Central Highlands council adopts Surface Hubs

Queensland’s Central Highlands Regional Council has adopted eight Microsoft Surface Hub videoconferencing systems to allow its disparate teams to more effectively collaborate.

Telstra and system integrator and Microsoft partner InSync helped the council deploy the devices across its headquarters and far-flung satellite offices.

The Central Highlands region spans around 60,000 square kilometres — a surface area similar to Tasmania — and the offices are spread out across the region. This makes collaboration a challenge.

In a blog post, Central Highlands Regional Council Manager of Information Services Aaron Jurd said the council had already adapted technologies including Skype for Business and Office 365 aimed at allowing teams to hold virtual meetings.

The Surface Hub adoption is designed to take this approach to a whole new level, Jurd said.

“Now our teams easily communicate across the region. They share data and collaborate using a single easy-to-use system — and the IT team isn’t needed to hold any hands... We’ve now got a user-friendly tool that is really changing the way our people work throughout the region.”

Jurd said the council’s IT team hasn’t been telling people how to use the devices. “Generally, people just walk into a room and figure it out themselves — that’s how I know we picked a winner.”

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