Intel Unite Cloud brings flexibility to meeting collaboration
Boasting the same capabilities and features as its preceding on-premises software, Intel Unite Cloud Service enables users to deploy Intel Unite software from the cloud.
Intel brought cloud capabilities to its collaboration platform, Intel Unite. Designed to give users more flexibility, Intel Unite Cloud Service enables businesses to access the Unite platform without an on-premises deployment.
Intel Unite was originally launched in 2015 to facilitate collaboration across any meeting space, enabling both remote and on-site employees to join and participate in meetings through the software. Intel Unite Cloud Service makes Intel Unite more accessible by providing organizations with choices for how to implement the collaboration software.
The cloud-based software comes with the same features as Intel Unite, such as secure wireless content sharing with rooms, remote users and guests. However, the cloud iteration removes the need for an on-premises PIN server; the vendor claims this will minimize infrastructure costs and IT overhead.
Built on the Intel vPro platform, Intel Unite Cloud Service comes with security, stability and manageability features and gives users access to a broad set of data, from meeting room hardware to connectivity to room usage.
According to Harvard Business Review, 71% of senior managers said meetings are unproductive and inefficient. Intel Unite is intended to reduce the time and resources needed to organize and run meetings and increase meeting productivity.
In an Intel-commissioned report, Forrester found that Intel Unite reduced meeting downtime by up to 15% in comparison to legacy tools and methods, like using cables to connect mobile devices to presentation devices or relying on IT to set up the meeting space.
The report also estimated benefits of up to $743,000 over three years for a composite organization -- found from time saved, increased in-meeting productivity and elimination of cabling costs -- at a cost of up to $130,000.
Common challenges to successful collaboration tool implementation are ease of adoption and ease of platform use. Intel Unite is compatible with many major meeting room programs -- like Skype, Cisco WebEx and Zoom -- and, because the cloud service does not depend on a physical product, is easy to deploy.
