For years, our offices have bombarded us with software that allowed us to share documents, chat with colleagues, have video or audio conferences and whatnot. Each one of these served their purpose and allowed us to work in collaboration with clients and colleagues from all places remote. The only problem? There are too many of them.
But, what if there were tools which encompass each one these software functionalities into one and save us the hassle?
Virtual whiteboards are such software that work as a whiteboard in a meeting, only the participants of the meeting are not necessarily sitting in the same room.
It isn’t magic, people, but the amazing capabilities of technology at our dispense.
Let us take a look at all the attributes that make a web whiteboard the perfect choice for collaborative working:
Real-time Communication
We have all been at the place where our work and productivity suffer because of pending work approvals on emails. These primitive methods of collaborative working have their limitations.
And a virtual whiteboard gives you the solution to this problem. It is an interactive tool that allows you to share documents and screens in real time with multiple people at the same time, thereby facilitating immediate feedback.
It can easily accommodate a number of people from different locations in real time, making communication easier and keeping everyone on the same page.
Effective Document Annotation
An online whiteboard not only allows simple sharing of documents and screens but it also gives you the authority to make the process more interactive. It enables you to make effective changes to the shared documents in real time as well.
It consists of tools that allow you to write and draw on the screen, and even include visuals. These functionalities help in making the presentation or meeting highly effective and interactive.
Web and Image Search On-screen
One of the best ways to make your presentations interactive is to have visual aids — Images, icons and animations. And virtual whiteboards give you the ability to search for the required image or even a webpage on the same screen.
With an ongoing discussion, you can easily search for reference articles and images without having to switch to a separate application or web browser. This allows you to hold highly dynamic discussions.
Audio and Video Conferencing
Unarguably, voice and video are imperative requirements for holding an effective virtual meeting over digital means.
And along with the interactive document sharing capabilities, having an audio and video conferencing property becomes a basic necessity.
Therefore, virtual whiteboards take care of these requirements as well, making it easier to communicate over long distances and understand the points of discussion in the best way.
Increased Productivity and Engagement
Needless to say that a virtual whiteboard enables a two-way discussion instead of a one-way presentation. This way, employee engagement can be maximized. In fact, with easy file sharing and editing in real time, all the people involved can have an active involvement in the meeting.
Security
When it comes to trusting a software with our personal and professional data, we all become skeptical. However, these virtual whiteboards are designed with the best data encryption technology and multiple data backups.
Your data files and intellectual properties are as safe and secure as they can be.
In all honesty, these collaborative whiteboard software have been around for a while and they had started with being simple productivity enhancement tools in workplaces. But only recently, as technology made our world smaller in distance, the need for improvement in this technology led to some great innovations.
And today, online whiteboards can be made useful in as many ways as we can imagine. However, they are most popular with designers and developers who work in collaboration, office meetings with remote employees and education institutions which build student engagement in classes. They have made it possible for people to huddle together and work in collaboration like never before.
Remote work, field jobs, and travel jobs are transforming to be mainstream work and with them, innovations in the field of smart work technologies are building up their space and bringing the world closer. And these web whiteboards are one of the most needed technologies today.