an Effective and Productive Boardroom

Employees, according to studies, spend an average amount of their time attending meetings. Designing boardrooms that meet the needs of workers, both creatively and in reality, is essential to the success of the company.

The design layout of the boardrooms/meeting rooms/conference rooms is important because they set a structure for the work that happens in them. This positions the technical and physical needs of the members of the team who will be using this.

Having the right equipment in the right place with the right lighting, furniture, AV Systems, user-friendly display systems and also helps create the right effect in connecting and engaging with other team members and with brainstorming sessions.

The boardrooms and meeting rooms need to be professionally designed and organized in a way that makes them easier to function.

Here are some important factors that are needed to be kept in mind while designing any boardrooms, meeting rooms, conference rooms to ensure increased efficiency.

Decor

Room Decor depends on many factors, such as the type of meetings to be held, preparation, meeting room for guests or hosting webinars. A boardroom is built to be simple but elegant. Innovation should not be used as an afterthought but should be well designed into the design-so it is unobtrusive and helps to improve research.

Furniture

The rooms can vary from small to medium to large in size. But they all have a similar configuration of furniture that is flexible enough to be used for casual lounge setups and relaxed enough to sit for important meetings for long periods of time.

Lighting and Power

You must have the right kind of lighting for nailing your boardrooms. Natural light gives people a sense of warmth, waking and living. Natural lights also aid in brainstorming people and provide new ideas. A successful design of the boardroom uses various light configurations depending on the different times of the day, as well as the type of meeting that occurs over time. Optimal lighting in the rooms helps with the idea, clearing thoughts and concentrating on what matters.

Video Conferencing

Video is today's number one means of communication. Thanks to fast internet speeds and global connectivity-we are able to connect in no time. Stay linked to your manager, remote staff, partners and customers. Video conferencing solutions allow us to disseminate information more easily and reach a broader audience so we can do more. Equip your boardroom with the latest technologies for video conferencing to ensure you are on the fast track to success.

Presentation Skills

The days of basic blackboards and whiteboards are gone. Today we rely on projectors, displays, smartboards and all sorts of devices for audio and video conferencing.

In a relaxed meeting environment, the location of screens and smartboards plays an important role. Measure the right distance to the audience from the screen. Keep all the adapters, cables, and speakers you need to install.

AV Technology

Easy to use and easy to install and run boardrooms/conference rooms/meeting rooms must be fitted with the right and latest AV technology.

Regardless of how you plan your boardrooms/meeting/conference rooms, note that it should always be a welcoming place where professionals can assemble, innovate and collaborate.

The world is evolving, and communication is, now more than ever, the cornerstone that needs to be easy and efficient. Meeting rooms are the common ground where strategic decisions are made not only by those present but also by those who operate remotely. We provide high-end AV Solutions at Actis to link teams, not machines. It is your team, after all, that allows you to improve the service or product of your business.

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4 Best Solutions for Cloud Video Conferencing  in 2020

Despite technology's rapid growth, video conferencing has become a preferred medium of visual communication. From legacy jobs to modern workstations-video conferencing has become the fuel for every company. It's just a seamless video collaboration, at the end of the day, that pushes the boundary and takes the meeting to the success level.

In addition, Cloud video conferencing has also peeped in and become popular with this eminence. Teleworking, remote work, working outside the office— these are the components of the new corporate culture that empower the cloud-based VC and, no question, it's reaching some level today. If you are wondering further, the extensive details on why IT professionals are moving to this modern cloud video conferencing model can be found here.

So here are 2020's top 4 cloud video conferencing solutions, along with their well-defined features and functionality:

1. BlueJeans

BlueJeans offers one-touch access to meetings, regardless of device, meeting platform or browser. Under Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions 2018, it is recognized as a Visionary

"Customers" is BlueJeans' emphasis and its aim is to make their meetings easier. It offers cloud video conferencing solutions that are fast to connect and easy-to-use with up to 150 participants at a time. Even an individual or the employee, new to it, can use it easily and even quickly. The list of solutions consists of the gateway meeting activities to the rooms.

