Slideshark adds new tools for enterprise adoption of iPads

Waltham, MA based Brainshark announced today that the company has updated their signature Slideshark service for iPad, providing even more tools for enterprise use of iPads.

The announcement comes just a week after Google announced its acquisition of Quickoffice, demonstrating the acceleration of two trends: consumerization of technology in business, and the proliferation of mobile office solutions.

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Slideshark is a cloud-based service and an iPad app. For $149/user/year, enterprises can safely and securely distribute PowerPoint presentations to their employees. The presentations are exactly as created on a desktop or laptop, but with additional features such as presenter mode, which allows users to view slide notes, timers, an animation counter, and slide thumbnails on their iPad while they’re presenting – all while the audience sees the content projected in full-screen mode.

And, since the service is cloud-based, centrally-managed updates to the documents are instantly pushed to all devices, ensuring every user has the latest version — a feature particularly important in the pharmaceutical and financial industries, where minor out-of-date details can have major legal consequences. Content management tools allow administrators to provide only the correct slides to different groups.

“70 percent of companies are using iPads to some degree,” product marketing manager Jay Wilder says. “In pharmaceuticals, that is projected to be 93 percent by the end of the year.”

Customers are already using Slideshark for content delivery and sales force automation purposes, chief marketing officer Andy Zimmerman told VentureBeat last week.

For example, divisions of the multinational medical company Guerbet are now distributing marketing materials and messaging primarily via iPad, using the Slideshark service. And the national building company Cleveland Construction disseminates all meeting materials to employees and board members via the tool.

Some companies are using Slideshark currently as part of their green initiatives for marketing materials and brochures, helping them with their goals to go 100 percent paper-free. An added benefit? Sales reps can distribute slides to prospects or clients, and then get email alerts when the slides are viewed.

The iPad app supports Airplay, so presentations can be wirelessly streamed to a projector or monitor. Slideshark also inhibits the iPad’s sleep function during presentations, so your deck doesn’t go dark in the middle of a pitch.

Brainshark was founded in 1999, and is a privately held company that last took venture capital in 2005. The company has enjoyed a 30 percent annual growth rate, which CMO Zimmerman told VentureBeat is actually accelerating, and currently employs 230 people.

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