Technology to Enhance Your Business

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Using The Latest Technology To Enhance Your Business

Once the preserve of the super wealthy, large or highly successful corporations or government department with large budgets, good quality audio visual equipment is now affordable for everyone.  The world has moved on since technology such as slide projectors were first introduced in the 1950s, and audio visual equipment that we often take for granted today such as video conferencing would have amazed those first early projector operators.  The decision for businesses today is not so much how affordable the latest technology is or how easy it is to use, but rather how to choose between the huge range of brands and types of equipment that is on the market today.

capture whiteboard notes to computer

Depending on their size, many businesses today have a requirement for some form of audio visual equipment, whether it takes the form of common electronic whiteboards or projectors, or even more complex solutions such as video and audio conferencing, video walls or forms of digital signage.  It has been widely recognised since the eighties and nineties that businesses can use technology to help their employees in all aspects of their work, but especially when it comes to training.

For example, as part of the U.S. Department of Labor, the OSHA Office of Training and Education published an article in 1996 on the effectiveness of the use of both visual and oral presentations in training.  They found that after a 3 day event, people remembered 65 per cent of the information presented with visual and oral aids, 35 per cent from a visual presentation, and only 10 per cent from a purely spoken presentation.*

Internal learning and development is a large part of business today, and there is a range of technology that can enhance any business environment, including products such as Mimio Capture, which allows training facilitators to capture notes from their whiteboard to their computer for later review and distribution.

Starting with the humble whiteboard in people’s offices to today’s electronic whiteboards that can capture and print an entire day’s brainstorming session, technology has been steadily making the business place a more efficient and organised place to be.

Remember the days of early telephone conferencing?  In the majority of cases the connection could be slow and unreliable, with experienced members of the IT department having to be on standby in case of technical failure.  Thankfully those days are over, and today companies can take advantage of the very latest technologies such as wireless conference phones that are incredibly easy to install and use, as well as SIP-based Voice over IP (VoIP) systems.

Getting the right advice, and ensuring a professional audio visual installation is critical to ensuring that your business gets maximum value for money as well as the appropriate system for you.  VISIONEXT can provide you with a range of the latest technology including digital hardware and software, audio visual and web conferencing systems, LCD and DLP projectors and whiteboards.  We can also provide a hassle-free projector and screen installation service for all your presentation needs.  Contact us to find out how we can help you enhance your business today!

 

*Source: OSHA Office of Training and Education  http://www.osha.gov/doc/outreachtraining/htmlfiles/traintec.html

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How to get the best from you interactive whiteboard

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interactive whiteoardMost schools now have at least one interactive whiteboard (smart board) in a classroom somewhere within the grounds. In the last 5 years the Education world has certainly taken up the technology rapidly and deployed it in primary and secondary classrooms with tremendous results.

What we are seeing now is the technology being adopted before and after the school years. Pre-schools are now looking to the interactive whiteboard to introduce early learning concepts in a new and exciting way.

Tertiary Education is also integrating the systems into lecture rooms to improve their teaching environment.

With all these installations going on I thought would put together some points to help get the best set up

  • It is always recommended that any installation be carried out by qualified professionals as it often makes a big difference in the quality of the audio visual experience
  • I would always recommend the best set up is to have the board fixed to a wall. This way the surface does not move and makes it easier for the Educator to get the lesson started.
  • Likewise the projector should ideally be a fixed installation to stop any vibration or knocking whilst in use.
  • The most ideal projector to install is one if the newer ultra short throw units that are available. These projectors sit directly above the board surface very close to the wall and display the image directly downwards on to the board surface . This has tremendous advantages to the operator as it drastically minimises shadowing with no glare for the teacher or students. [NEC have a fantastic range now with 5 year warranty which I certainly recommend in schools for peace of mind.]
  • Speakers should be installed close to the board either directly above or to each side. The also need to have enough power to fill the room with plenty of sound. Typically a minimum of 20 watts is a good starting point for the average classroom
  • A fixed wall plate should include the necessary connections. For example; a VGA female socket(for visuals), 3.5mm female socket (for audio input), and optional USB female socket. This would be the minimum in most situations but can vary between sites and different requirements.
  • Ensure you install the latest version of software to run your board. Ideally this is available from the Manufacturers website.
  • Lastly conduct some training for the people who are going to operate it. It will give tremendous confidence to those that who may be uncertain of the change in their classroom. Excellent advice from one school was to have a teacher buddy system where users of different technical experience were paired together to make the transition as easy as possible

I hope you have found this brief guide of some use. If you would like to see how an interactive whiteboard might fit into your school call us now on 1300 139292

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What is audio visual integration

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The Best in Corporate Audio Visual Integration

projectorsThere are many corporate audio visual suppliers in the market today. It is important for any business to choose an audio visual company carefully to provide the best possible experience when trying to fulfill your audio visual integration requirements.

Visionext is a company which goes through a careful process with our customers so as to help them get the best solution. With complex requirements we even go to the extent of writing a “Scope of Works” to ensure that everyone understands what is required. This “Scope” is drafted and then returned to our customer to ensure that we, the integrator, fully understand what is to be expected.

Here you are going to read about the services we offer. They will enable you to make the best decisions.

We are a company which has been in the industry for more than 10 years providing simple installations through to complex projects. Therefore we have a lot of expertise in providing the best corporate AV solutions. We carefully select from  the latest equipment on the market that we have full confidence in.

The best audio visual integration comes from understanding not only the customer requirements from our “Scope of Works” document but also from a clear and concise understanding of the equipment involved.

In the most complex of integration work our goals are to ensure that the system is reliable and more importantly that it is easy for our customers to operate

The following are some specific audio visual installation details for different corporate environments. They are very different from those of the domestic market. So much so that will not do any domestic audio visual installations.

Boardrooms
The boardroom is most often a critical room to the company where important decisions are made, the hub of a company’s activities. It is not only vital to ensure that it delivers an outstanding user experience where the  businesses rely on modern technology. An advanced set of tools is needed for your boardroom. These include an audio system that is clear and seamless, a high resolution projector and presentation sources such as a PC,  DVD, and very often TV facilities.

Becoming more common place now in a modern Boardroom is the need for video conferencing and touch-screen control systems. Our integrated AV systems will function at a very highly technical level ensuring that your boardroom meetings go swiftly and efficiently.

Auditoriums
Sophisticated technologies are needed in the auditorium. They should integrate to bring the best in clear sound, lighting and image quality together for a dynamic and impeccable presentation. Our philosophy with any audio visual integration in this environment is to help any user optimize their presentation so as to give a maximum impact. We fully understand that often the users a diverse so simplicity is a key driving factor.

Delegate systems
We are able to equip parliamentary buildings, council chambers and conference venues with state of the art technology. Our conference services include microphone, voting, and digital recording of conferences and lectures among others.

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