Barco, a global provider of meeting room technology, has formally entered into an agreement with Microsoft around Teams devices. As a first outcome of the agreement, Barco will enable ClickShare devices to provide data that will be available through Microsoft’s Teams Rooms Pro Management portal, and through tPro Portal to offer IT managers insights into room and device utilization.
Research by Frost & Sullivan reports there is greater adoption of meeting insights and analytics tools to gain a better understanding of space utilization, performance, and engagement, with 76% of the decision-makers indicating this is a key capability. Companies are looking into implementing emerging technologies that provide insights on the workspace and meeting room utilization.
Today’s workforce has become accustomed to the Bring Your Own Meeting (BYOM) or Bring your own Device (BYOD) concept in meeting rooms. The Barco ClickShare solution enables users to host calls from their own laptop with their preferred videoconferencing platform, using the audio and video equipment in the meeting room. According to Barco, ClickShare has been leading the market with its wireless BYOM approach, as market research company Futuresource Consulting has previously estimated that ClickShare’s portfolio makes up over 50% of the global wireless conferencing market.
Clickshare & Microsoft Integration
With more than 240,000 ClickShare Conference devices in the field, ClickShare will be a significant data source for Microsoft Teams Rooms management capabilities and will feed into future initiatives. This first step provides valuable insights for IT decision makers without changing the user experience. When initiating a Teams call, the user’s Teams desktop client identifies the connected microphone, speaker, and camera via the ClickShare Base Unit and Button, passing the data into the Teams Pro Portal. Once multiple users have connected to the same ClickShare Base Unit, the information is populated for IT managers as a potential shared space within the Pro Management portal, enabling registration and management of the meeting space.
“ClickShare has always put the user at the heart of the experience, while guaranteeing IT managers have the necessary insights to equip meeting rooms in the most optimal way,” says Jan van Houtte, head of product at Barco. “Through this integration, Microsoft and Barco will work together to build easy management systems at scale for their customers. The joint forces in the Shared Spaces initiative are a first yet crucial step to explore market opportunities and establish a future portfolio.”
“Barco shares a clear focus with Microsoft on creating the best meeting experience. This focus drives our decision making, strategy, and partnerships, which has led us to take this step,” says Dan Root, head of global strategic alliances at Barco. “We are very pleased to be a part of the Microsoft Teams Devices ecosystem, and to bring Microsoft into our partnership program. Through this collaboration we will work together to build industry-leading solutions that take collaboration to the next level.”
