Over the last few years, the workplace has undergone a fundamental shift, transforming where professionals work and what they expect from workspaces. As many businesses prepare their return-to-office plan, they are redesigning collaboration spaces to better meet the needs of a post-pandemic workforce. Meeting rooms, especially, no longer follow a one-size-fits-all formula. These collaboration spaces must provide a flexible yet consistent experience for every user no matter how or where they join meetings. To meet this demand, businesses will find ways to provide equitable access to premium video and audio and integrated systems that power meaningful, collaborative experiences.

A Climate of Transformation

Recent data on industry trends showcase the workspace transformation. According to Frost & Sullivan, “Three-quarters of organizations expect more than one-quarter of their employees to be working remotely part-time or full-time in 2025.

This indicates just how important it will be to ensure remote workers don’t feel a difference between in-person or remote presence during important meetings, especially now in the return-to-office era. Further findings from Frost & Sullivan predict that by 2025, the conferencing devices market will grow about five times higher due to the
need to better enable remote workers and the increase of small to medium-sized conference rooms.

So how do you support your organization?

Defining the “Just Right” Room Size

In a recent Poly research report, findings indicated that 77 percent of organizations plan to rethink or redesign the office space for new ways of working, including options for more quiet and open-plan areas, collaboration spaces and places to socialize. Most new rooms will be small conference rooms, as team sizes may have diminished, or individuals are only onsite certain days of the week. To encourage productivity, businesses will offer employees a space complete with advanced technology that helps minimize distractions and supports effective collaboration.

Finding the Perfect Mix

Start with room size; The key to finding the perfect technology fit will be heavily influenced by the size of the collaboration space and the number of people within it. Small to medium size rooms, for example, function and are used differently than large conference rooms. Focus Rooms are small spaces designed for individual work or attending virtual meetings. Small to Medium Rooms allow a group of three to five people to gather and collaborate comfortably. When designed and outfitted with the necessary solutions, both room types provide teams with a quiet place to work and leverage advanced technology that helps foster wider communication.

Defining Working Styles

Once space size is considered, it’s critical to define your teams’ workstyles, as individuals and as groups. Identifying your team’s workstyles can be crucial to your success when providing equitable, collaborative room setups and inclusive technology. Because everyone is different, what works for one person may not work for another, which can influence your business’s needs. When teams can consistently communicate effectively, the output is higher – and so is revenue.

Finding equitable solutions that combine innovative technology with the appropriate workspace can foster transformation. When every employee has access to the same tools and can engage and participate equally, you create opportunities for meaningful connections, higher productivity and compelling collaboration.

The Poly Difference

Poly’s products and services foster meeting equality by offering a wide array of solutions for any room size, including pre-configured Studio Kits for specific areas. Poly also delivers Microsoft Teams Certified solutions for both voice and video products. Other options include:

  • Poly Director AI for cutting-edge video, including automatic camera technology that zooms in on speakers and frames them as they move about the room.
  • Microsoft’s Front Row video gallery of attendees appears at the bottom of the screen, so those joining remotely are at eye level with those in the room.
  • Poly MeetingAI incorporates advanced artificial intelligence-driven technologies into ready-made room kits for Microsoft Teams users.
  • Poly Lens is an all-in-one app that lets you monitor and troubleshoot your devices from a single reference point.
  • Poly+ offers comprehensive device support through the Ecosystem Cloud Partner Support program with 24×7 global technical customer access for urgent needs.

The new Poly Studio R30 USB video bar recently announced at ISE in Barcelona, is an example of a solution purpose-built for small meeting rooms. It shares many of the same Poly Meeting AI functionalities and features found on other Poly video bars but is optimized for small room performance at a small room price. With the introduction of the R30, comes a new room kit specialized for small rooms, the Poly Studio Small Room Kit for Microsoft Teams Rooms, expanding Poly’s line up of Teams Rooms Kits on Windows to include a kit for every room size.

The Path to Progress

Finding equitable solutions that combine innovative technology with the appropriate workspace can advance transformation. When every employee has access to the same tools and can engage and participate equally, you create opportunities for consistent communication, higher productivity and purposeful interactions.

Visit Poly.com to learn more.