Videoconferencing has become an established part of working life, which means that many businesses are looking to upgrade their equipment and create dedicated hybrid meeting rooms to ensure everyone in the meeting has an optimal experience, creating continuing opportunities for resellers.
For employees in many sectors, videoconferences have become an unavoidable part of working life. Whether they like them or not – and a recent Brother survey found that many employees feel that there are too many meetings that don’t add value or waste their time – videoconferencing is here to stay, especially as hybrid working is now embedded in working life.
“The pandemic accelerated the adoption of videoconferencing for remote work, education and social interaction,” says Paul Burn, managing director of Nimans. “Demand for this continues to rise, driven primarily by the continuing popularity of hybrid and flexible work arrangements, the growing need for businesses to collaborate with partners and customers around the world and the advancements in videoconferencing technology, which have made it more affordable, accessible and user-friendly.”
As it is here to stay, many businesses are now looking to upgrade their videoconferencing facilities, not just the equipment they use but also where they are hosted, with hybrid meeting rooms continuing to gain in popularity. “This is driven by advancements in technology and the increasing demand for flexible work arrangements,” notes Paul.
“Businesses are investing in high-quality audio and video equipment to create immersive meeting experiences. They are also becoming increasingly intelligent, with software that automates many of the tasks involved in setting up and managing a meeting. Collaboration tools are also being integrated, such as interactive whiteboards, content sharing capabilities and real-time translation. As technology advances, we can expect even more innovative solutions for hybrid meeting rooms.
“Customers are keen to upgrade their hybrid meeting room equipment driven by the desire for more productive, engaging and adaptable workspaces. Businesses are investing in high-quality audio and video solutions for more equitable meetings, interactive whiteboards and displays for enhanced collaboration and user-friendly room scheduling and management software. With advancements in technology, hybrid meeting rooms are poised to become even more valuable for companies seeking to improve collaboration and communication.
“An optimal hybrid meeting room should provide a seamless and engaging experience for in-person and remote participants. Additionally, intuitive software for meeting management, room booking and scheduling systems is essential. Ensuring a high-speed and dependable internet connection is paramount.”
Quality demanded
Boom Collaboration co-founder Fredrik Hörnkvist agrees that demand for high quality videoconferencing equipment continues to rise. “There is a current spike in technology that can ‘level up’ meetings especially around people working from home,” he says. “It’s vital everyone has the same high-quality experience and can be seen and heard clearly wherever they are working.”
He adds that work from home policies have settled down now, which means organisations can develop longer-term strategies and plan more for the future with their videoconferncing technology and buy in solutions that will last.
Fellow Boom Collaboration co-founder Holli Hulett adds that with hybrid meeting rooms it is important to remember that quality counts. “Audio is just as important as video as if people cannot be heard it becomes impossible to collaborate effectively,” she says.
For an optimal experience in a hybrid meeting room, while Holli says there is no one-size-fits all, “in larger rooms PTZ cameras and expandable audio provide optimum performance,” she says. “The convenience of video bars makes them popular universal solutions.”
Developing technology
Jon Grundy, head of AV Solutions at Exertis AV, notes that the technology used in hybrid meeting rooms continues to develop too.
“The market leaders for videoconferencing software (Teams, Zoom, Webex etc) are continuing to roll out new features to improve a user’s experience,” he says. “Videoconferencing end point vendors are also launching new and improved systems (eg. Poly X52, Logi Rally Huddle) and peripherals (eg. Poly TC10, Logi Sight) to enhance the in-room and far end experience.”
Jon adds that there is a trend among customers to improve their boardroom set ups too. “Most boardrooms have some form of videoconferencing technology, but a great number of them are unsuitable for the room size or use case,” he says. “We are also seeing growth in smaller spaces/huddle rooms. Once a customer has a suitable boardroom, the question needs to be asked: how can we then facilitate videoconferencing in other areas?”
