For channel partners in the UC space, there are endless opportunities to grow.
UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) is now more popular than ever, as companies make the shift into the cloud space. Businesses of all sizes are rapidly moving their processes into a more flexible, scalable environment, and they’re turning to channel partners to guide them into the future.
One particular area of digital transformation that channel partners can invest in is the meeting room. Modern meeting rooms are set to change significantly in the following months, as hybrid workplaces eradicate the traditional in-office environment.
So, how do you ensure your customers can create the right meeting room environments?
The Rise of the Flexible Meeting Space
One of the first major changes that many companies will need to make, involves moving away from the dedicated “office room” environment. The future of work is in the hybrid landscape, where meetings are smaller, more ad-hoc, and increasingly flexible.
The pandemic pushed millions of people to start working from home, but only around 37% of employees say they’re capable of doing their full-time work at home in the future. To connect the remote and in-office landscape, companies will need simple meeting room technology that allows staff to start meetings in seconds.
Plug-and-play room kits that users can instantly access in any room will become increasingly valuable. These tools might include video bars with built-in speakers and microphones. What’s more, many will need to be software agnostic, so employees can continue using the meeting and collaboration tools they feel most comfortable with.
Channel partners will achieve the best results when they offer companies flexible, adaptable meeting room hardware that can change to suit any space. Features might include:
- Plug and play functionality
- Easy integration with popular meeting room software
- Remote and contactless access (through virtual assistants and smartphones)
- Wide-angle cameras with participant sensing features
- Microphone virtualization technology to capture voice from various points in the room
- Access to extra tools like VR headsets and whiteboards
Tools for Managing the Meeting Room: AV Technology
As hardware becomes more user-friendly, flexible, and engaging, channel partners will also need to ensure they’re offering the right software to accompany these endpoints. For instance, many companies may start looking for comprehensive “Rooms” environments.
Flexible Microsoft Teams Rooms can transform any office space into a collaborative setting in seconds. At the same time, Microsoft Teams software gives employees another way to share knowledge and collaborate outside of the meeting room.
To manage a more effective remote meeting room, companies of all sizes will be investing in the perfect blend of audio and video solutions. Video technology is now a must-have for modern conferencing rooms around the world, allowing employees to maintain deeper connections with employees wherever they are.
To accompany plug-and-play video tools, channel partners will need to ensure that their clients have access to immersive video software with features like automated speaker tracking, virtual backgrounds, and intelligent presentations.
At the same time, it will be important to ensure that the meeting rooms of today and tomorrow can clarify conversations between employees with clear audio content. Intelligence microphones should be able to block out distractions and focus only on the voice in the room.
All of this tech needs to be easy to deploy, and simple to monitor from an IT team and business leader perspective. Channel partners will need to show teams how they can keep an eye on things like video streaming quality, or audio dropouts in future meetings.
Tracking and Meeting Analysis
Managing the future meeting room doesn’t just mean ensuring that audio and video connections remain solid. The meeting room is growing increasingly intelligent as companies move forward into a confusing age of hybrid work. Many business leaders will be relying on intelligence and insights to inform them of where their next meeting investments should go.
Companies will also need a way to successfully track important metrics about the meeting room. Increasingly, AI tools are being implemented into room technology to assist with things like participant and occupancy alerts or tracking the temperature and wellbeing of meeting users.
A channel partner that can offer a full set of insightful meeting room analytics alongside valuable software and hardware could differentiate themselves in the current market. Those analytical tools should be able to provide information on everything from how often a room is used to how many meetings employees are having each day.
Channel partners can provide companies with full meeting room health dashboards, where they can track important information about employee wellbeing in an informative, and visual way. At the same time, these dashboards can offer insights into things like, when meeting rooms are most in-demand, so companies can work on their strategies for better secure scheduling in the future.
Maintaining the Modern Meeting Room
With fewer people in the office, and employees increasingly spreading out around the available space, maintaining the modern meeting room will be a largely remote affair. Channel partners that can provision updates to video conferencing software and firmware from a distance will be in high demand going forward. Companies will also be looking for companies that can provision and set up new meeting room solutions with minimal on-site visits.
Deploying a modern meeting room device shouldn’t require local setup in an age of social distancing. IT managers are looking for plug-and-play devices that they can track remotely with convenient all-in-one dashboards. They also need these tools to integrate with all the services that they already use seamlessly, so that employees can continue to use solutions like Microsoft Teams or Zoom, without having to go through complex setup strategies.
The channel partner of today and tomorrow will need to invest in meeting room opportunities that combine things like zero-touch provisioning, with intelligent automation and remote tracking. This way, companies can ensure that their meeting room facilities are continuing to deliver valuable results, without putting employees at risk.
from UC Today https://ift.tt/2QwcTGy
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