Some of the features include:

Events: Use a live & interactive webcast to turn your all-hands meeting sessions into an open forum and gain more genius experiences with BlueJeans events, such as-you can host larger events with up to 15,000 participants. Furthermore, experience the immersive webinar on marketing that compiles HD video with Q&A, polling, and comprehensive moderator controls.

The pure SaaS solution from BlueJeans interoperability for multiple room device configurations, such as Poly, Cisco, and Lifesize. This means that you can connect in a few hours with no extra infrastructure, irrespective of any conference room network, using the consistent one-touch join.

Also to be counted is the checked enterprise-grade security implementation (with Firewall / NAT traversal, encryption, SOC 2 authentication, and IP VPN deployment options).

Dolby Voice: Love the Dolby Voice difference with the in-app experience to eliminate background noise.

Microsoft Team Gateway: Connect with Microsoft Teams your current conference or meeting rooms or huddle spaces and make it a meeting room for Microsoft Teams using the BlueJeans Gateway (a cloud video solution).

Other features: cloud streaming & recording, smart user controls, room system compatibility (using Dolby, Polycom, Cisco, Lifesize and other single-touch H.323 or SIP room systems), and device agnostics – are its USPs.

2. Lifesize

Lifesize is the world's first global provider of 4K video conferencing software that supports multiple integrations and suits every size of space. Under Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions 2018, it is listed as a Niche Player.

It is a well-defined approach for meeting the needs of daily interactions and also the high-powered meetings. In addition, it has a wide reach in every geographical location and thus provides seamless and safe collaboration on film. And, of course, the meeting rooms are already fitted with all the solutions (software & hardware), which allows the participants to obtain top-notch expertise. Above all, up to 300 active participants are assisted by each meeting and undergo clear video collaboration.

Some of the features include:

For starters, its primary leverage is – Lifesize Telephone Support, which indicates local telephone numbers in more than 60 countries – providing dial-up support for all contacts and meetings.

Enjoy live stream meetings with up to 10,000 viewers.

Lifesize Interoperability-Lifesize is an interoperable service that works with manufacturer's room systems and infrastructure, such as-Skype for Business, Microsoft ® Lync ® 2013, Lync ® Online, Cisco ®, and Polycom ®.

Lifesize Integrations-Microsoft Skype for Business and Slack are key integrated applications. However, you can also integrate Lifesize with third-party VC Room Devices, Scheduling Apps, Calendar and Collaborative Tools to build a coherent integration into your day-to-day meeting workflow.

Lifesize uses the best-in-class data centers with independent third-party security and privacy certifications to ensure the highest level of security and reliability. Encrypted signaling and internet, AES 128-bit, automatic firewall traversal, no public IP required (Lifesize app and Lifesize Icon only) and web proxy support are the major ones.

Other features: Click-to-call team directory, secure meetings to the highest standards, web-based admin console, and unrestricted guest invites–are the main components that help you enjoy a more intimate meeting experience with every communication/discussion.

3. Skype for Business/Microsoft Teams

Since Microsoft Teams is fitted with some good features in addition to Skype for Business apps already available. We actually allow the end-users to interact in real-time with the specific members we need and the tasks, without any physical meeting requirement.

The two are actually being used in businesses. The customers are trying their hands on both of them-some are playing with Microsoft Teams while Skype for Business is going for daily contact. For example, SFB is used for messaging, calling, and arranging meetings, while Microsoft Teams are used for teams & platforms, and files are accessed in Office 365, & other applications. Nevertheless, the CIOs, CEOs, CTOs, and CMOs are turning their heads quicker towards the Microsoft Teams and having positive results.

Some of the features include:

Cloud-based meeting recording, support for larger meetings for up to 250 participants Without downloading any plug-ins, users will acquire faster meeting join times and better browser experience.

This infrastructure is more modern, making things smoother and easier, such as easy taping into Microsoft Cognitive Services, recognition of speech, transcription, matching learning capabilities, and translation.

