5 Benefits of Interactive Whiteboards in Business

Interactive whiteboards are the evolution of classroom whiteboards and non-electronic whiteboards in the workplace. Their existence is not always new, but recently the benefits of their meetings and presentations have become the forefront of modern business.

Here are five ways interactive whiteboard collaboration can improve business workflows:

1. Increase Engagement in Collaborative Production

Instead of spending 30 minutes on a one-way presentation shared in a PowerPoint presentation, interactive whiteboards allow coworkers to interact with the information discussed. Files can be easily shared, accessed, edited and saved all on the interactive whiteboard. The meeting leader can emphasize things in real time, making changes to any topic at hand when feedback is received from coworkers.

2. Improve Communication

Not only can you share files with meeting participants, but the interactive whiteboard also lets you easily share screens with remote participants. This way everyone has the exact same information and all team members are on the same page. At the end of a meeting or presentation, the meeting leader can email, print, and share whatever comes up during the whiteboard session.

3. Effectively Annotate Documents

Unlike document sharing, interactive whiteboard users can make persistent and effective changes to documents throughout the session. The tools included with the whiteboard can enable 3D modeling, estimation, hyperlinks, video links, and other applications that can improve communication and strengthen documents. The writing is clear and concise and more difficult to misunderstand.

4. Wider Range of Data Sharing and Inter-Connectivity with Mobile Connectivity Compatibility

With the right hardware, users can connect interactive whiteboards to iOS and Android smart devices with a single app. This results in more data sharing and interconnectivity.

5. Information at your Fingertips with Touch Technology

One to five fingers can be used to make gestures and work with a touchscreen whiteboard - no mouse, no pointer, and no ink smudges anywhere. Users cannot do this by sharing documents.

How about using screen sharing on a computer to collaborate?

Screen sharing via laptop is a good way to redirect everyone to the same page. Tools allow users to share what's on their screen or see what's on other users' screens. This is useful when something breaks and you can fix it much faster than you can explain. Sometimes, users just need to "show" rather than "tell" what's going on, and sharing the screen allows others to see it as it happens and to participate in troubleshooting, training, or whatever the problem is. Documents can also be shared so everyone sees the same thing, whether it's a presentation or an outline.

So is a whiteboard a better way to collaborate than screen sharing?

Whiteboards allow companies to turn a collaborative process into something more like editing than collaboration. This works best when employees are working with outsiders or customers they don't know well; the formality of the situation can make it difficult to construct ideas effectively. The brainstorming process begins in the most spontaneous whiteboard environment, allowing people to share their ideas side by side in a physical space.

Some of today's most innovative companies dedicate large amounts of space to their whiteboards, a gesture that signals a collaborative spirit. To achieve the same passion when working remotely, companies can use unified communication and collaboration tools that include virtual whiteboards. VARs should discuss these benefits with their customers to demonstrate the advantages of interactive whiteboards over document-sharing tools.