HRTech Interview with Dan Root, Head of Global Strategic Alliances at Barco’s ClickShare

Dan, you’ve had an impressive career leading up to your role as Head of Global Strategic Alliances at ClickShare. Can you share a bit about your professional journey and what led you to this position?
Thank you – I’ve had a lot of great experiences that have led me to my role at ClickShare. Throughout my career, I’ve worked with innovative technological solutions, particularly in the software and video collaboration space. My journey has taken me from hands-on technical roles to strategic business development, where I’ve had the opportunity to lead projects that bridge technology with real-world business needs. These experiences, including roles like senior analyst at Wainhouse Research and director of market research at Bluescape, have equipped me to excel in my current position as Head of Global Strategic Alliances at ClickShare. Here, I lead the development of ecosystem partnerships, assess emerging market innovations, and build strategic relationships between software and hardware vendors, focusing on enhancing employee experiences and driving engagement in increasingly crucial hybrid work environments.

ClickShare has recently made headlines with its new partnership with Microsoft. How does this collaboration enhance the ClickShare experience for users, particularly in hybrid work environments?
The partnership between ClickShare and Microsoft is still fresh, and yet, we have been taking big steps towards an integrated experience via the Shared Spaces initiative. This first collaboration is particularly beneficial for IT and operations teams, helping them with physical space planning and addressing the collaborative needs of a hybrid workforce.

Moreover, ClickShare is developing new products leveraging the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform, ensuring that hybrid meetings are more intuitive, accessible, and practical, making it easier to adapt to evolving workplace demands.

The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) concept for hybrid meetings is an exciting development. Can you explain how this concept works and what benefits it offers to organizations?
BYOD started out of the need for ‘screen sharing’ within the meeting room. This approach evolved over the years, with solutions such as ClickShare taking this concept to the next level by removing the need for a wired connection.

Covid changed meeting requirements, as hybrid meetings became the norm, leading to the adoption of BYOD and Conferencing. This technological breakthrough allows a personal device (such as a laptop) to be scaled into the meeting space, leveraging the in-room audio and video peripherals in addition to the digital real estate. The result is a flexible meeting space that can host any hybrid video or audio call that is supported by the personal device.

ClickShare has also achieved carbon neutral certification. What steps did the company take to reach this milestone, and how does it align with ClickShare’s broader sustainability goals?
For Barco, ClickShare’s parent company, sustainability has always been important. This is why Barco created its own ecoscoring metric to measure the environmental impact of its products. Within the company, ClickShare takes these values to the next level as the most advanced product with all recent products designated as carbon-neutral.

ClickShare took several steps to achieve carbon-neutral certification for the ClickShare Bar range – including using 35% recycled plastics in the product, optimizing energy efficiency to surpass EU regulations, and minimizing packaging waste by reusing materials between suppliers. Additionally, we neutralized the remaining CO2 emissions through the Huadu Afforestation project, which preserves biodiversity and supports local communities in South China. This milestone aligns with our broader sustainability goals by reinforcing our commitment to reducing environmental impact throughout the product lifecycle and leading the market in eco-friendly meeting technology.

With the rise of Return to Office (RTO) mandates, how is ClickShare addressing the evolving needs of employee experience and engagement in the workplace?
As offices everywhere implement differing RTO mandates, ClickShare is addressing the evolving needs of employee experience and engagement by creating technology solutions that support seamless hybrid work environments.

Recognizing the tension between corporate policies and employee expectations, we lean into the importance of equitable collaboration tools that build bridges between in-office and remote employees. ClickShare products enable a flexible and inclusive workplace through advanced content and video collaboration tools, helping organizations navigate the complexities of workplace attendance policies while fostering a positive and productive culture for their employees.

In terms of workplace technology investments, what trends are you seeing that companies should be aware of to stay ahead in creating a productive and engaging work environment?
In terms of workplace technology investments, companies need to consider the added burden of data requirements behind AI-enabled solutions. While many new solutions tout their AI capabilities, their reliance on cloud connectivity make organizational adoption a challenge, as data throughput and load prioritization are not trivial investments.

Leaders that are thoughtfully considering adopting new solutions need to look at all impacts across the organization, including the compounding effect of having every meeting space connected to a cloud-based AI engine or service. As the demand for more innovative and more engaging meeting environments increases, investing in technologies that support this in-room AI functionality will be crucial for staying ahead in creating productive and engaging workspaces.

Meeting equity is crucial for hybrid work. How is ClickShare ensuring that all participants, regardless of their location, have an equitable experience during meetings?
ClickShare is ensuring meeting equity in hybrid work environments with its smart camera and audio switching feature. This capability integrates the meeting room camera with the camera’s of in-room participants’ laptops. Powered by AI, the system switches between the room view and close-ups of speakers based on the conversation flow, ensuring that remote users can see non-verbal cues and stay fully engaged like they would in person.

Building on this, ClickShare’s Smart meeting flows, a set of intent-based features, ensure and build on an even more inclusive meeting experience for local participants. ConferenceView displays both people and content side by side, PresentSense detects when users enter the room to automatically connect them, and HostFlow guides participants through starting the meeting. These features collectively ensure that all participants, whether remote or local, have a balanced and inclusive experience.

As a leader in strategic alliances, what personal strategies do you use to drive innovation and maintain strong partnerships in the tech industry?
The key to strategic alliances is understanding that innovation accelerates with more participation. This is why I am always working to share and stay connected with cohorts in the industry by networking with my colleagues and counterparts at other vendors.

Based on my experience, the only way to know where things are headed is to join others and have deep discussion about each person’s views and approaches to building industry-best solutions. I am always working to make sure that I’m active in the industry – for example, actively attending speaking sessions and panels, both as an attendee and a panelist participant.

What advice would you give to organizations looking to enhance their hybrid work setups and invest wisely in workplace technology?
For organizations looking to enhance their hybrid work setups and invest wisely in workplace technology, I advise organizations to focus on tangible, impactful solutions rather than getting caught up in generic AI hype. Privacy and security should be top priorities, especially with the risks posed by shadow IT and AI misuse. Invest in technologies that offer clear, practical benefits, like predictive maintenance or security enhancements. Lastly, consider how AI can be integrated into your platforms, such as Microsoft Copilot, to drive real value and efficiency in your operations.

Finally, is there anything else you’d like to share about ClickShare’s future innovations, your vision for workplace technology, or any final thoughts for our readers?
The future is bright for the meeting space, specifically for the user. The days of connectivity issues are about to be behind us – a meeting space outfitted with AI enabled processing will complete the tasks for you, instead of you having to take individual steps to complete a task. This means the room will recognize that you’ve entered the space, set up the room for the meeting at hand, and pull together the needed content for the topic. While this sounds a bit science fiction at the moment, we’re currently working on these challenges within the vendor community and hope to have meaningful progress on this in the coming months and years.