Miro looks to move beyond the whiteboard and support hybrid work

Miro has unveiled a host of new features and integrations designed to support hybrid working and move the company beyond being predominantly a whiteboarding tool.

The collaboration software maker has added several new features this week, including three updated frameworks for its Miro Developer Platform, new integrations with the Google Meet and Webex videoconferencing tools, and improvements to interactive presentations.

“The announcements Miro is making this week set out the company’s vision for the future of visual collaboration, which goes well beyond just whiteboarding,” said Varun Parmar, chief product officer at Miro.

Supporting hybrid work

As most organizations continue to operate some kind of hybrid work model, Parmar said, a lot of people are experiencing the worst parts of both in-person and remote working. Miro is looking to improve the experience of meetings, as well as the pre- and post-meeting experience.

The new Miro app integration with Google Workspace, which is expected to go live in June, will allow Google Meet users to access Miro via the activities panel to start creating a new Miro board or edit any existing board in the meeting.

The new native Webex board app will also let Webex users launch any Miro board directly inside a meeting. Miro can also be used on a Webex board outside of the meeting through the Miro web app.

Parmar, who was previously chief product officer at Box, said that videoconferencing and team communication remain the most popular integrations among Miro customers, with many users requesting deeper partnerships in that space.

New integrations with Airtable, ClickUp, Gtmhub, Smartsheet, and Unito have also been introduced by Miro.

Aside from integrations, Miro has introduced more features for running interactive presentations in a hybrid work setup. Magic Organize puts frames in order, while an algorithm analyzes frame positions and recommends the right presentation order.

An update to Miro Smart Meetings also introduces Soundboard, a tool that allows users to insert a variety of sounds, including “appreciation” and “drumroll,” that can be used at any time during presentations.

Miro Developer platform

Alongside the updates to better support hybrid teams, Miro has also launched its updated Developer Platform. The platform consists of three frameworks that enable developers to program user-facing and server-side applications to integrate Miro with any web-based application.

The updated frameworks include:

• Miro Developer Platform Rest APIs, which enable the development of server-side applications for synchronizing content and improving security management.
• Miro Developer Platform Web SDK, a JavaScript library to support the development of apps and integrations that run within Miro.
• Miro Live Embed, a framework to allow any Miro board to be accessed directly in a third-party application, for both synchronous and asynchronous work.

Bridging the gap for product management

Miro also announced some new features aimed at accelerating work for product development teams and bridging the gap between product management, engineering, and design.

The newly announced Apps for Agile allows teams to increase speed, improve outcomes, and help to drive innovation in common workflows. In addition, Advanced Diagramming now includes shape packs, swim lanes, callout shapes, and preset diagram theme color packs to help create more professional looking diagrams.

Parmar said that product development workflows are an area where Miro will continue to innovate in the future, alongside continuing to support hybrid teams via its collaboration capabilities.

“[Miro customers] will start to see a lot more integrations and workflows around videoconferencing and audio conferencing, alongside looking at how asynchronous ways of working can be brought into the product,” he said.