From the smartphones in our pockets to the self-checkout machines in the grocery store, interactive touch panels are everywhere, and for good reason:
In corporate, education, customer service, and retail environments, touch-sensitive audio visual tech – which ranges from small portable touch tablets through massive kiosks and video panels – offers a number of impressive benefits.
Here are just a few of the ways touch panels maximize the value of your technology:
User-friendliness and accessibility
Touch screen panels enable a direct interaction with technology that’s hard to match.
There’s something inherently more natural about pointing and manipulating objects on a screen with our hands the same way we could touch physical objects.
Pointing and pushing with our hands is a natural, instinctive gesture that almost everyone does intuitively. In a technological environment, that familiarity translates into instant expertise without the need for advanced training.
Reduced training time on tech, and reduced errors from technological mistakes mean more time to spend on your business or organization’s priorities.
Interactive touch screens also tend to be much more accessible for those with physical disabilities who may find other interfaces – such as a mouse and keyboard – difficult to use. When they are well-designed, touchscreens offer all the simplicity of a whiteboard or blackboard and chalk, but with the power and functionality of a computer.
Enhanced customer experiences and faster business processes
As an automated customer service technology, touch screen panels offer 24/7 interactive customer support that never goes on break or calls out sick. They offer information, directions, and assistance to customers on-demand.
The immediate interface of a touch screen also makes inputting commands measurably faster. Faster input translates into more effective and efficient decisions, which has a direct impact on your organization’s outcomes and bottom line.
Versatile, widely compatible, and durable digital technology
Interactive touch panels are among the most versatile methods of sharing information.
Integrators such as VSSI can work with you to configure information in a way that suits your needs and fits in seamlessly with the hardware and digital platforms you already have in place.
From small mobile tablets through massive video walls, touch screens are compatible with a wide range of technology types, platforms, varied hardware.
They are also all-in-one solutions which save space by eliminating non-touch components, limiting cords and wires. Eliminating the extra parts also means that many interactive touch panels are less likely to break, simply because there are fewer hardware components to contend with. Many are portable, offering mobile communications technology.
Touch screens are adaptable for both sensitive tasks requiring fine-toothed control, and for outdoor and other heavy-duty public use.
In fact, with modern technology, touch screens actually last longer than many projectors, offering extended durability to grow with you.
Engaging and Interactive Technology
Flat touch screen panels are visually appealing and attention-grabbing high-tech elements.
Crystal-clear images and graphics are fun to look at and arresting.
In educational settings, touch screens tap into a medium already familiar to most young people. Instead of passively listening to a presentation, viewers can actively participate in the educational experience using a touchscreen.
In business settings, touch screens enable active annotation, review, collaboration, and project management in an engaging, tactile format. Instead of trying to stay awake during a 1-way presentation, touch panels make all participants into active members of the conversation.
Regardless of the information you need to communicate, touch screens make the experience more interactive, dynamic, and powerful.
Get in touch with us to learn more about how a touch panel solution could contribute to your organization’s goals.
As a full-service audio-visual integration (AV) company, VSSI provides high-end, individually-tailored solutions. After an in-depth consultation with you, our professionally trained and certified staff will work to design the best solution for your needs, vision, and budget. After we build it, we’ll keep working for you, providing 24/7 support to make sure you keep getting the most out of your custom AV solution.
82% of these workers say they need to collaborate with others to do their work; if over half of these people work off-site, your video conferencing room quickly becomes the most valuable piece of real estate at your organization.
Even if you already have a conferencing solution in place, upgrading to a system designed for your use and space has numerous benefits, from easier use and faster problem-resolution to improved productivity from distraction-free communication.
As AV technology evolves and improves, the options available on the market do too; today, there are hundreds of viable products and options which can produce highly functional conferencing solutions.
“Telepresence” is one such invention.
Telepresence – Sci Fi to Reality
Telepresence began as a science-fiction dream in the 1960s: what if you could attend meetings and interact with people as if you were actually there, but from anywhere on the planet? Since the 1990s, numerous breakthroughs in AV technology have made this idea closer and closer to reality.
We don’t (yet) have the option of projecting holographic images onto thin air, but we are getting remarkably close to creating the exact sensation of speaking to a group of people as if you’re all in the same room. With telepresence technology, participants in the conversation will look and sound as if they’re sitting right next to you.
Telepresence vs. Video Conferencing: What’s the Difference?
Telepresence conferencing provides the most high-definition experience possible during video conferencing. While “video conferencing” and “telepresence” are often used interchangeably, the underlying technology is slightly different.
Video Conferencing
Modern video conferencing provides crisp visuals and reliable, clear audio, over IP or internal networks.
While video conferencing works very well for many companies, one area where video conferencing can fall short is when presenting entire conference rooms of speakers with the same level of clarity you’d see if you were all in the same room. When participants are farther or closer to the microphone(s) and camera(s), most systems have a hard time portraying them with equal clarity.
