Microsoft Surface Hub: New Collaborative Technology

Collaboration is increasingly being recognised as a powerful agent of productivity. We are told to have a laugh with coworkers and to help coworkers integrate into company culture to better retain staff. This is great because it's better for everyone: we get to have fun and the company gets more productive employees.

Image: Microsoft

This week Microsoft announced the launch of the Surface Hub, a collaborative tool to increase productivity for business meetings. While we at nsquared have been going on about the benefits of collaboration since 2008 (in fact, our whole organisation is built on the power of collaboration), this announcement shows the power of multi-user technology is beginning to be recognised, and on such a huge scale too. 

Microsoft is said to have billed it as a "large-screen collaboration device" which will automatically sync with OneNote, have an endless whiteboard for team brainstorming, as well as a number of large-screen apps. The device will be available in either a 55- or enormous 84-inch screen, and will be mounted vertically like a television. With Microsoft starting to take orders in just three weeks from 24 markets around the world, Microsoft's vision for the collaborative meeting space is truly at our doorsteps.

It is exciting to see steps forward in the collaborative sphere as the technology nsquared has been pioneering gets recognised as forerunners in this field. While a wall-mounted touch screen is great, there are of course limitations: Standing and arm fatigue means the meeting times would have a short life span. Only one or two people can interact with the screen at one time (in one physical location) means that annotating and brainstorming is limited to those at the front. nsquared technology specifically addresses these problems with our 360 degree immersive and inclusive DIGITABLE range. The DIGITABLE already has potential to share from tabletop to screen to create an immersive environment. Imagine the potential of the engaging conference capabilities of Microsoft Hub in combination with the collaborative interactivity of the DIGITABLE.

Users interact on an nsquared DIGITABLE

The future of meetings has arrived. While Microsoft may have taken a while to get here, we embrace new, intelligent technology that has real potential to improve peoples lives. If you would like to learn more about our collaborative DIGITABLES, or other intelligent business solutions, click on the respective links or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Have a collaborative week!

Welcome to nsquared

 

nsquared is a small, devoted team of tech & design heads based in Sydney, Australia that all believe in one thing: more collaboration and sharing will improve our lives. For this reason, we spend our lives working with and trying to harness cutting edge technology, whether it be digital tables or Microsoft Kinect, in order to help bring people together.

We also realise that it is a good idea to take a step back to remember why you are really doing things sometimes. This week we launched a new Introduction to nsquared video to help explain our vision to the world - have a look and let us know what you think! Conversation is what we love best.

nsquared's new meeting room table

The Porter is Sydney's exclusive business lounge, located in the CBD. We're very excited to announce that our new meeting room table is now part of their lounge space as of this week. Members are free to use the table as a collaborative tool in their meetings to increase productivity and engagement.

Our vision is to enable you to gather with your team and work as one. Why not see for yourself by leaving your personal devices and print outs behind and experience the difference in engagement first hand?

 At nsquared we believe the actions involved in a meeting are made more efficient when using a digital table.

Here are the benefits we have already discovered while communicating around our digital table:

• Collaborating. Working with the content as well as the people is a crucial part of any meeting. 
• Brainstorming. Solving problems, creating solutions, and conceptualising ideas has never been easier with the use of a digital table.
• Presenting. Creating presentations and integrating other digital devices has become seamless.
• Sharing. Sharing media and documents with your team can be done with the touch of a finger.

Want to see the latest nsquared digitable in action?

Contact us for a demo

02 9262 3386

@digitabletweets

Get collaborating with interactive meetings

How important do you think collaboration is? We've noticed that our personal devices have been leading us in the wrong direction when it comes to engaging in meetings. They give off a sense of solitude and seclusion.

Why not turn presentations into collaborative meetings? Get your clients or colleagues engaging with the content rather than just presenting it to them. Keep their attention by creating an emotional attachment between themselves and the information you're presenting.

Occasionally people with outstanding presentation skills can keep us focused on the content. Most of us are not great orators and need a lot of help to keep our audience engaged.  However when you are involved in working together as a team, you find that you stay focused for longer. The benefit of keeping people engaged is that everyone participates and remains focused on the content being discussed. The conversation becomes something that the participants will recall even when the meeting is over.

Get your hands on a digital table and watch your meetings become a lot more affective and concise. Leave your isolating meetings in the past and get collaborating on an nsquared digitable!

This year, make time for the important things

At this time of year we often think about setting new goals and resolutions, and how this year will be better than the last.

We at nsquared believe that we need to use our time efficiently throughout the day. During meetings our minds can be easily led astray and attention can be lost by distractions on our personal devices.

To have efficient and engaging meetings, you need to think about how people are interacting and engaging with each other as well as the content.

There are a number of things you can do to help people put their devices away. Here are a few tips and hints that we live by:

• Interesting Content. One of the easiest ways to keep people focused is to feed them content that keeps their ears open and wanting more.  

• Personal devices are forbidden. These are high contenders of worst distractions to have at meetings. Take it from the pros, and leave your tablets, phones and laptops at your desk next time you go to a meeting.  

• Invest in an nsquared digitable. We've managed to keep our meetings exciting by getting our team collaborating and engaging around a digital table. With a digital table, you can be assured that all eyes will be focused on the same content, and interaction levels will go through the roof.