How can visual collaboration software improve your productivity
How can visual collaboration software improves your productivity
You’ve heard the saying about pictures being worth a thousand words, but do you know the logic behind the popular phrase? There is a reason that imagery makes more of an impression than words – and it’s something you can take advantage of in the workplace. Here’s why visual collaboration software is a must for smarter productivity, and how our virtual white board makes that easy.
How Visual Collaboration Promotes Productivity
Before we dive in, what do we mean by visual collaboration? Some people think this refers to video conferencing; while video conferencing is part of it (and one of HuddleIQ’s features), the phrase means much more. In addition to video conferencing, the visual collaboration includes:
- collaborative whiteboard web apps
- huddle rooms
- chat and messaging clients
- project management tools
- cloud-based collaboration software
To simplify, any utility that promotes remote collaboration and includes a visual aspect counts.
Armed with a better understanding of what exactly constitutes virtual collaboration, you may have a sense of why it helps productivity. Displaying information visually simplifies things and clears up miscommunications that can arise via text. If you’ve ever puzzled over the meaning of a cryptic email, then you know exactly how text can be limiting – just think of all that wasted time!
Visual collaborative tools help in the brainstorming and information organization phase of planning and managing projects because it’s so much simpler to display information visually than through a hierarchy such as an outline.
When confronting a dense wall of text, employees may default to negative emotions, such as overwhelm. They think it’s going to be so much work to get this project off the ground, and they may start to dread completing the tasks they’ve been assigned. Visual representation is cleaner, lighter, and simpler to take in, reducing overwhelm and promoting action. No wonder that it boosts productivity.
HuddleIQ offers an array of popular digital brainstorming utilities via collaborative whiteboards that act as containers for all relevant information, even PDFs and documents! When everything is in one place, your employees can easily take stock of the project and know what’s next. Popular features for visual collaboration include:
- Sticky notes to create workflows or assign tasks for completion
- Shapes and arrows to display relationships between elements
- A built-in media library with icons, images, emojis, and more
- Chat, screen conferencing, and video conferencing capabilities
- Commenting and document annotation
- Polls
Next-Generation Features
We are always working on extending the functionality of HuddleIQ, so you can get even more done. Here are a few of the next-generation features to watch out for:
- Mind/Concept Mapping – Concept or mind mapping is one of the most popular ways to brainstorm, and it’s coming to our web whiteboard app. Soon, you’ll be able to connect information diagrammatically, to better organize your ideas and find consensus on solutions.
- Templates – A templates library will help you get started quickly with your next project. Look for templates covering marketing, sales, design, project management, and other business needs.
- Object Containers and Frameworks – Group mixed objects into flexible, resizable, intertwined containers; easily and powerfully customize the display of your information the way you want.
- Object Linking – Easily create relationships between shapes and objects that are linked by lines and arrows.
We are excited about these new features that will extend the usefulness of our online whiteboard, but there is already so much to love about collaborating with our whiteboard web app. Signup for free today to discover why HuddleIQ is a favorite collaborative whiteboard for both education and business.