Sharp Business Systems (SBS), the direct business-to-business sales division of Sharp Electronics Corporation, has showrooms across the U.S. designed to show current and potential customers how to elevate the work experience and build smart offices that address the needs of the modern hybrid workforce. The stars of these showrooms are the Sharp and Sharp/NEC displays demonstrated in various vignettes, from conference rooms to common spaces to training rooms to breakrooms. SBS reveals that it standardized Mersive Technologies’ Solstice Platform in these environments to maximize the use of each display.
As a result, it created a more engaging, unifying, and informed hybrid work experience via Solstice’s collaboration capabilities, operational analytics and digital signage. “Mersive Solstice helps us supercharge our displays and show organizations how to use them in more ways,” says Chris Chopp, national director of visual solutions for Sharp Business Systems. “Each of our primary showrooms has multiple Mersive Solstice Pods.”
Chopp adds, “One of the challenges we have to overcome is businesses thinking they can run to a big-box store to buy a residential TV for their conference room. The reality is, you need purpose-built displays designed for 24/7 operation that excel at signage. They are brighter, have a less glossy finish, and often, have better image characteristics for visual communication.”
Sharp Business Systems Leverages Mersive Solstice
Photo courtesy: Sharp Business Systems and Mersive Technologies.
Sharp Business Systems notes that it uses Mersive Solstice for simple wireless presentation, collaboration and conferencing applications. This is alongside peripherals from Bose, Huddly, Yamaha and others. While SBS looked at other collaboration offerings for its showrooms; it chose Mersive Solstice for its unmatched features, the company states. Solstice’s multi-participant content sharing, control and markup improve user engagement and meeting productivity. The intuitive Solstice app plus app-free sharing options give users choice and flexibility in the meeting room.
“SBS showrooms are great examples of how a workplace can become a destination,” says Erica Carroll, director of product marketing and training at Mersive. “People walk into these innovative environments and it makes them think about how their work could be richer and more empowered than working at home alone. A large part of that is through effortless connection with coworkers and therefore a more exciting and impactful experience.”
Operational Analytics Inform Room Use
Mersive Solstice Cloud is a secure cloud portal that allows administrators to easily manage Solstice Pods. Solstice Cloud also includes in-depth operational analytics, which is a big advantage for SBS showrooms. This meaningful data empowers both Sharp and potential customers to better understand, optimize, and determine ROI on their Solstice-enabled meeting spaces. They can thus categorize Solstice Pods, collect and analyze data such as peak meeting hours, average meeting duration and more. Moreover, they can leverage those insights to optimize current spaces and plan future ones.
“Our customers want to know: ‘Are we using that space?’ and ‘How are we using that space?’ So Mersive Solstice’s room analytics data is both valuable and impressive,” adds Chopp.
Sharp Business Systems Displays are Supercharged
Photo courtesy: Sharp Business Systems and Mersive Technologies.
According to Sharp Business Systems, the Mersive Solstice Pods act as digital-signage players and are compatible with a wide variety of digital-signage providers. These include 22Miles, Appspace, Carousel and others. The one-two punch of Sharp displays and easy-to-manage and secure Solstice Pods supercharges the SBS showroom displays. It also showcases how the powerful digital signage helps customers unite their hybrid workforce and reinforce corporate messaging, the company notes.
“With today’s hybrid work scenarios, not everyone is in the office at the same time, so visual communications have to be more impactful. We use office space in our showrooms to illustrate how visual communication can drive home corporate messaging and get everybody on the same page,” says Chopp. “This ultimately helps alleviate remote workers feeling disconnected. Whether the message is about employee appreciation or recognition, the result is more camaraderie. People feel like they’re a part of something.”
Want more information about digital signage and related opportunities? If so, check out Commercial Integrator’s Digital Signage: A Complete Guide for more!
