Make business video meetings easy: Simplified Scheduling, Joining & Content Sharing

Video meetings have become an essential part of our professional lives. However, they often come with their fair share of complexities and challenges. Sean Lessman from Synergy SKY discusses how to solve some of these problems with an easy-to-use, user-friendly, and cost-effective solution.

Why are video meetings complicated?

For starters, there has been a general move away from standards like SIP. During the pandemic, there was a rise in different non-SIP-based platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, all of which require some sort of gateway to join. Gateways can be hard to use and complicated for users and, in some cases, do not provide the full feature set of the platform to those devices.

There are also multiple ways to schedule a meeting on the platforms you're trying to join. In some cases, you may require plugins; in others, you may have to go to a webpage or a portal to schedule it, and the process usually differs from platform to platform.

Finally, there are multiple ways to join a meeting once it's been scheduled. In all cases, vendors generally ask customers to change their workflow to accommodate.

Common challenges

• Getting meetings to start on time
• Popular meeting platforms tend to be proprietary islands of technology
  
• User experience varies depending on the meeting type

Different solutions

Individual solution: This involves a person at home working with a laptop and web camera, using multiple software clients that launch based on the meeting invite. However, this does not provide a consistent user experience, as it changes depending on the meeting type.	Rooms-based solution: For typical meeting rooms with Cisco/Poly devices, where you want to use the device to join multiple meeting platforms. One approach is to use a USB passthrough. Newer technology works well with this approach, but older hardware may require a dongle for compatibility.
Partially in the network, partially in the room: This solution involves using a component called Cloud Video Intro (CVI) in the network, which allows any endpoints to join a Teams call using One Button To Push. Direct Guest Join is used for joining external invites, while CVI is mainly used for sending internal invites within an organization.	Network-based solution: This technology sits in your network and is transparent to the user. It allows you to join any meeting type, internal or external, and share content in both directions, including application-based content and screen sharing. It provides a consistent meeting experience for all.

How can you choose your solution?

Ask yourself some key questions:

• What are your organization's goals?
• Do you plan to join meetings internally or externally?
• Which meeting platforms do you intend to use?
• What type of content do you plan to share?
• What is compatible with your current and future video devices?
• Is the solution user-friendly for easy adoption?

Key takeaways

1. It shouldn't matter who sends the invite; you should be able to join all and any meetings, whether they are internal or external.

2. Feature sets of a video platform shouldn't depend on the sender of the invite.

3. You should be able to share content in any way you prefer; ensure that the chosen platform supports it.

4. The solution should support both legacy and latest devices.

5. Aim for a single, user-friendly experience across all meeting platforms, rather than a complicated experience for all platforms in pursuit of a deep native experience for just one.
   
   

Last and most importantly:
Make technology adoption easy for your users and enhance productivity amidst teams

As the demand for effective collaboration continues to grow, it's crucial to find solutions that eliminate the complexities of video meetings. With Synergy SKY's innovative approach, you can streamline the entire meeting workflow, from scheduling to joining and content sharing. Embrace a future where video meetings are effortless and productive, allowing your team to focus on what truly matters—achieving your goals.