Video conferencing solutions flatten whatever room you’re in – wherever that is – and portray it as is. When more than two or three people are participating in a video conference, it can quickly become difficult to distinguish who is speaking. They also require more end-user involvement in the operation, and can therefore also be more prone to glitches if improperly configured.
Telepresence
Telepresence conferencing provides the most high-definition experience possible during video conferencing.
“Telepresence” refers to tools which allow participants to feel as though they are actually in the same room as whoever they’re talking with.
One way to think about this is as a built-in, room-specific situation. Telepresence solutions take into account the dimensions, lighting, and acoustics of the space and replicates them accurately instead of just capturing data from a camera and microphone and reproducing it exactly.
Some solutions may replicate the appearance of the room on each side to create a more immersive experience – same chair in each room.
Telepresence solutions adjust the video to provide accurate, clear focus on each participant, even at a large conference table.
They also adjust the sound, with embedded spatial audio so that it’s always clear where sound is coming from. Instead of confusing sound coming from each participant on top of another, it becomes obvious who is speaking at all times.
In short, all people are clearly visible, and the focus doesn’t vary depending on how far they are from the screen. You’ll also hear them the same way you would in the room, instead of at varying volumes depending on how far they are from the mic.
Finally, telepresence doesn’t generally require as much end-user configuration, headsets, or other devices; this makes them easier to operate day-to-day, but also less portable.
Which is Better – Telepresence Solutions or Video Conferencing?
In general, you will see the best quality and realism using a telepresence solution.
However, if you plan to regularly change which rooms are connected, it can be extremely costly to set up telepresence solutions in each room you’ll be using.
Cost is the biggest drawback in a telepresence solution. Simple video conferencing solutions can often be installed for as little as 5% of the cost of a high-end telepresence solution.
Interoperability may also be an issue if you need to communicate with others using multiple different vendors or solutions.
Just like high-definition movies, you’ll only see the quality supported by the lowest common denominator. (Think of watching a movie from the 1960s on a modern television set, or watching a HD movie on a 1960s television). A video conferencing solution communicating with a telepresence solution will only present the maximum quality supported by the lesser-quality equipment.
You’ll still be able to communicate as long as there’s a basic level of compatibility, but you’ll get the most bang for your buck by pairing two telepresence solutions.
The bottom line is that if your business relies on closing distances and impressing clients with the visuals etc., telepresence will provide the most impressive and realistic, high-definition solution. However, if you operate in many locations or are a smaller business, video conferencing can fulfill many of the same needs.
Regardless of your needs,VSSi will work with you closely to develop a visually stunning and highly effective conferencing solution to bring members of your organization to you. Check out our recent installations here, orget in touch to schedule a consultation.
In recent times, Internet of Things (IoT) has greatly established itself as part of everywhere conversation. IoT is a process that accumulates many things that exist in the world, puts them into a network and makes them connect to one another. These things are connected via sensors. One interesting thing about IoT and the AV industry is that both industries are in the same boat, as such, AV and IoT have worked perfectly together in the following areas.
Corporate Organizations
The corporate setting is a unique system that has incorporated IoT’s concepts into the audio visual settings owing to the fact that it is a system that is localized with all equipment located near one another. As such, the audio visual industry is greatly relied on by corporate organizations. The audio visual system is the heart of any corporate building in the sense that it provides a user with interface and knowledge about the way and manner clients interact with the corporate environment.
As an audio visual firm, VSSi provides the necessary interface between the building and the user. VSSi’s room schedulers provide indicators as to whether a room is occupied or not. At VSSi, touch panels are set such that they trigger boardrooms to be ready for meetings and the control systems of VSSi interface with the building systems and lighting.
Centralized Monitoring
IoT can be integrated into centralized monitoring system to discover the number of smart devices that are connected to a network. This will provide employers information about the number of people that are onsite every day. This information will help employees in knowing if the office space is being fully utilized if more desk spaces should be created and if more meeting rooms should be created.
Retail
In the retail setting, audio visual integrators in partnership with IoT have been able to deploy paging systems and background music with digital signage. As customers move through the mall, a Bluetooth beacon can be located at each digital signage that is displayed. The beacon will ping the environment for patrons that have downloaded the retailer’s app and have active Bluetooth. From there, the beacon will extract the patron’s purchase history and display related goods as well as other goods that might be of interest to the patron on the digital signage.
Security
IoT’s integration with the security field makes complete sense when it is tied to an audio visual integrator. Numerous information about emerging Mass Notification/Emergency Communication Systems (MNS/ECS) market has been provided by NSCA, manufacturers, and InfoComm. For these systems to provide intelligent information and offer solutions where there is a case of emergency, the skill set of an AV integrator is required.
