News in the Channel - issue #12

VIDEOCONFERENCING

“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

Fredril Hörnkvist Co-founder

Holli Hulett Co-founder

boomcollaboration.com

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