Some of its improvements include the incorporation of Windows whiteboard, smart capture, personalized backgrounds, and live captions or subtitles.

4. Zoom

Zoom allows for the accessibility and versatility of up to 1,000 participants in the recording. It's listed as a Champion for Meeting Strategies in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant.

Specially equipped with easy-to-use applications with only one-touch and wireless features are the conference rooms in zoom. In addition, the cloud portfolio integrates and consolidates a single platform for video conferencing, online meetings, digital signage, messaging, and software-based conference room solutions. So with the correct time and financial commitment, Zoom is easy, intuitive and the perfect solution for your video conferencing.

Some of the features include:

Zoom Video Webinars–Digital live events and online streaming are tools that can reach beyond borders. Supports up to 100 interactive video panelists, as well as 10,000 viewers/assistants.

With many legacy endpoints, Zoom Interoperability includes Polycom, Cisco, Lifesize, Huawei and others.

The convergence is on the flip side of Facebook Live, YouTube, Salesforce, Pardot, Marketo and other sales and marketing tools.

End-to-end meeting encryption–Communications are built using 256-bit TLS encryption and AES-256 encryption will encrypt all shared material.

Dedicated Zoom Room Systems–Zoom Conference Room Connector lets participants enter Zoom Meetings directly from established conference room systems (SIP or H.323). The main components are - HD audio/video, calendar integration, one-touch connectivity/joining, and one-click wireless sharing, tailored for each meeting.

Zoom VC Meetings & Chat–Incorporated real-time messaging and content sharing features, this technology enables streamlined VC at any device, anywhere.

Using a common communication platform, take advantage of internal & external correspondence, all-hand meetings, and training.

Group chat, HD audio/video, built-in communication tools, records & transcripts, and streamlined calendar–these are their USPs that deliver collaborative and safe meetings to keep the participants connected.

Zoom Mobile Meetings with a rich set of features provide the same great experience you'd get from the desktop client and more. The main components are interactive environments, screen sharing, and co-annotation.

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Top Benefits of Huddle Rooms

Technology companies have embraced the trend of open-concept workspaces over the last decade. Experts thought that a collaborative working environment should promote teamwork, innovation, and openness. Unfortunately, employees working in open-concept office environments are not embracing the trend, and organizations are struggling to figure out how to fix this costly cultural shift.

Today, research on job design and workplace efficiency shows that open-concept environments can work effectively with the smart introduction of multi-purpose huddle rooms.

What is a huddle room?

Huddle rooms are small, private workspaces designed to accommodate working groups of between four and six employees. They are generally equipped with all bells and whistles in the standard conference room, including video conferencing equipment, whiteboards and other A / V equipment. Our aim is to provide a place for co-workers to spontaneously meet up and collaborate without distracting — or distracting— our peers.

Our experts have come up with 6 advantages of huddle rooms and why the company should consider them while discussing future AV office specifications or layouts.

1) Privacy improves productivity

Compact huddle rooms make it possible for small working groups to engage in distraction-free, creative engagement without having a productivity impact on their nearby peers.

Employees are more successful when removed from visual and auditory stimuli. According to the paper, the benefits of enhanced' easiness of interaction' were lower than the penalties for increased noise and reduced privacy resulting from the open-plan office configuration. "This report is based on data from a study of more than 40,000 office workers in a large number of office buildings.

We're all very familiar with openness. As the concept refers to employee efficiency, the openness theory suggests that open floor plans in which employees are in the presence of each other and their managers will eliminate the employee's desire to spend company time on personal calls, surfing the internet, or other productivity-killing behaviors.

Although privacy research facilitates efficiency and collaboration, open-concept office or factory layouts may hinder productivity by including privacy-seeking behaviors.

2) Less friction with better workflow

Huddle rooms are designed for on-the-fly use, when and when needed. Their availability allows employees to take advantage of motivation and communication without hindrance to appointments and without disturbing the collaborative working environment.

