AV and companies: remote and hybrid work drives digital transformation

The last eighteen months have been a period of change and adaptation for many companies, and AV technology has been at the core of achieving this and even thriving in difficult conditions, as analyzed by experts in the sector who will show their proposals in Ise 2022.

Demand for collaboration tools and unified communications solutions skyrocketed during the pandemic and shows no signs of slowing down, as workers look to return to the office more flexibly.

“AV technology has been instrumental in keeping communication and business running., and this is true both for the big players and for smaller companies and in the case of many autonomous businesses, he says. Jens Werner, product and business communication manager of Sennheiser-. The move toward hybrid collaboration and meetings is definitely here to stay, and we will see more investments in AV and IT technology, that are the backbone of companies”.

Till Gotterbarm, responsible for product management and strategic partnerships in EMEA of Avocor, notes that “digital transformation was a trend for many organizations, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has experienced a resurgence in light of the changes in the workplace and that we have faced in the last year.”.

For this manager, “the impact of the pandemic has challenged many companies to redefine their workplace to become a hybrid between home and work.. Many organizations have turned to online collaboration tools to help make this transition.”.

In fact, the goal of many companies is to ensure that colleagues can work as they want, regardless of your location, collaborating seamlessly with your teams as if they were all in the same room. The desire is for the tools to be simple to set up., easy to use, are future-proof and designed to last.

Gotterbarm adds that “interactive unified communications tools can offer remote workers, to colleagues and team members in the same room equal functionalities, regardless of your location. For example, employees should access any workspace, regardless of your location, and get to work collaborating with your teammates without requiring too much time for setup tasks”.

Features like the ability to display cloud-based real-time annotations in a meeting, with and by all participants in a call, as well as quickly saving and sending notes and action points of meetings are increasingly in demand, which facilitates the connection of face-to-face teams with those who work remotely.

Adam Dover, Corporate Marketing Director at Sony Professional Displays and Solutions, expands that “there is a new need to provide employees with an environment that doesn't just work seamlessly, with the optimized responsiveness they've become accustomed to in an online world, but also reconnect the workplace community, enabling collaboration again within teams and across departments”.

To achieve this, “it is essential to have impressive screens, perform proper workspace management, have a modern environment and an effective flow of information and brand -continues-. Considering this, we have seen more and more organizations looking to implement a real-time signaling ecosystem, quality displays and efficient workplace management solutions that can work seamlessly in your office spaces and logistics centers”.

Gotterbarm should be “employees must be able to move from one work style to another seamlessly, whether they are in a conference room in the office in the morning or at home working in the afternoon. Collaboration and UC technology can enable this seamless transition by replicating the in-person experience using video viewing technology”.

Smooth transitions with audio

In addition to video technologies, audio also plays a crucial role in ensuring these smooth transitions.. “Real communication and effective collaboration in this new working model are much more productive when there is high-quality audio," says Chris Merrick., Senior Director of Global Integrated Systems Marketing at Shure-. When audio fails in video conferencing and hybrid meetings, this deficiency has a direct effect on everyone's concentration levels. Nuance and emotions are lost, and the real purpose and meaning of the debate can be ruined”.

According to this person in charge, “with effective conferencing technology, users can get straight to the point, solve your problems, transmit key messages and close agreements in a productive and highly committed meeting environment. Reliable, broadcast-quality audio technology, Scalable and flexible to fit all types of rooms and budgets ensures workers have the ideal tools to turn meeting rooms into collaborative spaces, where all participants feel involved and engaged without technological frustrations”.

This use of collaboration tools is also benefiting the companies themselves., as it offers more opportunities to attract talent and develop a diverse workforce.

“Collaboration between company offices in different countries has improved enormously, making teams more diverse, which in turn leads to broader and better decision-making," Werner adds.. Companies located in remote areas can hire the city expert who is not willing to move elsewhere, or the digital nomad working from different places. With technological change we have also seen a change of mentality: companies are much more open to remote work agreements today than they were just two years ago.”.

The role of digital signage

Audiovisual technology also plays an important role in ensuring that employees feel comfortable., safe and fully informed about any new protocols when returning to their workplace.

