Kramer

Learn how you can easily turn any room into a collaborative meeting space.

April 8, 2022 - As large companies continue making hybrid work the new norm, IT managers face a challenging set of responsibilities.  They play a pivotal role in that ensuring global end users are included and connected, regardless of their physical location.

That means paying careful attention to technology, training, and culture. This article focuses on how technology helps IT managers transform their organizations' meeting spaces into wireless collaboration zones, with minimal effort, while maintaining the highest security standards.

The Challenge of Managing Many Hybrid Meetings

How can one IT department manage many meetings – often 50 or more, along with corresponding technology – when employees are physically everywhere: the office, at home, in transit, and halfway across the globe? 

How can they configure, manage, and deploy secure digital meetings when their enterprise's employees are spread across multiple times zones and work environments, using different computers and mobile devices? 

If you are an IT leader, you have probably faced these challenges. Here are tips on how to solve them.

Bridging the Physi-Digi World

Fortunately, there are wireless hybrid work devices that let teams do just that. With advanced hardware and software, these solutions enable IT managers to turn any room into a secure, collaborative space in this new ‘physi-digi' world. Today, companies prioritize letting employees wirelessly engage, share, and collaborate effectively in hybrid work settings. Anywhere, from any device, over major videoconference platforms like Zoom® and Teams®.

A Mission-Critical Role in our Hybrid World

IT managers benefit from dependable hybrid work solutions so that their colleagues have infinite ways to engage from any device, from any location, using industry-leading videoconferencing platforms. Companies and colleagues rely upon IT departments to provide simple, secure, and reliable hybrid meeting rooms. It's critical to resolve these issues efficiently and effectively.

Organizations seek proven hybrid work solutions that are incredibly advanced, while configuring and managing them should be trouble-free. Cloud-based tools that can seamlessly manage and control 50 or more hybrid meeting room devices from a single location are valuable.

Having flexible, open architecture makes access from the leading desktop and mobile operating systems a reality. Enabling employees to easily bring their own devices (BYOD) over major videoconferencing platforms (e.g., Zoom® and Teams®) is essential. So is calendar integration with Office365® and Google Calendar™.  Empowering employees with these tools also helps reduce IT department bandwidth.

Hybrid work technology should be seamless, secure, and reliable.

Security First

Every IT leader takes security very seriously, preventing cyber-threats and securing information is always a top priority. This should, of course, be the case when evaluating a wireless hybrid video conferencing solution for your organization.

Having multiple layers of security, including 1024-bit end to end encryption, 802.1x authentication and dynamic room codes, enables IT managers to provide employee and guest access in an enterprise environment, without any security holes.

Making IT for Hybrid Work Easy

Employees want simple, quick wireless connectivity and reliable tools for effective collaboration. How often have they complained about meetings starting 10-15 minutes late because nothing worked at the start? Colleagues get frustrated wasting time searching for the right Wi-Fi network or cable for a monitor, camera, or sound system, and a single controller to manage them?

Presenting and collaborating via 4K from the office or remotely is essential for high-quality streaming and content sharing that businesses and their clients expect. From video, diagrams, illustrations to high-resolution photos, 4K offers hybrid meeting attendees an outstanding experience. That is why having the flexibility to share 4K either wirelessly or using hard-wired, auto-switching is an asset.

Equally important is wireless connectivity for in-room presentations over AirPlay® and Miracast®, as well as having wired options for peripherals and a screen. Companies rely upon IT managers to select dependable hardware and software for employee productivity in any setting. In today's hybrid world, this is a mission-critical task.

Control Room Peripherals for a Better User Experience

Office meeting rooms and corporate huddle spaces have wired HDMI monitors and related USB peripherals (e.g., cameras, microphones, projectors). Deploying technology that lets employees connect to and control these room peripherals provides in-office and remote attendees a better user experience.

Colleagues should be sure to keep one another in the loop about when they may be temporarily unavailable. Good calendaring is a must. During the evening or weekends, responsible employees will put in the time for such a quid pro quo arrangement.

This benevolent paternalism has boundaries, of course. If you're a night owl, but your teammates prefer to sleep, it's not a great idea to schedule 1:00 a.m. early-morning strategy sessions.

VIA Connect2 for Hybrid Meeting Rooms

Kramer's VIA Connect2 enables IT managers to exceed their organizations' hybrid work needs by turning any room into a secure, collaborative space. This makes it ideal for the companies that incorporate flexible, inclusive work environments, prioritize security, and want effective collaboration and presentation tools.

Hybrid work isn't going away, so it's critical for companies and their IT leaders to support employee productivity wherever their workers are. To seamlessly configure and deploy 50 or more meeting rooms into hybrid, collaborative workspaces, a cloud-based management solution is invaluable. Discover how to easily and securely deploy and manage your company's hybrid work environment with VIA Connect2 today.

By Joel Zand