Click here to read an article about the "Switchboard" product that you can use for video conferencing and to keep everything you do ‘in the cloud’ under control.
Content can be limited to your personal use or shared with others - the choice is yours.
Join up here [just a few clicks needed to sign in with Google] and then you can see the 'starter pack' they supply before going on to create what are referred to as “Rooms” for your own needs.
It is worth bearing in mind that "Rooms" is their terminology for what are actually workspaces in the cloud where you can keep pieces of like information together. You can think of them as being "Projects", "Hobbies", "Sports", "Holidays", "Things To Do" or whatever.
Watch this quick video overview that they send to you when you join to learn your way around.
When you switch between “Rooms” you pick up at exactly the place you left off the last time you were there. This is brilliant and means you don’t have to remember where you were, or all the details of what you were using at the time, you can just get going again immediately.
This flexibility and permanence replaces a lot of the things you may already do in your browser where you would need to employ a mixture of ‘bookmarks’, ‘tabs’ and ‘tab groups’ along with the virtual “Desks” provided by Chrome and other browsers.
Once you experience working with a number of tasks you will probably agree that it is more natural and easy way of working because everything is all in one place.
One of the most helpful tools for using Switchboard for remote work is the cloud browsers found in each room.
Focus: Cloud browsers help keep attention on the work you’re doing instead of distractions like the tabs you have open, the notifications you’re getting, and the bouncing app in your dock.
More collaboration, less screen sharing: Switchboard’s cloud browsers also make websites instantly collaborative because everyone in the room can interact with each window independently
Remote work feels more natural when you add Switchboard’s cloud browsers and bring in PDFs, images, video, gifs, links to offline files, and sticky notes.
Open a room, grab a co-worker, and enjoy not sharing your screen.
Here are the 7 of our favourites to get your creative juices flowing:
Design and creative reviews
Customer training and onboarding
Demos
Client and agency management
Sprint planning
War rooms
Project rooms
There are 3 levels of membership types that are like having different keys that give different levels of access to your workspace:
Members get a key to the whole office. Members can join, create, or browse the public rooms in your workspace. This is great for people you collaborate with regularly.
Limited members get a key to a specific room only. Limited members can be invited to join specific rooms. Inside the room, they’ll have full permissions. If you have collaborators who only need regular access to certain rooms then make them limited members.
Guests have to knock on the door and wait for someone to answer. Guests are granted temporary access to a room. Share the room link and they can join the room but only when another room member is already there. They can add content but cannot see the rest of your workspace.