Office dry erase boards are just that: dry.
They may have tons of useful info, but the only way to capture it is to write it down yourself, or take a bad picture of the board with your cell phone, hoping you can pinch to zoom and glean some knowledge from the photo you’ll probably never find.
There are dry erase boards that are packed with technology, but they are essentially overgrown touchscreen televisions, and don’t have the features needed to collaborate with coworkers.
It’s one of the few office staples that hasn’t really seen an affordable modern-day update, but SMART Technologies is looking to change that with its own incarnation of the dry erase board, designed for the tools you have all the time: your smartphone.
The Smart Kapp is a new take on the dry erase board, and uses your smartphone or computer to share your ideas with colleagues with the push of a button.
Smart Kapp has both an iOS and Android app, so you can download whatever is on the board at anytime and save it as an image or a PDF. It connects through Bluetooth or NFC, if your smartphone supports it. In the Smart Kapp app, you can share the board photos and PDF in Evernote and Dropbox (or email them to coworkers). It also has a USB port if you want to transfer files manually.
From there, you can watch the board on your smartphone in real-time, as its drawn or erased.
You don’t need any special equipment; any office supply dry erase marker will work, making it a quick and easy addition to your office meetings.
Sure, $899 is a lot to spend on a dry erase board, but the ability to share what your meeting was about quickly and easily could save you time, and time is money.