How easy is it for your employees to connect to off-site collaborators? When you get together as a working group, do you have to hunt down the IT expert to set up temporary conference equipment? How far away do you need to book a conference room on your floor? Days? Days? Weeks, huh?

There is no second-guessing the feasibility of getting a team together when logistical barriers are removed. Just jump in the huddle room, press a few buttons, and let the creative process begin.

3) Supporting video conferencing and communication

Working groups prefer live streaming and online networking technologies over e-mails, phone calls, and community teleconferences, and well-equipped huddle rooms to promote effective communication activities. Video conferencing enhances customer and remote worker engagement, and dedicated huddle rooms encourage more frequent in-depth communication and enhanced customer care.

4) Flexible and cost-effective implementation

Do you need a place to meet a client? Does one of your teams need a "meeting space" for a couple of days? Are you training new hires or interviewing new job candidates?

Huddle rooms provide ease of use and are cheaper than traditional conference rooms! These take up less space and can make use of underused areas, such as vacant offices or storage areas.

5) Easier contact with remote workers

Remote workers will be more open when the organization is set up for casual, spontaneous contact. Given the increase in remote work arrangements between hired staff and outsourced talent, raising the prevalence of huddle rooms helps to foster better relationships and collaboration between employees through increased access and face-to-face time.

Job candidates are seeking greater flexibility with respect to office hours, and research supports an increase in productivity among workers working from home, as well as higher retention and job satisfaction. Video conferencing and immersive work environments eliminate physical barriers to collaboration, allowing companies to build talented teams from anywhere in the world. When your company is set up to enhance and support employee interaction, you are in a better position to attract and retain the best staff available wherever they call home.

6) Better interaction with the consumer

Imagine your key account management team talking to your top clients in the middle of an open workspace environment. Background noise and chatter may send a message that they are not important customers.  Conversely, it may seem awkward when your small team is stationed in a huge boardroom for a video call.  Through tailoring these meetings to suitably large huddle room settings, the company earns customer trust through the assurance of customized, on-demand engagement and responsiveness.

Please contact us today to build your Huddle Rooms as per your requirements.

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Top 3 ways to choose the right wireless presentation system

Wireless presenting is probably the hottest new trend across meeting rooms right now, with every presenter, room designer and facilities manager wanting freedom from the “tyranny of cables”. The benefits of wireless BYOD are also pretty clear — vanishing cable clutter, time saved while getting started with presentations and fewer worries about damaged or missing cables.  But as a whole slew of devices become available, choosing the right one for your meeting room can become confusing.

Our team at Actis has tried out several wireless presentation systems and put together some suggestions on how you can pick the right device for your meeting or collaboration space.

Approach 1: Keeping it really simple

The simplest form of wireless presentation connectivity that you can adopt is a device which creates a simple wireless connection between the display and the source, which is usually a laptop. Consider this a simple cable replacement which generally consists of a receiver (connected to the display via HDMI) and a transmitter, which is connected to your laptop.

The Infocus SimpleShare and Barco ClickShare are good examples of this kind of device. They provide quick and straightforward connectivity to the display and a push button on the transmitter that initiates the display onto your target screen. There is little or no software installation required, which allows users to quickly get going with their presentation even if a new source device is involved. The receiver can support multiple devices which allows switching between multiple presenters. Basic security features are also supported. 

While laptop support is pretty simple, check to see if full BYOD is supported via an app on your smartphone or tablet. Try and make sure that you pick a model with at least two transmitter devices (usually dongle or puck form factor) so that switching between presenters is smoother. This approach provides the most basic and affordable solution for bringing wireless presentation to meeting rooms, but keeping track of these dongle-style devices may get complicated when there are a large number of users.

Ideal for: Smaller meeting rooms, where fewer presenters require connectivity. Can support a larger number of presenters, but requires additional hardware to allow this. The wireless range of such devices may be a constraint.