When looking to provide an optimal experience in a hybrid meeting room, the room logistics and use case are vital elements that need to be considered up front, Jon adds. “At the very least, a system needs to be able to see and hear all participants as well as making sure anyone in the room can quickly and easily use the system,” he says. “There are many considerations to ensure an optimum set up and user experience.”
Jennifer Howden-Woodward, European marketing manager at Evolve IP EMEA, adds that the focus for investing in hybrid meeting rooms and optimising their collaboration tools is on intelligence within those spaces. “Interactivity and inclusivity are key to optimisation that will enable people to collaborate and work together no matter where they are or how they work,” she says.
Jennifer adds that to give an optimal experience in a hybrid meeting room, businesses should use platform-agnostic hardware. “This ensures that any investment enables users to join and host meetings across a variety of platforms,” she says. “There is no point in having a solution but forgetting to invest in the hardware to optimise it. We’re seeing a shift and focus in this area too.”
Reseller role
With customer needs changing and the equipment evolving rapidly, resellers have an important role to play in ensuring that customers get the right solutions for their particular needs.
Resellers therefore need to understand their customers’ needs and requirements, Jennifer says. “This means knowing what those meetings are used for and how their team/businesses operate within those meeting spaces,” she says. “They can then offer them the platforms and hardware that will best support them and will allow them to optimise their collaboration.”
Jon agrees, adding that resellers are more vital than ever. “Too often, we see rooms which a user’s IT team have put together. Although there are exceptions, most of these have missed a key consideration or the install is not tidy or conducive to long-term support,” he says. “While there is a huge amount of information for end users online, resellers are experienced experts who live AV day in, and day out – their guidance and expertise cannot be underestimated.”
Paul adds that resellers are experts in helping customers create the best hybrid meeting rooms possible. “They provide comprehensive solutions, from needs assessment and design to installation, training and ongoing support,” he says. “Resellers also stay up to date on the latest technologies to help customers future-proof their investments.”
AI impact
As mentioned, the technology used in videoconferencing continues to evolve and one of the key developments is the increasing use of virtual reality and artificial intelligence (AI) and it is expected that it will have more of an influence in the next 12-18 months.
“The impact of AI is definitely growing,” says Fredrik. “There are many different layers of technology and manufacturing components that need to come together to create the ultimate ‘intelligent’ customer experience. In terms of video conferencing processing, image capture is the first crucial foundation. Various features can then be layered on top.
“The quality of the camera lens matters plus pre-processing where the camera needs to look for a face or shoulders and differentiate humans from other objects. There are multiple steps to deliver the ultimate quality. It’s a split-second process. Quality components such as four layers of lens glass and a fast Sony CMOS sensor can make a big difference. Finally, good AI algorithms already built into the chip bring everything to life. Our cameras are not actually learning and gathering information though which negates any wider security issues.
“AI functions in cameras are still seeing vast improvements and have the potential to revolutionise the way we use them. AI is currently allowing automatic tracking and framing of multiple subjects and real-time translation of video calls.”
Paul notes that AI is being used to automate many of the tasks involved in setting up and managing hybrid meeting rooms. “This includes tasks such as room scheduling, display control and climate control,” he says. “AI is also being used to improve the quality of audio and video in hybrid meeting rooms. For example, AI can be used to reduce background noise and improve the clarity of speech.
“In the next 12-18 months, we can expect to see AI become even more integrated into hybrid meeting rooms. This will make them even easier to use and more efficient. We can also expect to see AI being used to develop new features, such as real-time translation and virtual assistants.”
Jennifer adds that resellers should be encouraging the use of AI. “In a way that enables organisations to optimise their business practises and individuals,” she says. “The introduction of Microsoft Co-pilot and the enhanced Webex meetings optimise staff and organisations to have more productive meetings.”
With the development of videoconferencing technology and the spaces to hold such meetings continuing for the foreseeable future, it means there are plenty of opportunities for resellers that keep up with the latest technology and ensure they have a collaborative approach with customers.
