5 Game-Changing Office A/V Trends Everyone Should Know About in 2023

Nov 3, 2022 7:45:00 AM / by Smarter Systems

 

At first glance, technology innovation seems to be a running race. With its ever-so constant evolution, you may feel like every time you catch up, it sprints away with the weekly introduction of new products, and solutions.

However, technology innovation never speeds up to ditch anyone – it transforms to lead the charge and propel the crowd running behind it. It’s best to think about it like a marathon; the crowd runs together to achieve an impressive feat of running a long distance. And in technology, the goal at the end of the marathon is not to win, but to provide everyone with transformative solutions that optimize communication, information sharing, and productivity.

So with that being said, here’s some nifty trends in the A/V marketplace that have been propelling the marathon towards that goal:

 

1. Videoconferencing and Hybrid Work Integration

Especially with the necessity of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, videoconferencing capabilities have become essential in the workplace. In a recent Pew Research Center study, 59% of employees who have jobs that can mainly be done from home work from home most, if not all of the time. Before the pandemic, this number was at a staggering 23%. And for future reference, 78% of this population admit that they’d love to continue working from home in the future.

So, what about that remaining 41% who don’t want to continue working from home? With this new divide, it necessitates that videoconferencing systems should be present in every environment where this is possible. It’s much easier nowadays to organize a videoconference than book a flight and a hotel, after all.

If you’re looking for examples or even a physical solution in your office, Smarter Systems has three main solutions for conferencing as part of our JUMPSTART ROOMS bundles. Download our JUMPSTART ROOMS guide here:

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2. Open Spaces

Open space offices have become a more fashionable solution in recent years, but they have positive reasons other than just that. They’re financially durable (less walls means less material and energy costs), encourage employee collaboration and accessibility, and allow flexibility with technological solutions.

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The A/V solutions in open spaces are endless because of this. A large open space can be transformed into working areas for employees. You can have a presentation area with a few lounge chairs and a coffee table for more relaxed, informal presentations. A waiting lobby can be positively transformed with digital signage that welcome the guest, display company events, and play comforting music. Some offices even implement mobile carts with displays to give a presentation anywhere.

 

3. Acoustical Designs & Sound Masking

Another part of the evolution of conference rooms has been to control every variable that may cause employee discomfort. Various studies over the years have shown that excessive noise in office environments not only increases stress, but also decreases overall performance among employees. Especially in open spaces, noise is a constant negative factor in workspaces that can multiply the intensity of other negative factors unrelated to the physical space, such as job strain.

One of these main factors of noise is human speech. By rating speech intelligibility, researchers found nomad health sound paneling 2speech that is somewhat clear is most likely to reduce employee productivity. Sound masking is meant to improve the existing conditions even further. By specially tuning background noise to human speech, sound masking “filters” out conversations that are far away, making them harder to understand and less likely to distract an employee.

 

4. Motorized Shades

Motorized shutters in rooms with windows have become a very popular staple in not only offices, but also classrooms and residential spaces. With the click of a button, you can set the shutters in any fashion you choose.

Motorized shutters can be scheduled to open or close depending on the time of the day. If the sun glares through your room in the morning, you can set it so it automatically lowers them for that duration.

5. Digital Flip Charts and Interactive Whiteboards

Tying back to the open space, interactive whiteboards and digital flip charts can be utilized for folks who prefer the feel of writing notes down in a notepad. Never worry about dried out markers again – and even save your notes to a cloud when you’re one!

Let Smarter Systems Be the Change to Your Next Conference Room Design!

Smarter Systems not only does all the above, but carefully customizes any solution for you in a collaborative, assuring six-phase approach. Let us be the guide to your perfect conferencing solution!

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Topics: Audio Visual, Conference Room, Video Conferencing, AV Integrator

Smarter Systems

Written by Smarter Systems