How to Select the Right Solution for Your PC-free Meetings?

One major requirement multiple managers have come to identify nowadays is the need for conducting PC-free meetings. In order to create such environments and bring in productivity and collaboration, various businesses are considering implementing a ban on laptops and mobile phones from meetings. But without devices in the room, how can attendees perform meeting related tasks? The answer is simple: by adopting meeting solutions to create PC-free meeting environments.

So, to help you and your team decide on the perfect PC-free meeting solution for your office, we have explored the following device options:

● Smart Projectors
● Wireless Projectors
● Interactive Flat Panels

But before evaluating the different devices, it is important to understand your business’s unique requirements and needs. Let’s take a look at some vital questions that you should address before deciding on the right meeting room solution for your business.

Every meeting room solution comes with different features and benefits. To find the right one for your meeting environment, it is important to know what functions you will require to perform in your PC-free meetings:

● Smart projectors are equipped with diverse features to help you execute all meeting related tasks. They come with a user-friendly interface, direct access to the internet, and USB plug and play features. In addition, they have multiple built-in business applications like WPS, Firefox, etc. that allow easy access to all file formats and offer video conferencing abilities. These features enable PC-free meeting environments and support all meeting objectives.

● In comparison to smart projectors, wireless projectors offer less features and benefits. They are great for wireless casting of images and PowerPoint presentations. But in order to perform additional tasks, they need supporting softwares. Wireless Projectors are great if your PC-free meeting’s objective is to have uninterrupted presentations and discussions.

● Interactive Flat Panels also come with a number of features and use cases. Like smart projectors, they also have direct access to the internet, built-in business apps, and USB reading capabilities, to facilitate all types of meetings including video conferences, brainstorming sessions, presentations, etc.

Before deciding on the right solution for your PC-free meeting rooms, you need to evaluate the options to see if they enable easy IT management or not. It is essential to understand if the collaborative tool that is being considered, in addition to improving productivity, can also reduce hassle for the IT team:

● Smart projectors provide great ease and support to IT teams. They come with an Account Management System (AMS) and Device Management System (DMS), allowing IT personnel to monitor and manage access to company networks and data easily, while permitting individual as well as group configuration of projectors, all in a remote way. Moreover, Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates further reduce maintenance tasks for IT teams.

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

● Interactive Flat Panels are smart meeting room solutions that offer ease and hassle-free management to IT teams through their Device and Info Management, Apps Management, and Over-the-Air Update features. They also come with a built-in security software for real-time protection, web browsing security, privacy check, and more security features.

As you can see, it is important for you to keep your meeting objectives and business needs in mind before evaluating the effectiveness of the various meeting room solutions in building PC-free meeting environments. However, in scenarios where devices become essential, it is also important for your meeting room solution to be compatible with all types of devices while supporting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies.

After understanding your business’s requirements, you can assess the mentioned solutions to decide on the right one for you:

● Smart projector is the right choice for you if you want to implement PC-free meetings that support IT management and improve productivity and efficiency with ease. They are great options for companies with multiple meeting rooms. In addition, smart projectors also support BYOD meetings by offering wireless casting and compatibility with most types of devices.
If you are interested in adopting a smart projector in your meetings, BenQ Smart Projector for Business is a great choice for you. It is the only all-in-one solution available in the market.

● Wireless projector is right for your business if your meetings only require compatibility with Windows OS and Android devices, or USB dongles. Also, as wireless projectors do not support IT teams to a great extent, they are good options for companies with only 1 meeting room.
If you feel a wireless projector is the best option for your PC-free meetings, you can check out the wireless projectors offered by Panasonic or Epson.

● Interactive Flat Panels offer similar features as compared to smart projectors. They are great for creating PC-free environments and are best for businesses with a high budget and requirement for corporate information security. They also offer a high range of device compatibility to enable BYOD-friendly meetings whenever needed. If you want to adopt an Interactive Flat Panel in your meeting room, BenQ's DuoBoard Corporate Interactive Flat Panel might be the right product for you.

We hope this article has provided you with the required insights to guide your decision making about the right meeting room solution for your PC-free meetings!