Zoom Releases Hotdesking App; Google and Miro Share Integration

Welcome to the No Jitter Roll, the regular round-up of news about collaboration and communication. In today's edition, we cover Zoom’s new tool for hotdesking and hoteling, an integration between a meeting service and digital whiteboarding app, and a conference room camera for medium to large size rooms.

 

Zoom unveiled its app for hoteling and hotdesking, Zoom Workspace Reservation, which will be generally available later this month. With WorkSpace Reservation, users will be able to pre-book workspaces by reserving a space for a specific time and duration. Enterprises can also set up a kiosk at the front desk or display panel inside or outside a Zoom Rooms, so employees can book the space once they arrive in the office. Additionally, system administrators can upload custom office maps and seating locations from the admin portal, and they can use the data collected by WorkSpace Reservation to inform workplace decision around planning and building workspaces.

 

Workspace Reservation will be available as a Zoom app for both the desktop and web version of Zoom, and it works with Zoom Rooms, Zoom Phone appliances, work desks, and other workspaces.

“Employers continue to prioritize hybrid office management as they seek a secure, easy-to-use, and comprehensive solution to help connect in-office and remote workers,” said Jeff Smith, group product manager, head of Zoom Rooms and Whiteboard.

 

See related: Hybrid Work Requires a Hybrid Office Space

 

Google and visual collaboration app provider Miro revealed an integration between Google Meet and Miro's eponymous collaborative whiteboarding app. With this integration, Google Meet users can create and launch Miro boards from Meet, and meeting participants can access Meet features like chat, polls, and more through a side panel. Additionally, Miro allows Google Meet meeting participants without a Miro account to start a board and save it for up to 24 hours.

 

As enterprises look to bridge the gap between in-person and remote employees, many are looking at ways to boost collaboration and ideation with virtual/digital whiteboard apps like Miro, as analyst Irwin Lazar shared in a WorkSpace Connect article. To support whiteboarding in the hybrid office, enterprise are deploying touch screen into their meeting spaces, which can also be used as a videoconferencing endpoint, as Lazar shared in a separate article.

 

Video collaboration provider AVer announced its latest camera for conference rooms, the AVer VC550. Designed for medium to large conference rooms, the VC550 features a 4k dual lens camera with speakerphone technology and supports dynamic framing and AVer's Smart Gallery technology to ensure all in-room meeting participants can be seen within a video stream. Additionally, the VC550 can be daisy-chained with up to four additional microphone or two speakerphones, and by connecting AVer's FONE540, meeting participants can leverage background noise suppression capabilities.

 

The device is also compatible with BlueJeans by Verizon, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, RingCentral, Zoom, and other meeting services, according to the VC550 device specification.