Read more about 5 reasons why companies should use IoT in their workplace, click here
IoT Integration with Your AV Business
If you want to integrate IoT with your Organization’s audio visual equipment or AV business, Visual System Solutions and Integration is your best bet. Visual System Solutions & Integration (VSSi) provides ongoing support through PROactive IoT and AV integration through the provision of indicators with offers you detailed information about the level of office space or room occupancy. VSSi implements its professional support for audio visual integration with IoT by setting touch panels to prompt board room’s readiness for business meetings. The contract of VSSi allows for equipment maintenance at the top level of performance and guarantees the resolution of any technical issues that might emerge anytime in the future. The company’s highly-trained and knowledgeable technicians integrate IoT and AV equipment to provide you detailed security information and offer your business grade A solutions where there is a case of emergency.
Furthermore, VSSI’s audio visual integrators in collaboration with IoT will provide your business with paging systems and background music with digital signage which help in advertising new and/or useful products to customers in your office or retail store.
At VSSi, we provide IoT and AV integration with corporate and business organizations, worship centers, government establishments and healthcare centers.
Learn more about audio visual solutions with VSSi, click here.
You can purchase most of the components almost anywhere and anytime. But the reason you want to work with a top-quality Audio Visual System Integrator like Visual System Solutions and Integration, is for the services we provide that make it all come together.
Discussed further down the page in more detail, these services provide you the following benefits:
You will receive a quality system that will work as expected. A proper system is far more than the sum of all of its parts. It takes careful design, combined with extensive real-world installation/integration experience, to create a system that is engineered to work as needed and expected.
Your system will be easy to use. A thoughtfully designed system will put a tremendous emphasis on the user interface as well as the serviceability of the equipment. A well-crafted and flawlessly programmed user interface, combined with critical end-user and technical training, will make the difference between you getting tremendous value out of your system or just wondering why you spent so much money on a confusing contraption.
Your project will be well executed. There are a myriad of factors that can frustrate the successful completion of a project, and something can always be expected to come up during a complex construction project. But with savvy, experienced Project Managers following an actual process – we call ours, “The Visual System Solutions and Integration Way” – you can rest assured that you will know exactly where your project is throughout its duration and you will be helped to complete it successfully on-time and on-budget.
Your system will KEEP working. With a proper maintenance plan in place, you can have peace of mind that the system will work as it was designed to do.
Visual System Solutions and Integration
is a full-service audiovisual provider. From our initial AV consultation, through design, installation, programming and long-term support, all services are provided in house by our extensive and knowledgeable staff. Visual System Solutions and Integration has completed hundreds of projects for some of the most influential and innovative companies because we can be trusted to get the job right, on time, and on budget.
Regardless of your presentation needs, there are many potential AV configurations on the market.VSSi works with businesses to help design custom AV solutions to fit any space and business scenario.
Many of our customers are unsure whether a video wall or projection-based system will better suit their needs.
Of course, both LED video walls and projectors are highly functional and impressive solutions.
Both can be customized to provide modern high-tech aesthetics and support multi-media presentations. Both offer cost-effective, high-res, and flexible solutions.
However, whether a video wall vs. projector will be more effective for you depends on a few key elements about your organization’s space, business, and AV-needs.
Here’s a short guide to video walls vs. projectors:
Video Wall Considerations:
Video walls have changed dramatically over the past two decades; modern solutions are slimmer, more energy efficient, and offer much higher resolution, and less bezels (space between panels) than ever before.
Since they’re made up of multiple panels working together, video walls can be configured into multiple shapes and viewed at many angles. LED panels also reduce glare and can be used outside and in areas with plenty of ambient light.
They are also modern, impressive-looking and elevate the spaces they’re installed in. Unlike some projection screens, video walls can be installed piece by piece. If you need a big solution, but have space constraints like small doorways which might otherwise prohibit large hardware, video walls are a great option.
Because the picture is native to the screen, video walls often require less space than projectors and can be viewed from farther away. They often also have better color saturation.
They are typically a larger up-front investment, since installation can be intensive and component parts are high-tech and must match each other. Some older models can also be more energy intensive than projectors, since each panel used to require its own power source.
Projector Considerations:
Projectors have been around for much longer than video walls. Since there are more options available on the market, projector component parts tend to be more interchangeable. It’s generally possible, for example, to upgrade only the projection screen or only the projector and scale up slowly. Depending on the model, projection screens are also more energy efficient than multiple-panel video walls.
Ambient light can be a problem for projection systems; they work best in conference rooms, banquet halls, and other rooms which can be darkened to avoid glare. Because the video is removed from the source, you’ll also need a way to keep the space between projector and screen clear of people and other obstructions.
However, projectors are highly customizable by size and can more easily be moved to new locations. Projection-based systems can be cut into multiple configurations to fit unique shapes.
