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Why Cable-Based Connections Waste Time
A single HDMI port does not reflect the variety of devices used today. A meeting room table may be surrounded by laptops with USB-C, HDMI or Mini DisplayPort connections, as well as devices designed primarily for wireless connectivity. The situation is more complicated for visitors: they are unfamiliar with the room setup, may not have permission to install software and should not be expected to determine which input to select on the display.
A study conducted by Owl Labs and Vitreous World in July 2025 among 2,000 employees in the United States illustrates the scale of the problem. Seventy-seven per cent of respondents had lost time because of technical issues. Starting a hybrid meeting took more than six minutes on average, while 27% of respondents lost at least ten minutes. Sixty-seven per cent had stopped trying to connect to meeting room equipment at least once and conducted the meeting using only their own laptop.
Six minutes may seem insignificant during a single meeting. For a company with dozens of meeting rooms, however, it means recurring losses of working time, an overloaded support team and expensive equipment that employees do not actually use.
What ClickShare Means in Practice
Barco ClickShare is a solution for wireless presentation sharing and video meetings. A base unit connects to the display and, depending on the configuration, to the room camera, microphones and audio system. Users connect through a ClickShare Button, the ClickShare application or a supported built-in wireless presentation protocol.
The main change is not simply how the signal is transmitted, but how the user interacts with the room. There is no need to select the correct display input, search for an adapter or connect several devices manually. Users open their content or preferred videoconferencing application on their own laptop and use the room equipment as an integrated system.
ClickShare should therefore be viewed not as a replacement for HDMI, but as a more convenient way to access the equipment in a meeting room. Cables still connect the display, camera, microphones, audio system and other components, but users do not need to understand how this infrastructure is arranged. They connect a laptop, share content on the display and begin the meeting through a consistent and straightforward process.
Three Scenarios Where the Benefits Are Immediately Visible
Presentations Without Passing a Cable Around
In a conventional meeting room, every new presenter must receive the cable, connect an adapter and wait for the source to be switched. With ClickShare, participants can share content from their own devices, including laptops and smartphones, without physically passing a cable from one person to another.
This is particularly useful during discussions in which several participants need to compare documents, calculations, designs or other materials.
Video Meetings from a Personal Laptop
With ClickShare Conference systems, a laptop can access the meeting room camera, microphones, loudspeakers and display. The user launches Microsoft Teams, Zoom or another familiar platform but uses the room equipment instead of the laptop’s built-in camera and microphone.
This approach removes dependence on a single videoconferencing platform and simplifies meetings with external partners.
A Consistent Process for Employees and Visitors
The participants in meeting rooms, training centres and sales offices change constantly. The connection process should therefore not require users to know where the ports are located, which input to select on the display or which adapter they need.
ClickShare makes the process more consistent across different rooms and reduces dependence on the physical ports available on a laptop. However, connecting does not always require no preparation at all. Depending on the chosen connection method and device settings, the user may need to launch the ClickShare application. For the application to start automatically through a ClickShare Button on a Windows laptop, the relevant driver must already be installed.
ClickShare in Practice
At Riga Technical University, wired HDMI and VGA connections regularly delayed the start of meetings. The required port or adapter was often unavailable, forcing employees and visitors to contact the IT support team. After ClickShare CX-30 and ClickShare Bar Pro systems were installed, users gained a consistent way to connect a laptop to the display, camera, microphones and room audio system. According to the university, technical assistance is now mainly required when users encounter the system for the first time.
Bechtle France, the French division of one of Europe’s largest providers of IT equipment and solutions, faced a similar challenge. Its meeting rooms regularly host partner meetings and training sessions involving external participants. Different ports and adapters made it difficult to share content and start video calls quickly, while the connection process varied from room to room.
In 2026, Bechtle France standardised its meeting spaces using ClickShare CX systems, which allow users to connect a laptop to the display, camera, microphones and audio system without configuring each component separately. Employees and visitors consequently gained the same clear process in every room, regardless of the videoconferencing platform being used.
The challenge at ifm was larger in scale. The international group, which develops sensors and industrial automation solutions, needed a consistent meeting experience across sites in approximately 50 countries. By 2026, the company was operating 361 ClickShare devices worldwide, including systems in 50 meeting rooms at its headquarters in Essen.
The practical value of this project lies not only in removing the need for a direct cable connection, but also in standardisation and scalability. Users follow the same process in different meeting rooms, while the IT team can centrally install updates, monitor equipment status and receive fault notifications through the XMS Cloud platform.
What ClickShare Offers Integrators and IT Teams
For an integrator, ClickShare does not replace the need for proper meeting room design. The camera, microphones, audio system, sound processing equipment, network and display must still be selected correctly, configured and tested for compatibility.
ClickShare does, however, simplify the part of the system with which users interact directly: connecting a laptop to the display and, in the case of ClickShare Conference models, to the room camera, microphones and audio system. The engineering complexity remains within the infrastructure, while employees receive a consistent and understandable way to begin a meeting, regardless of the room or videoconferencing platform.
This approach reflects the broader direction of the market. AVIXA, the international professional association for the audiovisual industry and the organiser of InfoComm exhibitions, identified cross-platform compatibility as one of five key trends for 2026. Users expect to join meetings from their preferred devices and through familiar services without having to understand the technical setup of each meeting room.
For IT teams, the primary value of ClickShare lies in standardisation. When every meeting room offers the same connection process, employees need fewer instructions and the number of support requests can be reduced. The XMS Cloud platform allows IT teams to manage a fleet of ClickShare devices centrally, check their status, change settings and install updates without visiting every room.
In The State of Modern Collaboration Spaces, a 2026 study published by FORTÉ, an international integrator and provider of corporate communication systems, equipment reliability was identified as the main barrier to productive meetings. The survey involved 512 US-based executives and professionals responsible for IT and meeting room technology decisions.
The authors argue that reliability should not be assessed solely in terms of whether equipment works or fails. It also depends on whether users encounter the same process in every room, whether the system remains predictable throughout its service life and whether faults can be identified before a meeting begins.
Wireless connectivity does not, however, mean eliminating every cable from the system. A wired backup may still be appropriate in business-critical rooms, while ClickShare performance continues to depend on correct network configuration, compliance with information security requirements and compatibility with connected peripherals.
HDMI remains part of the infrastructure, but it no longer has to be the user’s only connection method. The more visitors, laptop types, videoconferencing platforms and changing presenters a meeting room must accommodate, the more expensive dependence on a single cable becomes.
ClickShare addresses a practical requirement: it gives users a predictable way to access the room display and equipment from their own devices. Users stop struggling with cables not because the cables disappear, but because the cables are no longer their problem.
Questions About ClickShare?
Contact Artur Shakurov, Barco ClickShare Sales Manager at Sound Creations. He can help you select the right solution for the room size, team requirements and meeting format: sat@sc-electronics.com.
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