Klaxoon becomes a workshop platform

The Rennes-based company is launching a new application combining real-time collaboration and asynchronous project management. Objective: to make teamwork ever more efficient in a hybrid work environment.

[Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2021 at 2:00 p.m.] Between mid-March 2020, when the first containment began, and today, Klaxoon has recorded 10 million workshops conducted on its platform. “With Covid, the hybrid workshop has emerged as a new way of working. It combines real-time remote collaboration modes with long-term project management processes”, analyses Matthieu Beucher, CEO and founder of Klaxoon. Faced with this observation, the editor has developed its Workshop Platform, which it markets today. The objective is to respond to the emergence of teleworking while offering an integrated environment designed for both synchronous and asynchronous exchanges. A concept never seen before on the digital workplaces front.

Of course, the solution includes all the features that have made Klaxoon a success: interactive whiteboard, live support (up to 250 participants), screen and information sharing, library of templates and graphical and agile management methods…

“Any Klaxoon space can be converted into a workshop. The tool gives access to workshops from all devices, smartphones, tablets, PCs or large screens,” adds Matthieu Beucher. A tool called Memo allows you to manage summary documents, collect feedback and follow up on decisions made. Finally, the Workshop Platform automatically generates session reports.

What is Klaxoon?

Launched in the mid-2010s, Klaxoon is a suite of collaborative apps. Its mission: to make team meetings more efficient. To do this, Klaxoon relies on the collaboration between all team members and on its playful side.

The application allows everyone to express themselves and react in real time via a digital whiteboard using their smartphone, tablet or computer. Linked to the internet, Klaxoon also offers the possibility of inviting employees on the move or external contacts to take part in the meeting.

What is the Klaxoon Box?

Alongside its 100% SaaS and cloud-based offering, the teamwork application can be deployed in the form ofa wi-fiserver that is installed on site within a private company network. This is the Klaxoon Box.

With the Klaxoon Box, it is possible to access the functionalities of the meeting application without necessarily having an internet access. The Klaxoon Box is particularly attractive to those who wish to share confidential data on a private network.

What does the Klaxoon Board do?

The Klaxoon Board is a variation of Klaxoon that aims to meet the challenge of teleworking. Renamed Klaxoon Board Hybrid in its latest version, its particularity is to integrate visual management and videoconferencing in the same tool. “Board Hybrid is an all-in-one collaborative product designed to implement a horizontal management approach. Combining synchronous and asynchronous exchange, it is fully adapted to distributed work, from the expression of ideas to the passage to action through decision making”, says Klaxoon. The solution is equipped with a system to centralize all documents for remote and on-site teams: spreadsheet files, word processing, images, presentations … Everything can be shared, displayed on the Board, full screen or page by page, and on any type of terminal.

A library of some two hundred graphic management models and methods is available in Board, depending on the objective sought: arbitration meeting, design thinking, kanban table, SWOT matrix (for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in French), integration path, roadmap, storyboard, etc. The virtual board is the core of the solution, and can also be used for text, images, photos, video, diagrams or even importing data from an Excel sheet, for example. This allows you to federate thousands of pieces of information in order to structure them visually via the creativity and management templates.

In Board, the most popular graphic template is the synchronization meeting. “In this template, the days of the week are divided into columns in which employees each create their own space where they can annotate their completed tasks or tasks to do. The content can include links to business application screens, or to other templates, such as a kanban board for managing a particular project,” says Klaxoon. At a glance, managers will thus have a vision of the progress of each person. As for the team members, they have a tool to formalize and manage their daily work.

Does Klaxoon include video conferencing?

Klaxoon has developed its own videoconferencing technology within its Board Hybrid. Called Live, it supports up to 50 people, and even 250 as an option. Accessible via any type of device (computer, tablet, smartphone), it allows meetings to be launched with a limit of 5, 15 or even 30 minutes. “Beyond that, attention drops, the team scatters and the synchronization time becomes inefficient,” emphasizes Matthieu Beucher, Klaxoon’s CEO. For customers who want to go further, Klaxoon refers to third-party video conferencing tools with which Board integrates: Jira, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, WebEx or Zoom.

In Board Hybrid, videoconference participants appear as thumbnails (see screenshot above). Displayed on the periphery of the screen and movable at will by each participant, they allow a clear and fluid audio and video communication, without hindering the interactions within the chosen visual management model (a Kanban board in the case of our capture). The template thus remains the central element of the application. The thumbnails are limited to 10% of the graphic environment to leave a maximum of space for the work content. Knowing that Live also supports screen sharing.

Klaxoon Hybridity: a whiteboard room

Klaxoon is marketing a whiteboard room specially designed for its Board Hybrid. Equipped with three ultra high definition 360° touch screens and three cameras, this solution, named Hybridity, allows to collaborate with remote people also equipped with Board Hybrid on their terminal. “Inside, the space is organized to accommodate up to three people in a configuration that ensures balanced exchanges and maximum comfort for everyone. Equidistant from the other participants, each has his or her own screen and camera, and can explore the content independently of the others. For remote participants, this configuration ensures the best comfort for listening and viewing each other’s expression”, explains Klaxoon. Hybridity is limited to less than 5 m2 on the floor.

Is Klaxoon free or chargeable?

Klaxoon prices vary depending on the version and/or the number of users. For example, you need to pay €49 per month for the cloud version of Klaxoon for 50 simultaneous users, and twice that for the Klaxoon Box version. Klaxoon also offers customised pricing based on your needs. As for the Klaxoon Board tool, designed for remote work, its entry fee is €9.9 for 15 participants, with access to all the solution’s features.

Klaxoon does not offer a free version. However, the Rennes-based publisher does offer a free 30-day trial period. A period that has increased to 90 days since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis.

The Klaxoon app

The Klaxoon mobile app (available for Android and iOS) allows users to interact from their tablet, smartphone or computer, and participate in exchanges. Klaxoon is associated with a whole range of functionalities allowing, among other things, to set up quizzes, surveys, collective challenges, etc. The goal is to provide tools and facilitate the sharing of ideas and the prioritization of topics before and during meetings in order to make them more productive.

Training via Klaxoon

Perceived as the application that revolutionized corporate meetings (90% of Cac 40 companies use it), Klaxoon is also a great tool for e-learning training. After creating his or her own session, the trainer can invite people to access the training content on their smartphone, PC or tablet. Everyone is then on the trainer’s board with the possibility of brainstorming live.