What is a Smart Board? The Ultimate Guide to Smart Whiteboards and How They Work

Good old-fashioned particleboard whiteboards are in every meeting room at every company that has meeting rooms worldwide. There are millions of whiteboards pinned to walls around the world. Why is that? Because whiteboards are the best way to share ideas, think visually, and connect and engage with your audience. But as technology evolves, so do the tools we use to collaborate—enter smart boards, the next generation of interactive whiteboards designed to enhance engagement, streamline communication, and bring ideas to life in a whole new way.

What is a Smart Board?

A new class of interactive flat panel displays (IFPDs) has emerged, transforming how we use whiteboards. These new boards are not boards at all. Instead, they are large format touchscreen monitors fueled by powerful collaboration software. The best ones are designed to support and enhance the way you work, collaborate, and engage.

Live annotations on images

A smart whiteboard combines IFPDs with the idea of having a cloud-connected, device-connected ecosystem that works with your favorite apps to get collaborative work done on any device, anywhere you happen to be working. 

A smart whiteboard device should support the reality of today’s hybrid meeting environment where presenters can use all their favorite apps in one place and present them to an unlimited audience around the world. They enable everyone to contribute to the canvas seamlessly, no matter where they are or what device—mobile phone, laptop, or tablet—they’re using.

Other Types of Interactive Workspaces

Online Whiteboard

Online whiteboards are software-only solutions. They work with the touchscreen on your familiar devices such as laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. There are dozens of options available for online whiteboards that range from free to license, to a monthly subscription. 

Online whiteboards example

Digital or Electric Whiteboard

These are the first generation of ‘chip-powered’ touch screen whiteboards. Popular in education, they are used to ‘project’ computer screens onto the board and use touch input to mark up what is seen.

Interactive Whiteboard

This is the broadest, modern term for a connected whiteboard, powered by a touch-sensitive display that allows users to write, draw, and interact with digital content. It can function as a standalone touchscreen device or connect to a computer or projector for enhanced collaboration and engagement. An interactive whiteboard works like a normal whiteboard, but the added digital component allows you to interact with it on a computer and save content for future reference.

Interactive Whiteboard example

Smart Whiteboards Are for Teamwork

With various ways to meet in today’s workplace, a smart whiteboard improves every setup, making collaboration more interactive and effective for all. Common collaboration methods with smart boards include: 

In-Person

All the participants are in the same room. Work is done on one, in-room smart whiteboard with an infinite canvas . All the elements on the board can be automatically saved to the cloud as the meeting progresses and are accessible at any time afterward. No more ‘don’t erase’ notes on a whiteboard.

In-room smart board participants

Virtual/Remote

Most, if not all, participants are in a different location instead of a single meeting room. Meetings and follow-up to action items take place with technology like video conferencing or Zoom. Remote meetings have only increased the need for effective visual collaboration in a digital format. While many online communication platforms offer basic whiteboarding features, dedicated smart whiteboarding software provides more advanced tools, seamless saving and sharing, and better continuity for ideation and content tracking. Good smart whiteboard software should be able to integrate with your existing virtual meeting platform easily . Each virtual participant should have access to the canvas for their unique input and the results should be saved and sent to relevant participants.

Hybrid

Some participants are in the office, and some are remote. Collaboration is enabled almost exclusively through technology platforms. For example, smart whiteboards allow all participants to be on the same canvas. A remote person who doesn’t have direct access to the presenter’s board can still participate by adding sticky notes and annotating and highlighting key concepts.

It’s safe to assume that hybrid meetings will often be the norm moving forward. While whiteboards remain essential parts of collaboration, not everyone will have access to one in person. This is why smart whiteboards and their software are becoming key tools for effective modern virtual collaboration.

Seamlessly sync design details in hybrid meetings

Software Integration Is The Key

Smart board with native apps on the canvas, split screen

Virtual ideation, back and forth, on an infinite canvas broadcast worldwide in real-time is powerful. But the real power in smart whiteboards lies in their ability to work with your favorite cloud apps. Effective remote work shouldn’t require you to change the way you work.

Today’s smart whiteboards support an app ecosystem that enables you to keep using your favorite cloud workflows but be able to drag them onto a canvas to share, highlight, and annotate.  

