What’s New: Meeting Room and Office Technology

With offices reopening, employers are looking to bridge the gap between the in-person and remote office experience. By changing existing office layouts or integrating the latest technology, employers can improve efficiency and productivity in the workplace while making it easier to include those working remotely or communicate with clients from around the world. Here are some suggestions on how you can creatively allow design and technology to develop your office space now and in the future.

The “New” Meeting Room

Traditional meeting rooms are becoming a thing of the past and offices are looking to use these rooms in creative ways that increase collaboration while ensuring the space doesn’t end up as wasted real estate. With the use of flexible furniture, removable wall dividers, and multiple video displays, the room can be broken up into collaborative work spaces with the ability to hold more traditional meetings, if needed. This is ideal for employees working on team projects that require working in small groups or independently but need to conduct check-ins with the full group throughout the process. These types of spaces can also be used for training sessions for new employees or as a production studio for those looking to develop in-house content.

Interactive White Boards

The concept of dry and erase boards are still alive and well, sans the markers. Interactive white boards allow for all meeting participants, in-person and virtual, to view meeting documents and have the ability to make public notes and comments for all participants to see. Combined with a video conferencing platform, this also gives meeting participants the ability to record meetings or save and email files to other meeting participants.

Flexible Workstations

With some employees only coming into the office 2-3 days a week, employers are restructuring their office space to provide work stations that can be used by multiple employees, rather than the standard cubicle desk layout of the past. Meeting pods, hot desks, or technology closets are being integrated and include technology like PTZ cameras, video displays, and enhanced audio to make it easy to plug right in and get to work. These spaces are also further enhanced by scheduling devices that employees can use to book spaces at a moment’s notice, providing increased flexibility when committing to work spaces.

Stand Up Video Display Carts

With spaces being designed more creatively, moveable stand up video display carts are starting to be used more to provide a flexible solution for video conferencing in areas that might not be able to be outfitted with video conferencing technology. This technology is also great for those looking to do demos or conduct a discussion within a warehouse space that has no video conferencing capabilities. This limits the need to bring people into

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be utilized to make meetings more productive and efficient. Simple tasks can now be automated, like rescheduling calls, sending out important notifications, booking available rooms, and automatic suggestions based on what is taking place during a particular meeting. It can also be used within the room to focus in on who is speaking, providing a better visual to those experiencing the meeting remotely. It can also adjust the room lighting automatically to enhance the picture quality during a call, minimizing glare or issues often brought on by poorly lit conditions.   

Interested in learning more about the difference this technology can make in your office? Contact us today!