What can companies do to ensure that their employees can stay in touch with their colleagues and work efficiently with remote teams across the globe?
By David Román
A strong unified communications strategy is essential for workers to stay productive and collaborate naturally with their colleagues around the world. A well-designed and properly installed conferencing system will ensure that teams can collaborate effectively and make decisions vital to business, even if they are not in the same room, country or continent, as their ideas can be heard, discussed and expanded in a comfortable and effective way, no matter where they are.
Importance of Conference Audio
When planning your unified communications strategy, it's important to remember that while conference video may be the first element that comes to mind, audio is critical. Although it is beneficial to see your colleagues participating in the meeting to create rapport, follow body language and develop relationships, if you cannot hear your colleagues, or constantly have to ask for the information to be repeated due to the low quality of the connection, soon all participants will feel tired, frustrated and the meeting will be less productive.
It's also worth noting that poor sound quality is often the biggest cause of complaints among people using AV conferencing systems. In addition to simply not being able to hear when you are on the other side of a call, there are also problems of background noises that prevent you from understanding what is being said, cross conversations, because people cannot be seen or heard properly, and the voices of people who speak lower or who are further away from the microphone are not clearly captured.
When you invest in a system that delivers clear, uniform and highly intelligible sound, it is possible to maintain internal communications no matter what the external situation is and remote workers will be just as productive as if they were present in the office. Not only that, but it adds a level of professionalism when holding meetings with external clients that simply cannot be achieved when using mobile video calling apps.
Additionally, you must ensure that your system has been properly configured for the room and that the microphones and speakers are properly positioned. An AV conferencing system should cause the feeling that all participants are in the same room, no matter where they are; only then will it be truly effective. To solve this need, Shure has solutions such as the Microflex Ecosystem and the Stem Ecosystem that combine a variety of products for all types of rooms.
Consider ease of use
Acceptance by users is another aspect that should not be overlooked; people need to know that they can trust the system and feel comfortable using it. For example, many people don't like a video system where they can see themselves on the screen, nor do they like the unnatural feeling of having to speak out loud into a central microphone; the more intuitive and natural the experience, either by placing a discrete microphone or with multi-screen options, the greater the participation and the more value the investment will be.
If the chosen system is reliable, easy to use and a time-saving tool, employees are more likely to accept it quickly rather than feel self-conscious about using it. We have all experienced the situation of having entered a conference room and trying to start a call and that technology fails us. In an internal meeting, this is frustrating and a waste of time, and for a meeting with clients, it is unprofessional and creates a sad first impression. Employees need equipment they can trust. If they have difficulty talking to their colleagues or grasping information, they will feel isolated or unable to perform the intended tasks. Not only that, but offering flexible work and being aware of a person's situation can make staff feel more valued, which increases loyalty to the company and, therefore, retention rates, creating an obvious benefit for the business.
Although cell phones still retain their place in business, a robust and comprehensive unified communications strategy will benefit your company in a number of ways, ensuring that you can maintain productivity and communication, helping you retain employees, offer flexibility and agility to the workforce that increasingly demands new ways of working, and allowing the company to adapt more quickly to external events. Remote workers will be able to access the same functionality as their office-based colleagues, without the hassle of trying to relocate during work activity and, crucially, business continuity will be maintained avoiding being affected by any unexpected event.
Future Projection
The pandemic has brought a number of changes in the way we work and the way we communicate. Many of these changes are not only going to continue, but they are going to continue to mutate. That's why it's more important than ever to invest in a unified communications strategy that includes a future projection, looking beyond a simple UC call. The investment must go hand in hand with the quality of audio, video and security, but it must also be oriented towards multi-platform communications. These elements must be coupled with platforms that allow systems to grow over time, adapt, integrate/exchange/transform, and be easy to install, maintain, and control by users and the support team.
Today, we already have solutions that allow us to work with a functionality scheme type "Multi-Audio Zone", in which the hardware is not linked to so many cables, the systems are open to any platform on demand, the components can be integrable and not static (i.e. have 5 integrated soundbars and in a moment divide them to several fixed end points), in which BYOD (Bring your own device) solutions can be integrated and the hardware is practically "plug and play". Can you imagine a system of the future with this versatility? Well, it already exists in Shure.
*David Román is Sales Director of Shure Latin America. You can contact him through [email protected]
