We all know that involving the right mix of people in a brainstorming session is vital. If some team members are missing, you’re almost certainly missing out on some potentially great insights.
And getting everyone together in one place for a traditional brainstorming session with a whiteboard or sticky notes on a wall has always been a challenge. But it’s even more difficult now that many of us are working from home for all or part of the time. Even if we do come into the office, social distancing measures can make a traditional brainstorming session impossible.
Being able to run effective brainstorming sessions in this new business landscape demands a new approach. That’s where Google Jamboard comes in, reinventing team collaboration by bringing the same real-time co-authoring capabilities that power G Suite to the humble whiteboard.
Through a combination of high-resolution, touch-sensitive displays and software, Jamboard helps your team brainstorm more effectively wherever they are: in the same room, or halfway around the world.
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Our own DevOps team here at Ancoris has been using Jamboard for a while, as the short video below shows.
We’re now starting to run some of our business transformation workshops with clients using Jamboard as well, as we can no longer get everyone together in the same place.
Jamboard makes it quick and easy for your team to:
- pull together all the content you need. You can grab images, text and files from the web and bring them straight onto the Jamboard, along with work in your Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive.
- join jams from anywhere, using the Jamboard app. Not only will app users see any changes made on the Jamboard immediately on their screens, but any edits they make on their devices are reflected in real time on the Jamboard display. The Jamboard app also lets you claim a Jamboard and start adding content from G Suite when you walk into a conference room.
- turn your scribbles into readable notes and clear diagrams. You can write and draw just like you would on a conventional whiteboard, but quickly create a “clean” version thanks to handwriting and shape recognition. And because the Jamboard stylus is passive, you don't need to worry about running out of batteries (or finding the whiteboard markers are all dried out).
- present jams in real time through Hangouts and save them to Drive once you're done, so you can return to them later or share them with others.
You can connect on up to 16 devices at the same time – phones, tablets or other Jamboards — so there's no reason why your whole team can't get involved. Your IT team will also be happy to learn that the Jamboard service is part of the core G Suite service. Not only does that mean it can be viewed in your Admin Console, but it’s covered under your existing G Suite agreements, offering the same technical support and service level commitments as any other core service. And as an official Jamboard reseller, Ancoris can help you get started with Jamboard as part of our wider G Suite offering.
To find out more about how Jamboard is redefining collaboration in the workplace, watch this short video or contact our G Suite experts.
Article updated September 2020
First published September 2017