We all love a good magic trick. 

Rabbits out of hats; doves from handkerchiefs. 

But how about rooms made bigger or the number of people contributing positively to a meeting somehow boosted? 

In the new hybrid world of work-from-anywhere, video conferencing technology is doing all that, and more. 

With increasing cleverness, smart (yet affordable) kit is providing organisations of every size with the ability to embrace the post-pandemic work revolution – driving transformational efficacy, efficiency, and productivity in ways few would once have imagined. 

And, as is always the case in the opportunity-rich channel, that kind of trick is one for resellers and Managed Service Providers not to miss. 

“The light bulb has gone on for many organisations that working from home or outside the office does not necessarily mean a reduction in productivity – brilliant video conferencing capability is at the very heart of that,” says Nigel Dunn, Managing Director EMEA at global unified audio and video vendor Jabra, which is waving a big wand in this space. 

“Now everybody collaborates virtually. The next phase of evolution is for organisations to maximise the functionality and the quality in order to provide the best possible user experience.” 

The research suggests that time is now.  

A survey of 2,800 organisations of all sizes commissioned recently by Jabra reveals that 87 per cent of all meetings are now either fully virtual or hybrid – Hybrid Ways of Working 2022 Global Report (jabra.com)  

Crucially, it’s likely that a high proportion of people in those meetings are deploying unsophisticated in-built laptop cameras, microphones and speakers which severely limit that all-important user experience. 

Some will be at home or otherwise out of the office and some will be back in the office as part of the hybrid mix. 

That means two things are highly desirable: smart kit capable of pulling off some of that aforementioned magic, and reconfigured office space which responds to today’s modern challenges.   

“Of the people we recently interviewed, 57 per cent were concerned that their career would suffer if they didn’t go back to the office regularly,” says Dunn. 

“Organisations should change their views of what office working should look like and how their spaces are laid out. The new hybrid meeting may have, say, six people participating in the office and 30 people online from wherever.” 

In Jabra’s case, its smart PanaCast 50 products feature a 180 degree field-of-view camera capable of appearing to double the size of a room by including everyone on screen regardless of how big or small the space actually is. 

That means six or so people can contribute effectively to a large virtual meeting from a room as small as three square meters – a game-changer for organisations with potential to reduce their physical real estate footprint.  

Then there is the quality of the actual audio and video. 

Jabra’s PanaCast range features smart functionality such as intuitive frame adjustment to focus only on active speakers; eight professional-grade, voice-detection microphones that remove residual echo and static noise; and four powerful, zero-vibration speakers designed to fill the room with high-definition sound.  

There is also an intuitive new Whiteboard Sharing feature – enabling users to toggle easily between up to three virtual whiteboards – and it’s all plug ‘n play AND fully integrated with all the major collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and others. 

“Today’s modern meeting participants could be sitting in a kitchen with a squeaky chair and a dog in the other room,” says Dunn. 

“This kit cancels out all of that unwanted background noise. It allows users to move around and the camera will always follow them. If the light is coming in only from one side, the camera adjusts for that. And if users have a demonstration to share, there’s a seamless separate video stream.  

“It means all users can be active contributors; productivity doesn’t decrease even if they are in a coffee shop, a busy station or an airport. 

“At the start of the pandemic, not everyone had experience of working from home. Contact Center agents, for example, didn’t really know what they should be doing and probably didn’t have the right equipment for the job. 

“Times have changed and I think people have found their own norms for doing a good job. That’s truly what working from anywhere really means and the organisations that embrace that will do better than others”  

Clever, integrated analytics, too, add a further dynamic to unified VC.   

Numbers of meeting participants and the duration of meetings have the potential to equip user organisations with the data and intelligence to help design more efficient processes and better manage resources.  

And, in Jabra’s case in particular, open APIs enable the easy and seamless integration of their VC kit into existing meeting room booking systems and preferred calendar invite platforms. 

All a bit devoid of actual human interaction for you? 

Well, in the context of many people missing the value of the so-called ‘water cooler conversation’ with colleagues, today’s modern video conferencing is so ubiquitous that spontaneous, less work-related virtual interactions are now commonplace.  

“Of course, that is something we all miss but, with the click of a button, you CAN replicate those valuable, more socially-orientated conversations, albeit via video,” says Dunn.  

“This is the new hybrid way of working and there is no going back” 

To learn more about how Jabra can help your and your customers’ businesses thrive in the hybrid age, visit www.jabra.com 

 

 



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