PwC has created a dedicated conferencing workspace that integrates the Mezzanine immersive visual collaboration system from Oblong. The new Delta Room at PwC’s Paris office combines leading edge technology and pioneering room design which accelerates executive decision making, stimulates idea generation and creates a unique experience.
As part of their ‘Innovation powered by PwC’ program, PwC has launched a space within its Neuilly-Sur-Seine offices dedicated to collaborative working. The new Delta Room offers a unique immersive meeting space for PwC clients and consultants. The initiative supports the company’s commitment to anticipating business trends of the future, with PwC being the first company in France to develop a customized collaborative working facility using Mezzanine, to service its clients.
Bernard Gainnier, PwC France and Francophone Africa chairman explained why collaboration is key to ensuring the group remains on top: “Much more than just a high tech meeting room, PwC’s Delta Room contributes to offering to our clients a global service covering everything from strategy setting to implementation with a unique user experience. Creativity is becoming a very important component of the audit and consulting profession.”
The Delta Room, with Mezzanine technology, introduces the concept of Infopresence to PwC clients, whereby multiple users, multiple devices, and multiple streams of information can be brought together in real-time on a shared canvas, to create a truly flexible, cohesive and productive workspace.
Creative Ideation
The reconfigurable canvas of the Delta Room has been designed to facilitate sharing and creativity, and the collaborative space is easily adaptable depending on the size of the meeting. PwC are already utilising the space successfully to support the strategic thought process with clients. Initial feedback is positive, highlighting the room’s capability to encourage fresh thinking. The impact on business is equally as impressive, with the Delta Room helping to win new business since its launch.
“The space, which combines a gesture-based interface for a 3D space, and interior design for better group dynamics, gives our teams an essential advantage. The word ‘delta’, which defines the distance between two points in mathematics, has been selected to express our willingness to create a difference for our clients in going from point A to point B” explains Mandeep Jawa, emerging technology architect at PwC.
Anne-Christine Marie, PwC Associate specializing in Natural Sciences and Pharmaceutical industries continues: “After a few minutes of surprise, our clients rapidly get used to our unconventional layout and better appreciate its intuitive interface. It gives us a new approach to sharing, going beyond the technology and allowing us to contextualise visual data quickly in co-creating innovative strategies.”
Futureproof Technology
Mezzanine is the immersive collaboration system developed by Oblong, whose founder John Underkoffler also imagined the futuristic gestural interfaces for box office hits Minority Report and Iron Man. The system is linked to multiple screens via an advanced network of sensors fitted throughout the room to facilitate:
- Interconnected screens easily manipulated with gestural control via Mezzanine’s wireless wand user interface
- Content displays wirelessly from multiple devices on demand without video cables
- Additional tactile screens and interactive boards to live annotate digital content
- Wireless audio systems integrated into the floors and ceilings for 3D sound and free participant movement
- HD videoconferencing capable of managing multiple digital devices