Today’s workplace would be almost unrecognizable to a time traveler from the ’90s, a mere 20 years ago. Executive offices and warrens of cubicles are giving way to open floor plans, shared desks, and casual collaboration spaces. Formal conference rooms, while still present, are vastly outnumbered by huddle rooms and team spaces.
This new collaborative mode of working calls for a new set of tools. Businesses and organizations of all sizes are racing to support employee demand for collaboration tools. In a recent survey by Nemertes, 90 percent of respondents agree that videoconferencing makes meetings more efficient. As companies expand and create new office environments, 16.5 percent plan to exclusively deploy open workspaces in these new spaces, which is a 41 percent increase over current deployments. And 32 percent of organizations are already increasing their video deployments in smaller-sized meeting rooms.
While the technology has been around for decades, today’s video conferencing is a far cry from the complex, multi-thousand dollar video systems of yesterday. Today’s video collaboration is simple and accessible. If you’re not already deploying video, you should be. Below are four key considerations for deploying video conferencing in huddle rooms:
- Do you need to connect a virtual workforce? Most likely, the answer is yes. Whether you’re a large, global company with offices around the world or a small operation that needs to connect a few principals or reach crowdsourcing suppliers such as digital nomads, chances are you need to connect people who are located in different locations and time zones.
- How important is ease of use? Today’s technologies vary in terms of complexity from highly complex systems to cloud-based applications that are so easy your average 7-year-old can (and probably does) use them. Assess your users’ technical acumen and select a solution that will work for the lowest proficiency level.
- Do you need a solution that integrates with existing infrastructure? If you’re a large organization, and have a significant investment in legacy video infrastructure, the answer is most likely yes. The good news is that today’s video platforms can and do work with legacy systems.
- Does your organization use more than one collaboration app? For the vast majority of workplaces, the answer is yes. Even if your company has standardized on a platform, chances are your users need access to web conferencing and cloud-based video services and a variety of other apps. When deploying new conference room tools, be sure to choose peripherals like Logitech GROUP and ConferenceCam Connect, which work with just about any video and web conferencing platform out there – from premium applications like Skype for Business to “freemium” services like BlueJeans and Zoom. and even free apps like Google Hangouts.
Want to know more? Check out this infographic on deploying video conferencing in meeting rooms.
