Bring Your Meetings into VR
How do you immerse your employees in a meaningful meeting experience when a face-to-face interaction isn’t an option? Video and audio-conferencing tools are a good start, but they lack a lot of the presence involved in traditional meetings.
Fortunately, thanks to the rise of more affordable VR technology, companies can now access comprehensive environments for their teams to share in the digital world. VR collaboration software connects your staff regardless of where they are, helping them to collaborate over projects in a space that adapts to their needs.
Today, we’re looking at two of the most popular tools for VR collaboration available today: Facebook Horizon Workrooms, and VIVE Sync.
Facebook Horizon Workrooms: Features
Facebook Horizon Workrooms was built by the Facebook team as a customisable VR workspace for the Oculus Quest 2. This easy-to-use software for VR meetings brings people both inside and outside of VR together, with a comprehensive environment anyone can visit.
If your team members have a VR headset, they can tune into their custom workplace and access features like infinite whiteboarding, virtual document sharing, and spatial audio for immersive surround sound. For colleagues logging in without a headset, access is available through desktop and smartphone apps – so no-one misses out. The addition of unique features like mixed reality keyboard tracking even ensures users can easily share content when in VR.
Features include:
- Oculus companion app for remote desktop sharing
- Easily accessible environment for VR and non-VR users
- Note-taking, file transfer and screen sharing
- Customisable Oculus avatars
- Low-latency and high-quality video and audio streaming
- Infinite virtual whiteboarding
- Multiple room layout options
- Immersive spatial audio
- Hand tracking for easy drawing
- One-click VR environment access
- File transfer and screen sharing
- Idea pinning and note-taking
- Space for 16 VR users and up to 50 participants
- Mixed reality keyboard and desk tracking
- Administration, privacy and security tools
- Chat and calendar integrations
Users can connect with colleagues through fantastic chat features – similar to the ones many of us are already familiar with from Facebook. There’s technology for creating meetings in real-time, thanks to built-in calendar integrations, and you can pin ideas to multiple locations around the room. The options to easily import information and export files are a fantastic bonus too.
VIVE Sync: Features
An all-in-one meeting environment for the future of business, VIVE Sync is a powerful tool for today’s business leaders. The solution has one of the most immersive avatar creation tools on the market, so you can design an avatar that looks just like you. There’s even eye and face tracking, to help you forget you’re not actually meeting with your team in-person.
VIVE Sync easily integrates with external tools, allowing you to pull all kinds of files in and out of your VR space, including PDFs and PNG files. You can access an easy-to-use interface and allow users to join through a smart phone or computer if they don’t have a headset. You can even join video calls from within VR. Features of VIVE Sync include:
- VR headset, mobile, or computer access
- Realistic avatars
- Eye and face tracking
- Spatial audio conversations
- Hand-shaking and other greetings
- Access to sticky notes and whiteboarding
- Share websites, videos, and desktop windows
- Review and collaborate with 3D content
- Enterprise encryption and protection
- Video and audio streaming
- Intuitive and accessible meeting spaces
- Access to importing and exported documents
- Integrate with meeting calendars
Features like enterprise encryption and protection make the Facebook Horizon Workrooms environment particularly compelling for companies looking to make the transition into a new era of collaboration. You can easily create a host of different meeting spaces for your employees and access all kinds of documents and tools for better teamwork. Access to integrations with existing collaborative tools also makes it easy to set up meetings and invite colleagues.
Facebook Horizon Workrooms vs VIVE Sync: Which is Best?
There’s a lot of overlap between the two collaborative VR environments from VIVE and Facebook. Both of these products will allow you to set up a virtual meeting room easily and quickly for your teams, and both ensure that you don’t need a headset to join. Anyone can get involved and stream audio and video from their smartphone or desktop.
There’s access to external files and documents, so you can bring all the resources you need into a meeting, whiteboarding technology, pinning, and note-taking. You’ll also be able to enjoy a truly immersive experience every time you put on a headset, with things like spatial audio to keep you in the moment.
Facebook Horizon Workrooms, however, seems to be a more entry-level solution for beginners making their way into VR. Although features like mixed-reality tracking for your keyboard and desktop are excellent, the majority of the experience is simple, straightforward, and relatively basic in comparison to what you can get from VIVE Sync.
If you’re looking for far more realistic experiences, VIVE Sync has more unique avatar creation tools, as well as the option to explore a wider range of environments. There’s also access to things like eye tracking and face tracking to help build better human-to-human connections. You can shake hands with your colleagues, high-five, and generally get more involved in the experience.
If you’re looking for more of a next-level solution for VR meetings intended to really blow your team members away, VIVE Sync could be the best choice. For simplicity and accessibility for all kinds of teams, Facebook Horizon Workrooms is a great pick.
Which VR Collaboration Solution Should You Choose?
With either Facebook Horizon Workrooms or VIVE Sync, you can build an incredible experience for your team, ideal for boosting collaboration, inspiring new ideas, and bringing people together. Both Facebook and VIVE have a lot to offer modern teams, including spatial audio, whiteboarding, and the opportunity to collaborate with or without a headset.
The VIVE Sync environment is a little more immersive, with a wider range of realistic avatars, beautiful spaces, and tools for connecting with colleagues. However, the Facebook Horizon Workrooms service could still be a great choice if you’re looking for easy access to the perfect VR meeting room.
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