Times change and so do businesses. In fact, the working environment has changed so much over the last two years that new tools appeared to make collaboration between remote teams much easier. One of these tools is the online whiteboard.
This handy tool is something that will definitely change the way members of your team work together. It will also prove effective in both planning and executing your marketing strategies. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at some of the benefits of using an online whiteboard.
What Is an Online Whiteboard?
Online whiteboards are pieces of software that are usually either downloadable or browser-based. As the name suggests, they are digital whiteboards that will improve collaboration between team members over distance, in real-time. An online whiteboard will boost any team’s creativity and improve collaboration. Now that we’ve got the definition out of the way, it’s time to look at some of the benefits.
Benefit #1: Improves Video Calls
It’s hard to keep everyone’s attention during a video call, especially if they last longer than an hour. So if you want to make it a fun experience for everyone involved, you should definitely try to use an online whiteboard. Because many work calls involve some screen sharing, this is a great way to take that experience to the next level – with an online whiteboard, your team will be able to truly collaborate and co-create.
Online whiteboard software usually supports more than 10 users, so you can bring all of them on the same board. They can then start creating content and interacting with each other in real-time, giving and receiving feedback as the ideas keep coming.
Benefit #2: Provides Visual Explanations
Sharing ideas and concepts in an online conference can be quite a challenging task. Most people are using PowerPoint presentations to get ideas across in a more efficient way. But these presentations take up a lot of time and preparation and you risk not having everyone understand the content.
However, the thing about PowerPoint presentations is that they’re very static. There’s not much going on except some images and text. An online whiteboard is a perfect tool to replace PowerPoint with – it allows you to gather the information together and explain everything in a more dynamic and visual way.
Benefit #3: Add Stories to Your Presentations
An online whiteboard will bring a certain level of variation in both calls and presentations. You don’t have to show slide after slide of a PowerPoint presentation. Instead, you can do it in a more vibrant and dynamic way with an online whiteboard.
With the help of this tool, you can add interesting stories to your presentations. For example, you can take your team on a little treasure hunt during your presentation and move from point to point. The best thing about whiteboards is that they’re not limited in the amount of space you can use to get your point across. Unlike a PowerPoint presentation, that is restricted to the size of one single slide.
Benefit #4: Better Remote Workshops
If you’ve been doing remote workshops for a while, you will know that hosting such an event is close to impossible without an online whiteboard. In order for them to be effective, online workshops have to look and feel as close to the offline ones as possible – flipcharts, graphs, and sticky notes.
An online whiteboard will offer all of those tools in digital format. You will have digital sticky notes, different colored pens, a presenter, and even voting options so the people can better get involved. On top of that, all of the content generated during an online workshop will immediately be saved in the cloud, so you can be sure nothing is lost.
Benefit #5: Boosts Innovation
Innovation and fresh ideas are key to any business’ success. And with everybody working from home, it might be more difficult than usual to get new ideas going. This is where the online whiteboard comes to help – it will replace the creative coffee breaks and brainstorming sessions, creating a digital space for people to discuss ideas and come up with new concepts. It will provide a great space to boost creativity and have everyone contribute with their thoughts and ideas.
Because an online whiteboard usually provides the same tools you’d be using in a meeting – sticky notes, pens, presentation boards – it’s the perfect solution for teams who are working remotely but still need to get together to brainstorm. It helps keep people creative, even when working from home.
Benefit #6: Provides a Digital Project Room
In bigger companies, people usually have a dedicated room where they discuss a certain project. These rooms are usually equipped with all the tools necessary – huge whiteboards and pens that they can use to better display and visualize information. But when people work from home, this room is not accessible anymore.
An online whiteboard can successfully become the replacement for that dedicated room. And the best thing about it is that it provides teams with an infinite amount of space for their ideas. They can add the same info in the online whiteboard, along with digital elements such as pictures, videos, and animations, which make it even more interactive.
Our Final Thoughts
We’re sure there are more benefits to using an online whiteboard – we have just highlighted the main ones. This digital tool is crucial in boosting team creativity and collaboration, especially when everyone is working from home. On top of that, it’s also useful for freelancers who want to better organize their ideas, projects, and clients.
What about you? Have you used an online whiteboard until now? What are some other benefits you’ve noticed? Let us know in the comments below and if you found this article useful, don’t be afraid to share it with friends!
