How to Select the Right Projection Solution for Your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Meeting?

BenQ

2020/04/20

Have you considered adopting a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy in your organisation? Then count yourself amongst the long list of companies who have seen the merit in replacing company devices with employees’ personal devices, and rightly so. BYOD is not only the latest trend on the block, it has also proved to increase employee morale, engagement, and productivity. But it doesn’t come without challenges. And in order to tackle those problems, the pressure is laid upon IT teams and business owners to select the right projection and collaboration device to use during meetings.

So, to help you and your team decide on the perfect meeting room tool to solve your wireless projection needs, we have explored the following device options:

● Smart Projectors

● Wireless Projectors

● Projectors or displays with Wireless Projection Solution (WPS)

But before evaluating the different devices, it is important to pose some vital questions to better understand your meeting room needs and discover which type of solution will best fit your organization. Let’s take a deeper look into these questions and understand the dynamic of your meeting rooms.

Projection Solution Choices for your Bring-Your-Own-Device Meeting Room

How Many Kinds of Devices Will Be Used in the Meeting Room?

As the compatibility requirements differ between a Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android device, wireless casting is the perfect solution for meetings where such diverse operating systems are present. And so when making the decision about the best solution for your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) meetings, it is important to consider the meeting room devices’ compatibility and casting features:

● Smart projectors allow wireless casting and are compatible with all personal devices regardless of type of device, brand, operating software used, etc. They also provide direct access to the internet and wireless mouse/keyboard connection for a PC-free environment.

● Wireless projectors also provide compatibility with many kinds of devices, though the features are limited as compared to smart projectors. But if your requirement is for simple wireless projection/casting, then wireless projectors are good tools to consider.

● Displays and Projectors that do not have wireless capabilities usually have compatibility restrictions. Here, you need to adopt the right Wireless Projection Solution (WPS) to enable your display or projector with wireless casting by considering the compatibility features offered by the WPS.

Would You Allow Employees to Install Extra Apps on Personal Devices to Access Company Networks for Meeting Purposes?

With multiple types of devices being used in BYOD-friendly meeting rooms, it is important to consider if you want a solution which requires your employees or meeting attendees to install apps on their personal devices to support projection. Doing so can become tedious in some situations, especially if you regularly host meeting attendees from outside your organization.

● Smart projectors equipped with Android Operating Systems (OS) provide an intuitive user experience while supporting wireless casting from all devices. They have multiple features like built-in business applications, high connectivity, IT support applications, etc. which nullify the need for additional softwares and don’t require the attendees to download any extra apps to access the company’s network.

● Wireless projectors, in comparison to smart projectors, require more steps to connect for casting, and do not support all kinds of devices, only Windows and Android. They require additional software to be pre-installed by the IT team to enable casting. For projection using iOS and macOS devices, attendees will need to install applications on their personal devices.

● As mentioned, to transform a projector or display with no wireless casting capabilities, you need to use an extra accessory such as Wireless Projection Solution (WPS). There exist two types of WPS:

– Hardware Based: This type of WPS like BenQ InstaShow, requires no application to be downloaded on the attendees’ personal device and allows wireless casting by a simple plug and play feature.

– Software Based: Such a WPS requires an application to be pre-installed in the meeting attendees’ personal devices. Most brands use this type of wireless projection solution.

Can the Devices Be Remotely Managed and Firmware Updates be Conducted Over the Air (OTA)?

When deciding which collaboration technology is perfect for your meeting rooms, an important factor to consider is whether it simplifies IT management. You must have experienced cases yourself where hassle for your IT team has increased because of BYOD, or can probably anticipate such problems. So keeping those in mind, it is necessary to analyse the effectiveness of the meeting room devices:

● Smart projectors are by far the most efficient land easy-to-manage option for the IT team. They come with an Account Management System (AMS) and Device Management System (DMS) which allow the IT personnel to monitor and manage access to company networks and data, as well as grant individual and group configuration control over the projectors, all in a remote way. Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates further guarantee less maintenance tasks for the IT team.

● Wireless projectors also have a DMS but they only allow the IT team to manage one device at a time remotely. They don’t allow OTA firmware updates.

● Wireless presentation solutions for projectors or displays cannot be accessed remotely. In case of issues or problems, they require the IT members to personally go to each meeting room to troubleshoot the issues. WPS are good solutions for organisations with few meeting rooms and less chances of issues.

In Conclusion

As you have seen, the decision about the right meeting room solution for an organisation implementing BYOD should not only be based on the features and benefits of the solution, but also on how those benefits fit into the complete picture.

By analysing your meeting environments and the needs that arise in your meeting rooms, you can decide on the right wireless projector for your BYOD meetings:

● Smart projectors are perfect for companies with few or many meeting rooms which require wireless projection and casting with no compatibility issues. They are also great collaboration tools if you want to conduct application free and IT management hassle free meetings.

If you think smart projectors are perfect for your company, you can check out BenQ Smart Projector for Business, it is the only all-in-one solution available in the market.

● Wireless projectors are good solutions for companies with only one meeting room where compatibility will be required with just Windows and Android devices.

You can check out wireless projectors offered by Panasonic and Epson.

● In case you already have projectors or displays in your company’s meeting rooms and simply want to transform them to have wireless capabilities, investing in a wireless presentation solution could be your answer.

Here, a hardware based WPS will be a better alternative over a software based WPS because of the ease of connectivity it offers along with information security, as no additional application needs to be downloaded to access company networks.

We hope this article has provided the required insights to guide your decision and that our findings will help you hone in on the perfect device solution for your BYOD meetings!

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