The Year 2021 in Review

Around the globe, the journey towards a more connected world continued in 2021. We collaborated and communicated more online than ever before. Businesses connected online to close deals, schools switched to distance learning when they were closed. In our personal lives, we stayed connected with our friends and family through video conferencing (and some couples even got married online).

Video conferencing is becoming more common for those who work remotely. It helps to close the gap between teams and offices worldwide.

At Digital Samba, we strive to provide a blank canvas filled with ideas for a better tomorrow, allowing everyone to collaborate in real-time seamlessly. Used across all disciplines, we want to enable people to connect and work with one another.

In 2021, we continued to take advantage of innovative technologies to power the change to a better world tomorrow. That's why we have released more than 20 updates to Samba Live and added new features in 2021. These frequent updates were driven by a new agile development process which allows us to release updates and bug fixes more often.

Mobile App

In February 2021, we published one of the most comprehensive updates since the release of Samba Live. We launched our new mobile apps for iOS and Android. Over the year, we kept adding new features and improvements to the mobile app so you can enjoy a true Samba Live-experience also on your smartphone or tablet.

More Customization

To make white labelling even more attractive, we added new possibilities to customize Samba Live to your own needs. From branded backgrounds to more fine-granular user permissions, we make it easy to resell or white label our platform.

With our updates in 2021, you can now also customize your sessions in more detail on an account level. For example, you can select the preferred number of thumbnails or the tiled videos per page and enable HD streaming from the workspace settings. 

Virtual Backgrounds

Want to blurry out the background of your video? Do you want to use your company's background during a sales pitch while sitting at home? Since summer 2021, we have allowed Samba Live users to upload their very own virtual background. You can also enable or disable virtual backgrounds for your service plans or add branded virtual backgrounds as an OEM user.

Content Library

We have improved our popularShared Files-feature in the Content Library with several optimizations, including adding a new option to Unshare files. Furthermore, we improved the Content Library with small updates such as a laser pointer for shared documents to make online collaboration more seamless than ever.

Forced Layouts

One of the most used features of Samba Live is the Forced Layouts. That's why we have improved this handy control even further. During video conferences, hosts can now choose between 10 pre-defined forced layouts. In addition, we have included well-tested layouts for productive meetings, interactive workshops and convincing webinars.

Breakout Rooms

Our Breakout Rooms are used in many different settings – from interactive workshops to virtual events. That's why we were keen to improve this feature further, and you can now pre-assign participants to breakout rooms. With this improvement, you can already set up your breakout rooms in advance when scheduling a session. As a result, the breakout sessions are ready when you start your session.

Moreover, we enhanced the capacity of our Breakout Rooms. With Samba Live, you can now create up to 300 breakout rooms. This makes us a market leader in the field of breakout rooms.

Samba Live in 2022 and beyond

We will continue our journey in 2022 to improve Samba Live and add new features continuously while listening to your requests and needs. With this short wrap-up, we also want to express our gratitude to all our customers, friends, and partners to make the world a better and more connected place!