86 INTERVIEW Partnership powers smarter meeting rooms Jacqui Griffiths asks Barco’s Jan van Houtte and Logitech’s Rishi Kumar how their partnership with Microsoft is delivering flexible, dependable meeting room experiences Modern meeting rooms have to meet multiple expectations. Participants want a simple, secure and flexible experience that gives everyone an equal voice, whether they attend in person or remotely. Crystal clear sound and vision, along with bring your own device (BYOD) capabilities, are essential. Meanwhile, IT teams value reliable technology that is scalable and simple to manage. “Modern meeting rooms need flexibility, not just functionality,” says Jan van Houtte, executive vice president of meeting experiences at Barco. “As AI continues to change the way people work, organisations need spaces that support different meeting styles, platforms and workflows. The room should adapt to users, not the other way round.” “The success of a meeting room deployment is increasingly measured by the experience it delivers,” adds Rishi Kumar, director of alliances and go-tomarket at Logitech for Business. “The best meeting room technology fades into the background so employees can walk into a room and start collaborating immediately, without technical hurdles or training.” It takes a strong partnership – like the one between Barco, Logitech and Microsoft – to deliver on all these expectations. Their latest product is a Microsoft Teams certified technology bundle that combines ClickShare Hub for wireless conferencing and presentation with Logitech MeetUp 2, a video bar designed for small rooms. “Barco and Logitech have been collaborating for many years, and achieving Certified for Microsoft Teams status together marks a significant milestone in our strategy to expand ClickShare from a best-in-class BYOD solution into fully integrated room systems,” says van Houtte. “Our new bundle delivers a simple, secure Microsoft Teams Rooms experience for small meeting rooms, with the reliability and manageability that are important to IT teams. Users can start a Teams meeting from the ClickShare Control Panel and share 4K content from their laptop with the ClickShare Button, without the need for drivers or training. The wireless set-up keeps the room experience clean and easy, while the combined strengths of Barco and Logitech deliver intelligent video framing and clear, natural audio to help ensure remote participants feel included.” Flexibility is also front and centre, because modern meetings bring together diverse platforms as well as people. “Employees and guests often need to join meetings using different platforms,” says van Houtte. “By designing the bundle to support both native Teams experiences and BYOD workflows on ClickShare Hub, “ The room should adapt to users, not the other way round” Jan van Houtte, Barco
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