“We’re down the corridor…second meeting room on the right. Don’t worry about the conferencing kit, it’s all plug and play.”
We’ve all heard it many times, but how often does that turn out to really be the case?
And how often have we had to make that call of shame to the IT guy or girl to hustle along and get us up and running?
In the hybrid working world in which many employees bring their own devices into the office, the answers to those questions can significantly impact the virtual meeting participant experience.
Light-touch and genuinely seamless, and the experience is a wholly satisfying (and productive) one.
Complicated and clunky, and, well, we’ve all been there..!
Thankfully, as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) increases in popularity, smart technology partners are getting hugely better at closing the gap between a somewhat disingenuous boast and the actual reality.
In fact, maybe ‘plug and play’ has always been over-simplistic marketing-speak.
Whatever is the case, the more discerning hybrid worker is way past the immediately-post-pandemic phase of somehow following their nose when it comes to accessing a virtual meeting.
They are way past trying different cables in different ports of their laptop. Way past frenziedly downloading new software with seconds to go before the most important collaboration of their week is due to start. And way past hurriedly learning off the cuff as yet another different conferencing system demands yet another different sign-on.
Organisations with the happiest, least-frazzled employees are those which equip their offices and meeting rooms with technology that genuinely supports the BYOD movement.
As always, choosing the right provider is paramount.
“The majority of employees now consider their own laptop to be their office – not a walled space but the technology they take with them everywhere,” says Josh Blalock, Chief Video Evangelist at global audio and video solutions provider Jabra, whose range of meeting room solutions enable super-simple connection and collaboration.
“People want to walk into those rooms with their laptops and simply plug in and go. Maybe they're on Microsoft Teams, maybe they're on Zoom, maybe it's Google Meet or Go to Meeting – whatever platform is hosting their meeting, they want easy access using the device with which they feel most comfortable.”
The same is the case when working from home or elsewhere.
Users want their camera, microphone, headset and speaker hardware sets to connect seamlessly with their own devices and the software within them.
