COVID-19 changed the way many businesses operated for the past two years, and the end of restrictions on in-person businesses is changing processes again. Employees who became accustomed to remote work and remote collaboration are now being asked, and sometimes told, to return to hybrid or full-time in-office schedules in order to improve productivity and efficiency. This trend has become popularly known as ‘The Great Return” in American news media. Following years of virtual collaboration and reliance on digital communications technologies, companies can face significant challenges balancing workers’ needs and expectations against management needs and company goals.
As the arbiters of decisions on office technology and room-based communications systems, IT departments and employees have a major role to play in facilitating a return to traditional office work. In order to minimize interruptions in daily operations due to technological shortcomings or lack of worker familiarity, IT staff can take steps to standardize equipment and procedures so every meeting host can ensure collaboration is smooth and the technology is predictable.
With the growing use of bring your own device(BYOD) practices that necessitate highly adaptable and interoperable systems, the pre-COVID technologies found in many meeting rooms may be insufficient or even unusable for some employees. For instance, a conference room that requires presentations to be run from a standalone PC and codec may be unrecognizable to those accustomed to plug-and-play solutions that allow their own laptops or even mobile devices to run a presentation wirelessly or through a simple USB or HDMI cable. Additionally, a business that utilizes both virtual and in-person meetings must account for technologies in both types of work environments to ensure smooth communications.
Some business leaders may underestimate the vital nature of this technological reality. In such organizations, it’s critical for in-house IT managers to have thoughtful discussions with executives to identify the full scope of needs and ensure all returning workers can complete their assigned tasks without requiring significant technology training or assistance from IT.
Luckily, technology manufacturers saw these practices changing and subsequently designed and launched new cameras, microphones and communications tools to suit every type of work arrangement and environment. At ClearOne, the focus has been on delivering tools for both the office and the home that can communicate flawlessly and provide simple use and connection with third-party devices, systems and online platforms to make the transitions between home and office as seamless as possible.
The last thing workers want is to have one set of rules and procedures for communication at home, another for their personal workspace at the office, and yet another for conference rooms. It’s also possible that a company’s different meeting rooms in the same building or across multiple locations may require unique setup or operations, which can cause interruptions or delays and waste valuable time for both meeting attendees and IT staff.
Companies that provide workers with laptops or other equipment to conduct remote work can enhance cross-location productivity by maintaining consistency between home and office technologies. Manufacturers know this and have developed tailored AV solutions for every size business to provide improved home and office communications with simplified setup and enhanced audio and video quality.
For instance, affordable tabletop or PC-mounted cameras and speakerphones can significantly raise the quality of one-on-one virtual meetings for home offices and individual in-office workspaces. They do so without introducing added complexity, and if they are from the same manufacturer as a company’s conference room systems, user expectations and operations can be consistent and stress-free. Class-leading options like ClearOne’s CHAT 150 USB speakerphones and UNITE 4K cameras check all these boxes by offering plug-and-play connectivity with a user’s computing platform of choice and working equally well in a wide range of office and home environments.
As a company’s workplace technology experts, IT practitioners have a responsibility to suggest and procure technologies that can improve workflow and respond to changing needs and expectations. Through education about the latest collaboration tools and solutions, IT staff can bring valuable recommendations to company executives that simplify daily processes for employees and minimize the need for real-time IT assistance by users. In today’s world where efficiency and collaboration are the cornerstones of global business operations, IT serves a vital role in helping maintain consistency and reliability, regardless of worker location.
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