Approach 2: Fitting in with your IT infrastructure

For enterprises, security policies and access restrictions may demand a solution that is in sync with their existing network infrastructure. This makes it important to consider how they would provide convenient access and variable privileges to guest presenters who need to present and access the internet too. Factoring in the constraints that may be in place on your network, it is important to choose the right fit for your organisation. If you have a larger room to cater to, pick a solution that supports a larger number of users.

Enterprise AV providers like Crestron, Extron, Barco and others offer solutions that play well with enterprise networks, making things simpler for users and system administrators alike. Crestron’s AirMedia 2 devices are available in several variants, which are suitable for various kinds of collaboration spaces — lobbies and lounges, conference rooms and training spaces. They support smooth video delivery and incorporate security protocols like 802.1x network access control, Active Directory® user authentication and AES-128 content encryption. SSH/SSL/TLS and HTTPS are also supported.

Extron’s ShareLink solution is another one that is comfortable in enterprise environments and supports simultaneous content sharing from up to 4 devices. There is a variant which allows admins to set up a stand-alone wireless collaboration and presentation system, and another network only model which works via your existing wireless network. Both iOS and Android apps are also available for mobile devices which introduces greater flexibility in the presentation options for users.

For most mid to large enterprises with high room usage, this type of solution may be the most practical. Since each room would feature a dedicated device, users can just walk in and present with minimal time and attention required to set up.

Approach 3: When you want wireless presenting and more

While wireless presenting is a pretty big innovation by itself, it can come along with a lot more? For example, Crestron has incorporated its AirMedia system into their Mercury device which is an all-in-one solution for huddle rooms and smaller meeting rooms. In addition to wireless and wired connectivity to the display, it has a built-in speaker, room scheduler, support for audio and video conferencing and basic control features too.

The Cisco Webex Board has a different approach - this consists of a large display with a 12-microphone array that is tightly integrated with the Webex service for audio and video conferencing. It also supports digital whiteboarding which adds interactivity to your meetings and allows sharing of meeting notes later using Webex Teams. It also uses some AI features to make remote meetings more intuitive for the participants.

Both these devices, and some others, feature tighter integration of wireless presenting into the room itself, which results in better usability and simpler installations. They also play well with standard network security policies, ensuring confidentiality of meeting content is maintained at a high level.

As we’ve seen, there are a lot of choices available if you are looking for a wireless presentation solution with BYOD support. It’s important to evaluate how you would plan to use the system, and where, before you pick one. Different room types and applications can affect your choices and one-size-fits-all certainly does not apply to wireless presentation devices. For enterprise users planning a retro-fit to existing rooms, the better choice may be the add-on products (Approach 1 or 2), but for major upgrades or new installation a better approach may be to look for an all-in-one meeting room product that has this functionality built-in (Approach 3)

It’s also important to take into account what your future needs may be, and how users in your organization are most comfortable collaborating, so you can choose the right device for them. For most users, this means a seamless process in connecting wirelessly to the room display with their existing devices - whether they are laptops, tablets or smartphones.

For more information on wireless presenting solutions, contact Actis at 022-30808080, or at contact@actis.co.in

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Improving Usability in Enterprise Collaboration Rooms

As the number of collaboration spaces in large enterprises continue to grow, the importance of user experience in these rooms also increases. Users expect to move from one room to another and have a relatively similar meeting experience, especially for the most common tasks. They also expect this transition to be familiar when they move from one device to another, with intuitive interfaces whether they are collaborating at their desk, on a mobile device or in a technology-enabled meeting room.

But achieving these goals requires AV and room designers to consistently apply usability principles across various spaces that they build. We’ve put together some of the most useful tips for making collaboration rooms more user-friendly for meeting participants.

1. Design simplicity into everything

The key to creating a user-friendly and consistent user experience is keeping things really simple, from the perspective of the meeting participants. This can be done by providing only as many features and technologies as are really required in the workspace and by placing these in locations where they are conveniently accessible. Where possible, the participants should be able to use their own personal devices, instead of having to master something new. The focus should be on the key tasks that the participants want to perform in the room, without the distractions and confusion that is caused by unnecessary complexity.

