Shure and Frost & Sullivan come together to discuss their findings and recommendations for improving meetings. Inavate reports.
Data is an invaluable tool. With the right analysis, it holds the keys to better decision making which results in better outcomes.
Frost & Sullivan, in collaboration with Shure, conducted a series of research activities to discover the state of the market when it comes to meeting spaces and how the way we work is changing. Both were kind enough to share their findings, analysis, and opinions at a discussion panel which Inavate moderated.
The starting point for the conversation was a key piece of data that stood out from their research paper.
95% of today’s meeting rooms are equipped with only minimal technology.
Technology is critical to support information sharing and minimal setups, such as a basic telephone and a flat panel display, may not be enough in today’s climate.
At the same time we have seen the usage of videoconferencing increase manifold over the past year. It is not difficult to figure out that the crucial nature of VC in continuing business activities means that users are willing to settle for a bad experience over no experience. The research has also revealed that more than 70% of senior managers agree that meetings are unproductive and ineffective. This further reinforces that more work must be done to improve VC outcomes.
Krishna Baidya, director and head of Asia Pacific customer experience and connected work research practice, Frost & Sullivan, detailed that ‘audio is king’ and of essential importance. More importantly the Frost & Sullivan report highlighted that bad audio is a dealbreaker.
According to the report, respondents state that audio quality is four times more important than video and 81% believe flawless audio is a requirement.
Additionally, 80% of frustrations are around audio quality with problems such as echo, no audio, and background noise being cited as some of the most common and most frustrating issues.
With this background, Jayme Quah, regional sales manager, Shure, shared his thoughts on how the audio experience of VC can be improved: “One of the major initiatives at Shure has been to get people to understand that audio for your meetings is not just about one factor or equipment alone. There is a whole lot more that goes into delivering quality audio. If there is an echo inherently present in the room, that is something very difficult to get rid of if it is not addressed from the start. We need to make sure that audio is a consideration from the very beginning of the project. But this doesn’t mean that audio cannot be improved once decisions such as architecture and décor have been made. Shure’s offerings today, such as Intellimix, have key proprietary technologies that can get rid of many issues including echo and background noise, especially with our AI Denoiser. We have auto-mixing tools that can help improve the audio and ensure that meetings are more productive.”
Baidya added: “One of the things you have to realise is that audio cannot be an afterthought. But at the same time, whatever audio technologies you choose today need to be chosen to deliver right now and with a mind towards the future. They must be upgradeable, and they have to be part of a wider long-term strategy. They need to be compatible with new technologies and other solutions because nothing works in a vacuum. We need to look at what cloud technologies are being deploying and look at interoperability between technology and these platforms.”
Another extremely interesting data point is the fact that 88% of people say that they want access to office spaces for at least some duration of the work week.
From the multitude of reasons presented for this, the ones that stand out are the facts that ‘scheduled meetings with colleagues’ and ‘access to technology’ are required. From the data it is clear to see that access to communication resources, such as dedicated meeting spaces and systems, is still important for workers.
Quah said: “The meeting room, even if it is a quiet space with a good microphone or a fully-fledged boardroom, is still a cornerstone of how we work. It is important and it is one of the reasons why people and professionals would like to get back to the office.”
It is interesting to note that the ‘meeting space’ itself has become an umbrella term for a diverse set of spaces. From boardrooms to phone booths, meeting spaces now come in all shapes and sizes.
Quah further delved into how Shure is tackling the challenge of providing ‘meeting spaces’ with flawless audio: “Even before the pandemic, having an MXA ceiling microphone would allow you to capture the best audio from specific points in the room. With the flexibility that is required for meeting rooms today, to comply with social distancing and contactless devices, the MXA has become an even more important solution allowing you to change how the audio is captured as the layout of the meeting space changes.”
He continued: “For smaller spaces and the popular ‘booths’, we have introduced the STEM ecosystem to our portfolio, and this is perfect for these kinds of applications. The solutions give you the ability to bring your own device for the meeting and start by just plugging in via USB and you are good to go. There are quality speakers, noise-cancelling functions and much more that really elevate the meeting experience. And the STEM ecosystem has also been designed to be scalable and easy to deploy, both qualities which can help corporates mitigate the risk of disruption and be future proof.”
The conversation once again comes to the topic of having a clear strategy with an eye towards the future. Baidya said: “A key thing that we have learned through the disruption is that you cannot predict the future. It is easy to find out what the best option is at the moment, but the same option may not be the best down the road.
What we need to do in this case is understand that any decisions that are being made should not just be made with just the present-day situation in mind. We need to have the data to be able to make decisions that will be robust for the future as well, which means placing a priority on aspects such as flexibility and adaptability.”
Quah concluded: “I think the important thing to understand is that no one holds the keys to the future anymore. Instead, it is more about the keys to a common future that we need to focus on. We need to work together to unlock better user experiences because as we have seen the way we work has changed and there is a lot of progress that needs to be made to make sure it is effective and productive. On a personal level this will require mindset changes and on a macro level it will need collaboration between different technology partners and stakeholders to create the best outcome.”