With many offices now implementing a new working environment policy, albeit often in hybrid (at home/in office) mode, it’s important that any environment where people come together to meet and collaborate is sufficiently equipped with systems that provide clear, concise audio.
For successful collaboration to take place, good audio is vital. All participants should feel fully included in the proceedings, so they are on a level footing with each other. Audio plays an essential part in this because participants that are not heard clearly will struggle to communicate effectively. As a consequence, other participants will strain to understand what they are saying, resulting in frustration and fatigue for all concerned. In fact, according to a 2019 survey Shure conducted with Illuminas, 82% of professionals experienced the negative impact of poor audio quality including background noise, echo, audio cutting out and not hearing each other as four of the top five frustrations.
More time spent working from home or from remote locations has seen increased levels of videoconferencing via laptops and other portable devices. However, with higher levels of ambient noise than the traditional office environment, failures with in-built laptop microphones have become apparent due to the omni-directional design, picking up sounds from the surrounding area rather than focusing on the direction from which the user is speaking. Directional mics such as the Shure MV5C, which has been designed for desktop users and home office and small office environments, can significantly enhance speech quality thanks to the capability to minimise sounds that do not originate from the user.
“Shure believes that everyone should have good audio quality and be able to participate in meetings on an equal basis with their colleagues, regardless of their location,” says Chris Merrick, Senior Director, Global Integrated Systems at Shure. “With our award-winning Stem Ecosystem solutions, we can offer products that suit any type of room. They are ideal for every kind of office, enabling everything from social distancing in training spaces to supporting home workers with high-quality audio.”
With new types of work environments continuing to emerge, from huddle rooms to increased utilisation of hot-desking and socially-distanced break-out areas, good audio that provides a consistent experience has become an essential part of doing business. This applies to all environments. Shure is keen to emphasise how the role of the enterprise IT support team is changing and adapting to the new working environment needs, while it is supported by audio and unified communications providers.
“The new multi-environment workplace demands collaborative meetings, but this places a significant burden on IT support teams as they have to find innovative alternatives that are easy to deploy while remaining good quality,” adds Chris Merrick.
“What’s needed are straight-forward solutions that can easily stay within budget without sacrificing good audio and the user experience. Shure’s expertise in building devices that ensure quality, while making the process of embracing new technology effortless, is exactly what the market now demands”
With international travel not expected to resume on a large scale for some time to come, richer office-based experiences will continue to be in demand. Having the ability to enable workers to go back to the office when appropriate is an important element of corporate strategy. Flexibility is also required, and it is likely that the hybrid working model will continue to be adopted with workers traveling into offices one or twice a week, working from home or remote locations for the rest. This will result in many workers operating from multiple locations as they traverse socially distanced traditional meeting and huddle rooms, remote locations, and home offices.
To ensure maximised productivity and worker comfort, meetings, where everyone can hear and be heard, must be maintained so that nobody misses out or is under-supported by their employers. Shure is committed to helping customers achieve these collaborative meetings with good audio for all as the essential fabric for enabling more widely dispersed workforces.
