The right interactive display can transform the classroom and enhance the learning experience for both teachers and students. There are plenty of boards on the market that all claim to be the most secure option for your school and it can be easy to be fooled into thinking that an interactive display without a built-in operating system is the safest choice. 

That’s an enticing promise, especially when you consider the fact that non-OS boards tend to be significantly cheaper than their counterparts with built-in operating systems.

Despite what some people might claim, choosing a non-OS interactive display can not only put your school’s security at significant risk, but it can also set your classrooms and therefore your learning outcomes back by an entire generation.

Pre-2015, the only way to gain internet access via an interactive display was by connecting an OPS (Open Pluggable Specification) computer or plug-in PC. In 2015 BenQ launched the RP2 series, the world’s first interactive display to feature a built-in Android operating system, eliminating the need for external computing sources.

Over the next 10 years, interactive displays featuring built-in operating systems have become more commonplace in the market. However, despite all the benefits of an integrated operating system, there are still a surprising number of interactive displays on the market without one. 

Some interactive display manufacturers on the market proudly boast that the fact that their boards don’t have the capability to connect them to the internet makes them more secure, but this simply isn’t true.

Without internet access, other interactive displays have no option but to prompt admins to set local access controls for every device, but our cloud-based software means that admins can easily manage all devices from one central location.

Another consideration is that just because an interactive display doesn’t have internet connectivity, this doesn’t mean that a classroom will be entirely free of internet connected devices. If teachers aren’t able to access the internet via their interactive board, they’ll instead connect devices like laptops and access the internet in this way instead.

This raises safeguarding concerns as this could mean that children manage to access a teacher’s device which could potentially lead to them accessing sensitive personal information like confidential student data, or the teacher’s personal browsing history or secure information.

On top of this, internet connected boards have access to measures like OTA (over the air) updates which means that critical security updates are pushed automatically to all displays to maintain a high level of protection. 

Plus, as all displays are connected to the internet, it’s easy to view every device on the internal network and manage the whole ecosystem remotely from one central location. This allows IT teams to monitor for unauthorised users and activity that might pose a critical security risk.

This kind of remote management is only possible with the kind of software included in BenQ’s range of cloud services which launched in 2017. BenQ’s DMS (Device Management Solution) gives administrators the ability to remotely monitor all BenQ interactive devices that are connected to the internet and set up and manage all devices and apps from a single, easy-to-use platform. 

BenQ also offers directory service syncing and single sign on (SSO) with the BenQ Identity and Access Management (IAM) system. This means that schools that manage their user lists on services such as ClassLink, Entra ID, Microsoft (SAML), Class Link, Clever, and other LDAP solutions can take advantage of auto provisioning of accounts with BenQ Boards, making it easy to manage user permissions and grant – or revoke – them when needed. SSO also gives teachers a secure way to log into any board across all classrooms in the school.

In addition to BenQ’s AMS (Account Management System), this comprehensive suite of cloud software allows IT teams to have granular control over the users that are enrolled on their systems. That means more secure systems and therefore a more secure school.

Although interactive displays without this suite of software might seem like a cheaper option, the lack of remote access and management means many wasted hours that the IT team could be spending on more important projects, not to mention poses a security risk.

BenQ’s cloud-based software is all free and come included with BenQ Boards as standard. There are no additional subscription fees or hidden costs incurred, and these interactive displays are currently the only ones on the market to offer comprehensive user access management.

In addition to this, many of the leading brands in the interactive display market store customer data on servers that are located outside of the EU. These countries are rated as ‘adequate’ for data processing under GDPR regulations. Unlike other brands, BenQ’s servers are all located in the EU which makes them fully GDPR compliant and means that schools’ sensitive data has the highest level of data protection possible.

For additional peace of mind, in 2023 BenQ released EDLA (Enterprise Device License Agreement) certified interactive displays which integrated Google’s EDLA into BenQ’s cloud service applications.

EDLA grants access to the official Google Play Store, allowing users to download and install apps on their board, opening up a world of interactivity via educational games and tools. This allows teachers to encourage students to engage in a variety of different ways improving learning outcomes and boosting interactivity in the classroom.

Alongside Google Play, is the Google Play Protect service, which works to continually check installed apps for suspicious behaviour. It blocks the download of any potentially harmful apps and actively removes previously installed ones that start to show malicious behaviour. 

This means that IT teams can rest assured in the knowledge that they have an additional level of security support to help keep all their devices secure and reduce security risks. And for those who are particularly security conscious, Google Play can always be disabled as an additional level of protection.

Although there is a place for non-OS interactive displays in the classroom, it’s not something that any school should be striving for. If schools are looking for a solution that allows teachers to simply plug a laptop in and use their board as an extension of the display, then a non-OS display is a great choice.

Schools looking to do this can purchase a large TV and mount this alongside an existing non-interactive whiteboard or blackboard to achieve the same kind of results.

However, for schools looking to invest in their students’ education and enable them to achieve their full potential, an interactive display with a built-in OS is non-negotiable. 

Thanks to the evolution of classroom technology and an eagerness from schools and teachers to embrace these changes, education outcomes have come a long way over the past decade. By choosing to use technology that was already beginning to age a decade ago, schools are actively choosing to strive for the kind of results that they were achieving 10 years ago and therefore failing to recognise their students’ full potential.