Date: March 10, 2009

SMART Technologies showcases next generation collaboration solutions

10th March 2009: SMART Technologies, the industry pioneer and market leader in the interactive whiteboard product category, will showcase how companies, particularly multi-nationals, can operate on a global basis whilst also cutting costs and maintaining environmental obligations at this year’s Unified Communications exhibition on 11 and 12 March on their stand 410.

It is no longer viable to have multiple teams traveling all over the globe. Yet operating effectively across multiple locations is critical to the stability of the business. SMART Technologies’ new collaboration solutions - SMART Meeting Pro, SMART Hub SE and SMART Hub PE - work seamlessly with any SMART Board™ interactive whiteboard or SMART Board interactive displays to allow distributed teams to conduct interactive meetings from multiple sites anywhere in the world – in real-time.

SMART’s new collaboration technology maintains effective communication between disparate teams without losing the dynamism, creativity and interactivity that is generated from being in the same room. SMART's interactive whiteboards, displays and applications create connected ‘meeting rooms’ where dispersed staff can instantly set up a data conference, utilise touch screen commands, write in digital ink over any application, generate and integrate data, share desktops, and write and save notes immediately with colleagues anywhere in the world.

“Tele, web and video conferencing all go some way to supporting communication across multiple locations, but this level of engagement just isn't sufficient to enable true agile working and creates a one dimensional and dysfunctional meeting environment,” explained Graham Wylie, Group Product Marketing Director, Steljes. “While it may solve the travel issue, it actually limits discussion and does not recreate the same dynamism, interactivity or productivity that is generated from agile working teams. SMART’s corporate collaboration solutions enable organisations with multiple offices to not only make better decisions faster, but also reduce the need for travel, realise time and cost efficiencies and improve their environmental credentials.”

Wylie will expand upon this in a seminar entitled ‘Achieving complete collaboration and agile working using interactive technology’ between 15:10 and 15:40 on Thursday 12 March in the Unified Communications and Messaging theatre. In conjunction with this, Wylie will also present a seminar exploring how seamless interactive data collaboration can positively impact a company’s productivity, travel costs and carbon footprint. This will take place between 13:50 and 14.20 on Wednesday 11 March in the Teleworking and Mobility theatre.

Many companies of varying sizes are already experiencing the benefits of SMART’s new collaboration solutions. Chris Hanson, internal sales director at Computacenter is a senior manager of eight sites across the UK and leads a team of 190 people. The installation of SMART’s interactive technology has transformed the company’s way of working as people from multiple locations can be instantly connected, participate in discussions, share any application, write on it using digital ink and then save and distribute their work as if they were in the same room. Hanson has reduced his average annual mileage by 34,000 and return on investment is calculated to be well under three months.

“After introducing this system my expenses dropped tenfold. You can imagine what the figures would look like if 4,500 employees all used the solution,” said Hanson. “If we rolled this out, suitable meeting rooms would need to be set up and even though this would require an initial investment, the benefits outweigh the costs in every way.”

The conferencing and collaboration solutions are easy to operate with no prior training or experience required; users just need to press a button to start a meeting, a feature that creates more spontaneity than other video-conferencing products, where meetings have to be planned in advance. SMART collaboration solutions are also scalable in line with an organisation’s growth and can be integrated into back-office and IP infrastructure as part of a unified communications approach.

SMART products include the family of award-winning SMART Board interactive whiteboards and displays, interactive digital signage, wireless slates and software.