Directly sharing app content and data on a board canvas from multiple devices makes presentations more fluid and reduces time spent organizing notes. And when done, there’s no need for physical storage space. Instead, the annotated content is saved to the cloud in your preferred storage app, to use your choice of a connected device later.

Smart whiteboards bring hybrid participants together on a shared, interactive canvas—accessible across all connected devices and compatible with any video conferencing setup. Whether used as a standalone collaboration tool or integrated into Zoom or Google Meet, smart whiteboards ensure seamless communication with real-time audio, video, and screen sharing.

All this is possible with the powerful software that is the real power behind smart whiteboards.

A New Way To Engage Remote Teams

Engage remote teams through a smart whiteboard

Smart whiteboards are a clever combination of technologies, but their real value comes in the form of increased engagement for virtual meetings. When Zoom fatigue sets in, smart whiteboards are a great way to inject new life into remote meetings.

Smart whiteboarding sessions boost collaboration by bringing teams together to share ideas, ask questions, and develop solutions openly in an engaging way. A smart whiteboard allows all participants to think creatively and contribute in a no-judgment environment.

Everyone working around a smart whiteboard, whether in-room or online, gets a morale boost by seeing the real-time value of every member’s ideas and opinions. Collaboration is the most effective when every member feels supported and heard.

Related content:  The Vocabulary of Remote Work

Top Smart Whiteboard Uses:

Group note-taking. Encourage teams to work together by having everyone jot down notes on the canvas. Most smart whiteboard apps will translate written text into a computer font.  You can then publish the document as a PDF.

Interactive training. Get employees excited about learning by getting them more engaged with touch input. Look for professional development opportunities that could benefit the whole team during a training session.

Presentations. Split-screen and spotlight features help focus your audience as you work through multimedia content from various resources all in one canvas viewable by all collaborators.

Brainstorming sessions. Facilitate creative problem-solving by allowing teams to sketch ideas, map out workflows, and collaborate in real-time on an infinite digital canvas.

Remote collaboration. Keep hybrid teams aligned by enabling real-time editing, annotation, and content sharing—whether participants are in the room or joining from different locations.

Examples:

• A sales manager can pull up pipelines and have every rep in the remote meeting highlight their deals while talking about them.
• A product manager can run a brainstorming session with developers on the next set of features to transform user experience.
• A marketing manager can show a Google Adwords campaign and have the team annotate and highlight what’s working and what’s not.
• An IT Manager can offer remote support via annotated screen sharing and can direct users.
• Finance analysts can review the latest numbers with mark-ups and comments.
• HR managers can review resumes and highlight key areas of focus for the remote team.

How Businesses Get Things Done with Smart Boards

Vibe Templates

Want templates to let the ideas flow?

Get planning templates for Vibe Board’s Canvas here .

Smart whiteboards are becoming a great way to get remote, collaborative work done effectively.  Here are some ways smart whiteboards can be put to use in everyday business scenarios.

Project Planning: Keep teams aligned with real-time collaboration, shared access to project details, and interactive tools that help track deadlines, budgets, and tasks. Team members can annotate, adjust plans on the fly, and save work for future reference.

Client & Team Workshops: Use smart whiteboards to facilitate interactive workshops where teams and clients can collaborate on strategy, project scope, and creative problem-solving. Capture feedback, refine ideas in real-time, and ensure key takeaways are saved and shared instantly.

Strategic Planning: Map out business strategies, sales forecasts, or operational improvements with an interactive canvas. Teams can visually structure plans, analyze data trends, and adjust priorities dynamically, ensuring alignment across departments.

Roles & Responsibilities: Easily assign roles and responsibilities in real time using RACI templates or project planning tools. Team members can collaboratively adjust assignments, ensuring clarity and accountability.

Scheduling: Plan timelines, task dependencies, and resource allocation with project management apps integrated into the smart whiteboard. Teams can visually map out schedules and make updates dynamically to stay on track.

Risk Assessments: Identify potential risks by mapping out scope issues, communication gaps, and project constraints on an interactive canvas. Teams can prioritize challenges collaboratively and develop mitigation strategies.

