64 INTERVIEW Heard, seen and engaged Barco’s Jan van Houtte and Huddly’s Fraser Park discuss how their new wireless meeting room bundle supports inclusive hybrid conferencing with Microsoft Teams Videoconferencing tools have changed the way we work, but human interactions are still the foundation for success and meetings are as important as they’ve ever been. According to Barco’s research, people meet for four specific reasons: to exchange information, make decisions, share thoughts and feelings, or build trusted relationships. In the hybrid working world, the challenge is to create a space where everyone – online and in the room – is part of the same, productive experience. “Meetings create a meaningful human connection which is essential for a thriving workspace,” says Jan van Houtte, executive vice president of meeting experiences at Barco. “As well as identifying why people meet, we explored the tools and capabilities needed to make different meeting types purposeful for every participant. Each type of meeting needs its own kind of technology depending on the goal and dynamic of the interaction, but all require the same type of environment: simple, secure and smart. “Successful meeting experiences require simple tools which anyone can use, from executives to guests. Security is vital so participants know the sensitive personal and business information they share will not leave the room. In addition, a smart audiovisual (AV) experience is essential to create a meeting space that works equally well for physical and remote attendees.” Barco’s long-standing partnership with Huddly, a leading pioneer of AI-native videoconferencing cameras, is delivering on those values. Their latest release is a room system bundle combining ClickShare Hub Pro – Barco’s wireless, modular room system designed for seamless collaboration – with the Huddly C1 video bar, now also certified for Microsoft Teams. “Huddly and Barco have been working together for a long time to create the best combined solutions,” says Fraser Park, chief commercial officer at Huddly. “By combining our expertise in a Microsoft Teams certified bundle, we can enable users to make sure everybody is heard, seen and engaged in every meeting.” Simplicity was a guiding principle in the bundle’s development. ClickShare Hub requires no user training, for example, and its Control Panel allows users to start meetings with a single tap. With the next-generation ClickShare Button, meeting participants – employee or guest – can share 4K content on the meeting room display and in the videocall. Meetings can unfold naturally, with Huddly’s enhanced AV capabilities clearly capturing everything in the room for remote participants. “It’s important for both ClickShare and Huddly that meeting room deployments carry no complexity in terms of devices, set-up or use,” says van Houtte. “Our new Button, for instance, enhances ClickShare’s one-click presentation sharing capabilities in 4K. It provides an intuitive way to deliver a unified and consistent experience across all meeting room and bringyour-own-device environments.” Security is also integral to both companies. ClickShare Hub Pro is built on the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform, combining a security-by-design foundation with centralised IT management. Meanwhile, the Huddly C1 video bar processes all the data in the meeting room itself, so all AV content stays private. Wrapped around those principles is a smart, contextual experience that puts everyone on level ground. Because this is a wireless bundle, users can present from anywhere in the room. BY JACQUI GRIFFITHS
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