How to hold productive hybrid meetings with the Microsoft Surface 2S.

Although they should be the heart of modern hybrid communication, most meeting rooms look exactly the same today as they did several years ago. That could be because they were designed for face-to-face meetings, and so they simply aren’t equipped with the technologies needed for hybrid collaboration. Let’s be honest, putting a whiteboard in a room isn’t exactly useful in today’s digitalised world. Fact of the matter is, rooms that are lacking in equipment or are set up with outdated technology inhibit successful meetings.

Rich sound and clear images for efficient collaboration.

When meeting rooms include cameras, those colleagues dialling in from elsewhere can be well integrated into the meeting and you can say goodbye to blurry images and colour inaccuracies. It’s just as important to get the sound right. In most meetings, those taking part are spread around the room, with some sitting closer to the microphone than others. Good solutions have been specifically designed to meet this challenge and support acoustic transmission regardless of where the speaker is sitting. Without them, the result is a lack of productivity and creative dialogue. What does a modern meeting room look like? First of all, it has to facilitate collaboration between dispersed teams through flexible tools that enable efficient and creative communication.

Once a company decides it needs to modernise, the first question is often about which solution really is the best. There are so many options on the market these days that fulfil numerous requirements, but the question is if there’s a simple and intuitive all-in-one solution.

Outstanding tools = flexibility.

Instead of having to buy and install a lot of complex standalone elements, Microsoft Surface Hub 2S is available as two different models. The 85" version is the perfect choice for larger rooms, but when space is a bit more limited, you can't go wrong with the 50" model. The larger option comes with an AI-supported smart camera enabling an interactive meeting experience as it detects meeting participants so that Microsoft Teams can also focus on the person speaking. It also has a 130° angle of vision so that presenters and participants alike can move around the room at will. And that’s not all! The latest Surface Hub allows those dialling in from outside to take part on an equal footing as those actually on-site.

Thanks to the integrated whiteboard, everyone in the meeting can sketch out their ideas and add annotations while the sophisticated microphone technology eliminates background noise to deliver crystal-clear acoustics. Another benefit of the Surface Hub 2S is that it comes with a robust mobile Steelcase with built in APC battery meaning it can be quickly and easily moved from one room to another, so you only need to invest in one device for multiple rooms. saving money and giving you maximum flexibility. The Proximity Join feature allows employees to join scheduled or spontaneous meetings from their smartphones, laptops or tablets. 

Ease-of-use boosts productivity.

Fiddling around trying to get the technology to work at the start of the meeting is frustrating as valuable time is lost and participants will get bored, impacting motivation and productivity. That’s why the Surface Hub is designed to be intuitive and  adapted to users’ day-to-day lives. All they have to do to launch or manage the meeting is wirelessly connect from any device to the screen. Those who are already familiar with Surface devices will easily recognise the Hub 2S’s interface and be able to get straight down to business, and employees using M365 can easily access their documents, inboxes, calendar and Teams through the Hub thanks to OneDrive. Data can also be easily shared via Miracast and be worked on intuitively across multiple devices

while companies already leveraging a Microsoft Teams Room System (MTRS) can use this as a conference system for transmitting audio and video and connect up the Surface Hub S2 as a content source. In this way, even large rooms can be home to the best-possible meeting experiences.

The modern meeting room – A central hub.

As already mentioned, meeting rooms are essential communication hubs for employees in the hybrid world. As an all-in-one device, the Microsoft Surface Hub 2S is the perfect tool for fostering intuitive and effective collaboration. Meetings are no longer confined to rooms, but teams can continue to work effectively even when they are dispersed. This puts IT security firmly in the spotlight, but the Surface Hub 2S leverages a zero-trust approach.

Greater flexibility, ease of use, excellent picture and sound quality, numerous application possibilities, creative opportunities and secure access to data—in world of work increasingly characterised by hybrid collaboration, the Surface Hub 2S is the key to modern and effective meetings.