Is the shift to flexible working and the
widespread utilisation of mobile technology killing the traditional boardroom
meeting?
The business meeting has been the mainstay of
business communication for decades. The meeting has long been a key
facilitation tool for organisations. It’s a chance to discuss issues, resolve
challenges together and communicate decisions.
Managing this key outcome has been a challenge
with work practices changing:
Teams are often distributed around a city,
county or globally. It is increasingly rare for all the key stakeholders to be
in the same place at the same time.
The drive towards more productive work,
utilising new mobile technology such as smartphones and tablets. There has been
a massive uptake of these devices with many professionals relying on them to
undertake essential work tasks such as email.
Flexible work hours. Staff are increasingly
working flexible hours often logging on from home, outside of the typical
nine-to-five routine, to join meetings.
Standard boardroom technology, even the humble
blue VGA cord, is no longer cutting it, as the multitude of mobile devices in
use today won’t plug into or be able to access the technology, causing
increasing levels of hassle and delay as presenters struggle to set up their
devices for the meeting.
Certainly many larger organisations have started
to adapt to these changing circumstances, installing complex and usually very
expensive audio-visual systems, often with integrated video conferencing, in
the main boardroom. However this is an unaffordable luxury for most companies.
But more importantly, it still forces the majority of participants to gather in
the one central location.
The Rise Of The Smart Room
Toolsets are starting to emerge to solve these
challenges. The “Smart Room” is developing as a leading contender, providing
greater flexibility and affordability. Rather than investing solely in the main
corporate boardroom, organisations are starting to respond by installing smart
rooms throughout the business.
The 6 elements of a Smart Room
A good sized wall mounted panel.
The ability to wirelessly present to the room,
also known as “airplaying.”
High definition video conferencing capability.
This element is likely to represent 25%-50% of the total cost of the solution.
Virtual workspace enabled devices so
participants can bring their familiar desktop experience into the meeting.
Multi-site user access. The ability for users to
access the meeting simply from multiple locations using multiple devices.
Electronic whiteboards that all participants can
see and access, allowing for greater interactivity and participation from
remote users.
The price point for a Smart Room continues to
fall quickly and currently sits under the ten thousand dollar mark. At the same
time, the bandwidth requirements for a good user experience are also coming
down.
With these six elements in place an organisation
can run an effective decentralised meeting, providing a consistent, high quality
experience to all users, regardless of their location. Attendees are able to
join the meeting using their preferred device, log on quickly and securely
access the information they need for the meeting.