2. Eliminating ambiguity in meeting scheduling

They say, “Well begun is half done.” This is certainly true for scheduling of meetings or other collaborative sessions. Ensuring that the appropriate room is available when required, reduces friction due to room availability. While meeting scheduling software has been available for quite a while, a new generation of all-in-one collaboration systems also provides a clearer indication to people when they walk into the meeting room. A display clearly indicates who the room is reserved for, or indicates when the next scheduled meeting is going to begin.

3. Ensuring content legibility for all participants

The visibility of content is a very critical element of the modern collaborative experience as it often involves real-time sharing or modification of information-rich documents. But ensuring legibility of content means taking into account a variety of parameters - the number and arrangement of participants, the nature of the content itself and also environmental factors like the lighting in the room. All of these need to be considered carefully before selecting the appropriate display size and display type for that particular room.

4. Achieving clear audibility for all participants

Audio performance is a much underrated aspect of collaboration space design and is especially important in situations where video collaboration plays an important role. Good audio design and a program audio system can help eliminate problems due to ambient sounds, echoes or external noise which affect audibility. Ceiling mounted beam tracking microphones make it very simple to ensure audio quality even when presenters are moving around.

5. Smoothen presenter transitions

In larger meeting rooms where the presence of multiple presenters is more likely, a lot of delay and disruption can be caused when presenters change. Laptops may need to be switched and this can take unexpected amounts of time if the display isn't configured properly. Wireless presentation systems or table mounted connectivity interfaces can allow quick switching between presenters and ensure a smoother meeting flow. This is also true for video conferences where it needs to be easy to locate and connect with co-workers without delays.

6. Intuitive room control interfaces and presets

As control systems become more ubiquitous, meeting participants have access to many powerful tools especially in larger board rooms or training rooms. Keeping the control interfaces simple is the key to achieving usability benefits. In addition, ensuring that the controls are consistent across collaboration rooms is also important. The provision of well-placed wall keypads and room presets go a long way to ensuring that participants can quickly control room features as required. Designers need to minimise the need for users to learn new things and also the planning required to use the room.

7. Maximising flexibility for collaborating groups

Good room design provides greater flexibility for multipurpose use including physical reconfiguration of the space, and also the variety of the collaboration applications that are supported. Ideally, the rooms should be able to adapt to the participants, instead of the other way around. Rooms that enable more natural and smoother workflows are more likely to impact the experience of users immensely which in turn leads to higher productivity in meetings. These rooms allow seamless movement from ideation on an interactive whiteboard to video collaboration with remote participants and then onto sharing and editing documents in real time.

8. Provide PC-based Voice and Video Conferencing

Since PCs or laptops are such ubiquitous tools in the modern work environment, it makes sense to utilise them as easily accessible and versatile platforms for voice and video conferencing. Software-based conferencing solutions that allow laptops to plug into presentation rooms and conduct an audio or video conference provide a great way to enhance the flexibility of access for users. They can utilise Audio Video Bridging (AVB) technology to connect with room displays and speakers to improve user experience beyond the constraints of a laptop’s display and audio system. A subscription to a Cloud VC service is a good way to create further flexibility and allow video conferencing access to be shared across multiple rooms, team members and laptops/mobile devices.

While powerful collaborative technologies continue to attract the attention of businesses looking to build or upgrade their meeting infrastructure, good design still plays a critical role. For most organisations, the urgency for an increased focus on usability design in collaboration spaces grows even faster with the coming together of AV and IT infrastructure in the enterprise.

More usable and more standardised room design can help in creating a more intuitive collaborative experience. It also has a positive impact on the  ROI on the investments that your business makes. Better usability design leads to less delays and disruptions during meetings, makes it simpler to train new employees in the use of collaboration infrastructure and creates a better overall meeting or collaboration experience.

For more information on enhancing collaboration in meeting rooms, contact Actis at 022-30808052 or at contact@actis.co.in.

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