Communication & Sharing: Seamlessly share project updates, meeting notes, and brainstorming sessions via Microsoft Teams, Slack, or secure cloud links. Smart whiteboards ensure instant access to important discussions across remote and in-person teams.

User Experience Research: UX teams can conduct virtual focus groups, gather user feedback, and map user journeys on a shared whiteboard. The ability to visualize research findings in real time makes decision-making faster and more collaborative.

Annotate Slides: Keep audiences engaged by highlighting and marking up slides in real time. This helps presenters emphasize key points, guide focus, and make presentations more interactive.

Interactive Training & Coaching: Trainers can integrate existing training materials, annotate documents live, and incorporate multimedia elements to enhance learning. Smart whiteboards also allow hands-on collaboration and recorded sessions for later review.

Smart Board Product Comparisons

The major smart whiteboards available today are:

• Vibe Board S1
• Microsoft Surface Hub 3
• Samsung Interactive Pro 75″

Three of the most popular smart boards

1. Vibe Smart Whiteboard S1

The Vibe Smart Whiteboard S1 offers a 75-inch 4K UHD touchscreen, providing a vibrant and responsive display. It features 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, ensuring smooth performance for various applications. The device operates on a Chromium-based OS, granting access to a wide range of apps to enhance productivity. Vibe Board S1 offers the only truly open ecosystem with seamless access to Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and 200+ third-party apps for meetings, creativity, productivity, and more. Its design emphasizes collaboration, allowing multiple users to interact simultaneously. The Vibe S1 is competitively priced at $3,199, making it an attractive choice for businesses seeking advanced features without a premium cost.

2. Microsoft Surface Hub 3

Microsoft’s Surface Hub 3 is designed to integrate deeply with the Microsoft ecosystem, offering tools like Microsoft Teams and Office applications. Available in 50-inch and 85-inch models, it features a 4K display and supports multi-touch interactions. The device includes the Surface Hub Smart Camera with a 136-degree field of view, enhancing remote collaboration. While it provides robust features for organizations utilizing Microsoft services, its reliance on the Microsoft ecosystem may present challenges for those using diverse software environments. This enterprise-focused model is priced at $8,999 to start.

3. Samsung Interactive Pro 75″

The Samsung Interactive Pro 75″ delivers a 4K display with responsive touch capabilities, supporting up to 20 simultaneous touchpoints. It offers versatile connectivity options, including multiple USB ports and screen mirroring features, facilitating integration with various devices. Priced at $3,460, the device is designed for interactive collaboration, making it suitable for educational and business settings. However, users should assess its software compatibility to ensure it aligns with their specific collaboration tools and applications.

Vibe Smart Boards Stand Out

Different smart whiteboards are designed to suit different business needs. Finding the right smart whiteboard comes down to balancing features and capabilities with a budget. 

That being said, Vibe’s modest price tag, endless canvas, and simple workflow integrations are likely to suit most users, especially small- to mid-sized marketing and design agencies, startups, construction, engineering, architecture, and tech firms—while also offering white-glove customer support and ongoing VibeOS improvements based directly on user feedback made possible by our small production and development team. 

With Vibe, sharing ideas with collaborators — in-house, across town, or around the globe — has never been easier. Vibe is the perfect addition to any collaborative workspace. For companies that thrive thanks to a network of remote collaborators, it’s a must-have device.

Vibe Interactive Whiteboard, for Remote Collaboration

Learn More →

“The Vibe Board has been a game-changer in how we communicate with clients, both in-person and virtually.”

Karen L. Brady Estate Planning Attorney, Arvada, Colorado

FAQs

What is the point of a smart whiteboard?

Smart whiteboards allow you the feeling of face-to-face collaboration and communication, from anywhere in the world. You can brainstorm with your team, give presentations to clients, host planning sessions, and run a coaching session, all from a Vibe Board.

Do interactive whiteboards need a computer?

No! The Vibe Board IS the computer. It can access the internet, easily email work to your colleagues, and integrates with your most-used apps for collaboration.

Are smart whiteboards beneficial?

Absolutely. As a global team at Vibe, we run all of our meetings on the Vibe Board. It helps us to feel connected, even when we’re separated by time zones.