The COVID-19 pandemic brought a wave for an increased need for a hybrid workplaceand work from home was recognised as an essential way of working globally including India. In this environment, video became the preferred method of collaborationas itled to improvement in productivity, efficiency, decision-making, customer experience, etc.
With the future of work likely be hybrid, there is increased need to scale video collaboration solutions, transcend obstacles and innovate to successfully ease into the hybrid workplace.There are a number of considerations to be made when choosing the right video collaboration equipment:
- EASE OF USE:Ease of use is a top consideration when organizations purchase video conferencing solutions. If technology is difficult to use or figure out, people will avoid it whenever possible. Simplicity and ease of use, to ensure a system is intuitive for the end-user and there are no barriers to uptake. A system that allows users to join meetings with the touch of one button and has minimal cabling, will make it easier for employees who may not have used video conferencing a lot in the past.
- CONSISTENT USER EXPERIENCE: Another important consideration is ensuring that any different systems can integrate with whichever software platform employees, and external visitors, currently use. Providing a consistent video conferencing experience in every room ensures that anyone in the company can enter any space and quickly start or join a video meeting. Replicating that experience for personal workstations and remote workers encourages collaboration as employees move between personal and shared meeting spaces.
- EASY TO DEPLOY: In addition to being simple to use for meeting participants, the video conferencing solution should also be easy for IT to install and maintain. This requirement is especially important when you need to deploy technology across numerous offices and locations, quickly and with minimal effort.
- FLEXIBLEOFFERING: One of the most importantfactors is looking for compatibility with existing software and work fluidly with the common software applications, like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom Rooms etc. For greater flexibility, it should offer integration options with multiple compute partners.
- SCALABLE SOLUTION: Given the importance of a consistent experience, a video conference solution must be easily scalable so it can be deployed to dozens, hundreds, or, for global organizations, perhaps thousands of rooms. It must be available and supported everywhere. It should be priced for wide deployment. And, to simplify IT effort and time, the solution should include the ability to manage it remotely.
Additionally, VC solution also needs to support natural and fluid conversations, so it is importantto have exceptional audio as well as technology to suppress unwanted background noise.
In the last two years, we got used to seeing everyone up close on-screen when we were all remote, so finding a technology that restores the balance between people in a meeting room and those who are remote to ensure everyone is equally seen is key.It is expected that more and more companies will find partners who can meet needs for a convenient setup, easy IT management, and simple access to existing video conferencing software to create a holistic hybrid work environment.
