Ready to start reopening your offices? Hybrid workspaces? Have you considered what this will look like as it relates to collaboration? Has the time come to reassess your conferencing platform and how this will work for not only work from home (WFH) remote workers, but those coming back into the office as well?

Here are 5 questions your technology team should ask before they update standard conferencing and collaboration spaces to current technology:

1. How do you operate? What does your workflow look like? 
   
   
2. How does your team go about their tasks? Do they walk around with a laptop, memory stick, or just a phone?
   
   
3. Where do they need to be able to collaborate? Do they physically go to a specific room or is there a need for a cart solution that is mobile and can be taken wherever?
   
   
4. If a specific room exists, what technology infrastructure is already there? Are displays at least 1080p? Do speakers have the coverage for best acoustics? Is the lighting adequate? Poor room acoustics can cause echo or reverberation, and poor lighting can affect the ability to see participants or camera auto tracking – ALL issues that will lower the adoption of the space (no one will use it). Microphones have also come a long way in last 10 years. Beamforming mics, for example, will produce spectacular results so all who need to be heard in the room are. Along this same topic, what existing equipment in the room actually still useable? Is it supported by the manufacturer or integrator, not end of life so it can be repaired, and not on an upcoming upgrade schedule?
   
   
5. What kind of aesthetics are desired? This can change the design completely. Are mics to be on a table or built into the ceiling. Look and feel can be important depending on who will be using the room. 

These questions should get you started, but there are so many issues facing companies seeking the next normal post lockdown. Remote teams, shared workspaces, hybrid workspaces, huddle rooms, touchless technology, and social distance ergonomics require us all to respond, redesign and reinvent how we do things.

Have more questions?

Let IGI help with whatever your hybrid workforce needs.  We can walk you through possible solutions that best fit your current business model and your reopening plan for employees returning to work. We offer touchless (and low-touch), BYOD, soft codec solutions, along with traditional hard codec based systems. Let IGI help with your next steps in creating a safe, easy to use and expandable system that is designed for productivity and connectivity. These upgrades or changes can be relatively inexpensive and done rather quickly.

About IGI:

Immersion Graphics, Inc. (IGI) provides audio visual design, engineering, consulting, product sales, control system programming, custom fabrication, installation, preventative maintenance, and extended support services out of its headquarters location in Detroit and west coast operation in Los Angeles. Additional offices are located in Indianapolis, and Grand Rapids.

Founded in 1998, IGI has installed numerous large-scale, ultra-high resolution systems throughout the U.S. in the automotive, higher education, medical, financial, and energy transmission markets, and for the United States military and other government agencies. Applications include industrial design, engineering and data visualization, mission-critical command & control room environments, presentation systems, video conferencing, digital signage, and a variety of commercial AV solutions for emerging markets where the simultaneous visualization of 3D models and complex data by a group is essential to effective decision making. To get an in depth look at what we do, see our website at www.werigi.com, we are IGI.

IGI is minority owned, veteran owned, and a small business and SBA 8(a) program graduate.