Projectors are typically much less expensive up front than video walls, though replacement parts – especially bulbs – can increase the price tag. You may need to factor in potential additional costs such as cleaning and maintenance, blackout curtains or high-quality projection screens.
LED displays are typically less high-definition than projectors, though this again varies depending on the specific solution you install. Standard high-def projectors can be up to twice the pixel height of standard LED video walls. Whether this matters to you will depend on how far away your audience will be – at larger distances, attributes such as brightness and color saturation may be more important than fine details, or vice versa.
Video Wall vs Projector: What’s best for your space?
Both projectors and video walls can be customized to provide an impressive and flexible solution for your organization’s needs.
Knowing how you will use your AV system and what your space is like will help you weigh the pros and cons when choosing a video wall vs. projection system. In light of the considerations detailed above, questions such as:
How big is the space? Is it an indoor room which can be fitted with blackout curtains, or a sunlight lobby?
How far away is the audience, and what kind of presentations will you be supporting with AV?
How much do you want to invest now, vs. down the line?
Will space constraints make installation difficult? and
How important are color saturation and brightness vs. image sharpness?
are all important to consider when making a decision.
Whether you want a custom video wall or cutting-edge projection solution, VSSi will work with you to ensure that you maximize the results of your budget and end up with a solution that fits both your space and your organization’s needs. VSSi makes custom-built high-tech AV solutions and supports projects from concept through execution and support down the road.
It is widely known fact that an image is worth more than thousands of words. A crisp HD video conferencing powered by Visual System Solutions & Integration is a pointer to that fact. A lot of businesses, for instance, are interested in presenting a product to their international sales executives or solve a problem with their clients. With video conferencing, businesses have found an audio visual means of revealing their products to their team members as well as solving their client’s problems by audio visually taking them through the steps involved in the problem-solving process. Broadly speaking, there are many benefits associated with using video conferencing for your business but we will discuss some of the benefits below:
Cost Effectiveness
Businesses have two major responsibilities which are to reduce cost and to increase revenue. As far as cost reduction is concerned, the role of video conferencing cannot be overemphasized. Video conferencing has made it possible for businesses to be present in many locations at a point in time without leaving the four walls of the office. When you do an estimation of what you will incur on traveling to these locations, you realize that the traveling cost is far higher than what you will incur on video conferencing.
At Visual System Solutions & Integration, we offer your business video conferencing solutions that are compliant with existing infrastructure. We possess software that can be downloaded and aid virtual meetings on your smartphone, PC and other devices.
Relationship Enhancement Through Effective Communication
When video conferencing solutions are used, you can visualize the facial expression as well as the body language of your employees and clients. This brings about a collaboration that is quicker and highly effective, thereby enhancing a relationship. Provision of a platform by video conferencing where businesses can have meetings with officers around the world creates a situation through which employees feel they are closer to the head office. From the wholesaler/retailer’s point of view, manufacturers can be spoken to wherever he is and he can be shown through audio-video means the exact prototype he must reproduce in crisp HD quality. This improves the relationship between manufacturers and wholesalers/retailers and in the long run impacts on the level of sales.
It Aids Telecommuting
According to research, over 75% of employees love to embrace a working plan that is more flexible. This more flexible working condition is telecommuting. Video conferencing has so much aided telecommuting to the extent that workers at home can maintain the connection with co-workers and clients. This has aided businesses with the provision of more comfortable work environment which has, in turn, led to retention of company’s top talents.
Better Staff Training Experience
Before the advent of video conferencing, it was very difficult to organize training sessions for employees. Members of staff of business establishments had to travel to training centers, lodge in hotels and travel back after each training session while employers had to book training venues, arrange for hotels and approve traveling bonuses. However, since the advent of video conferencing, staff training has taken another dimension as thousands of employees can be trained simultaneously regardless of their locations. Rather than being crammed inside one venue, employees can be seated in front of their personal computers or other audio visual devices and be part of the training session. Video conferencing has also made it possible for employees to record the whole training session and watch it over and over again.
Improved Recruitment Process
According to a research carried out by Redshift Research, video conferencing ranks third in human resources business communication channels. Through video conferencing, the possibility of consummating job vacancies quicker and leveraging on opportunities to contact prospective employees around the world has increased. Job interviews are now done through video conferencing and it allows the interviewers to communicate better with the applicants wherever they are located.
With a host of video conferencing solutions, Visual System Solutions & Integration offers a potent way of enabling conferences or video contents to be streamed live or shared across the globe. Visual System Solutions & Integration has made it possible for customers, partners, employees, business owners and students to use video conferencing to interact with other people anytime, anywhere.
To learn more about Visual System Solutions & Integration’s video conferencing solutions, click here.
Download Visual System Solutions & Integration‘s brochures, clickhere.
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