“Digital signage is an effective method of transmitting messages, and we expect the demand for networked systems to grow for this purpose," shares Dale.. There is a growing trend towards contactless technology that could be more visible in areas such as room bookings., access control, Etc. In addition, the control room sector continues to grow at a good pace, as companies turn to a central hub to track staff deployment, the assets of the company, logistics, the teams, security and external news”.

Data and analytics, whose importance was already growing before the pandemic, they are also increasingly valued in the business sector. Workspace intelligence analytics solutions integrated into workplace hardware, such as meeting room screens, enable decision makers in enterprises to take immediate action to re-evaluate these spaces and the return on investment in UC hardware and software, as well as guide future planning.

As Gotterbarm explains, “analytics and data have always been an important driver in company decision-making, but with the return to work after COVID, will be even more critical to ensuring both operational efficiency and employee comfort and trust”.

Workspace management

In this sense, “commercial real estate and office space are very expensive, from the basic per square meter to the amount that costs the management of those spaces -continues-. now, with the rise of remote and hybrid equipment, companies seek to invest in tools that enable communication and collaboration from anywhere”.

Dover adds that “many companies are thinking about how to optimize their workspaces to minimize the expenditure of energy and resources, precisely and easily managing the capacity of the space, the availability and flow of employees within the building. The solution is to deploy a management platform that ensures that the office space adapts to this new world of work, where flexibility remains at the core of all modern, forward-thinking organizations”.

A company that has invested heavily in this area recently is Thirteen Group. This real estate developer, based in the United Kingdom, wanted to implement modern technology in the workplace and maximize the management of desks and meeting spaces in its new three-story flagship office in the Northeast of the country..

The company turned to the British integrator Visavvi to provide you with a complete visitor management system, with reservation of desks and rooms, in addition to equipping multiple meeting spaces, collaboration and open-plan desks. This included the first UK installation of the GoBright workplace management platform.

specifically, The GoBright solution includes multifunction desks with status LEDs that indicate their current availability. The management and reporting platform, which is complemented by occupancy sensors under the desks and an Outlook-based reservation system, provides real-time and historical booking and usage data, providing vital information on workplace use.

Dover concludes that “flexible working is here to stay, with some companies introducing it little by little and others redefining the workweek with fixed working days from home. Companies are focusing on making office spaces an immersive and impressive experience., and not just gray desks in an empty room”.

For employees and customers “get excited about the return," he adds.- many organizations are renewing their signage solutions; better quality displays and more interactive technology help boost a brand's image and improve the work environment for everyone. In some especially impressive cases, huge glass LED video walls are being installed, especially in lobbies and receptions, to create that much-needed impact as soon as customers and employees enter the building”.

All proposals in ISE 2022

The area of Unified Communications Technology and Education of Ise 2022, in the pavilion 2, present the latest solutions to equip companies with several locations, boardrooms, corporate training offices and facilities.

Technology for the corporate sector can also be found throughout the Fira de Barcelona, from microphones and speakers in the pavilion 7, to digital signage solutions in the pavilion 6 and technologies for smart buildings in the pavilion 2.

Attendees can also register to attend the Smart Workplace Summit, that will take place on 1 February 2022, in which the latest trends in the sector will be analyzed and what the future may hold will be discussed.

As he explains Mike Blackman, executive director of Integrated Systems Events, “by constituting a physical and face-to-face event we are in a unique place to bring together all the elements of the sector under one roof. We can't wait to see you all. In the preparations for Barcelona we have worked hard to ensure that ISE 2022 deliver a secure experience, pleasant and very valuable for the industry to show innovations and be inspired by the highlights of the market. We hope to see you there”.

Integrated Systems Europe (Ise) 2022 will be held at Fira de Barcelona – Gran Via del 1 to the 4 February, and the registration free through the code of Digital AV can be done from this link.

Other articles on Avocor, Fira de Barcelona, Integrated Systems Events, ISE2022, Sennheiser, Shure, Sony Professional Displays and Solutions, Thirteen Group, Visavvi