Updated wellness policies and fresh concerns about the COVID Delta variant complicated our return to the office (RTO) plans. While we were working on getting our offices ready, the rules changed. We see companies are reporting various back-to-work target dates and safety requirements. To help you create a safe return to the office plan for your employees, AVI-SPL and Biamp are sharing the top four RTO challenges and ways to overcome them.
Some employees are ready to break out of home office lockdown and socialize with coworkers, while others love remote work flexibility. That means conference calls and remote work are here to stay, and all meeting spaces must be video-enabled for remote participants.
Repurposing Existing Meeting Spaces
Completely overhauling workspaces takes time and a budget that you might not have right now. A phased approach may be your best option. The first step? Repurposing what you already have. We can expect a shift toward utilizing larger meeting rooms, possibly with more than 50% of seating removed to accommodate social distancing.
You may put using huddle rooms on hiatus also, or they could be turned into offices since social distancing is challenging or impossible in small spaces. How we use existing collaboration spaces is just one way the office experience will be different.
Here’s a look at the top four RTO challenges we face, along with solutions from Biamp.
1. “Masking Up” Isn’t Going Away Just Yet
With the Delta variant and vaccine rates in flux, masks will likely return to the office with us, especially in shared spaces. Also, the latest CDC guidelines state that anyone not vaccinated should wear a mask indoors. While safer, wearing masks can make it difficult for team members to understand each other. That’s why it’s essential to have quality microphones in all of your meeting rooms.
Intelligent Microphones Enable Speech Intelligibility
Biamp’s Parlé Beamtracking microphones can follow up to four speakers simultaneously, no matter how or where they are seated. It’s easy to update your existing spaces with Parlé’s rapid installation featuring single-cable connectivity. There’s also zero beam setup and zero reprogramming needed if you reconfigure the meeting space.
2. Every Meeting Space Must be UC-Enabled
We talked about how shared spaces may have less seating so everyone can socially distance. You’ll also need more scheduled downtime for cleaning, and employees may rotate in the office on different days to further support social distancing. To keep everyone connected no matter where they work, ensure that all rooms are UC-enabled to enable meeting equity, engagement, and productivity. You’ll allow everyone to participate, no matter if they are working in the office or remotely.
Power Your RTO with Biamp
Biamp’s platforms transform your spaces into UC rooms with ease.
From voice tracking microphones to loudspeakers designed specifically for conference rooms (plus everything in-between), Biamp’s equipment delivers an extraordinary UC experience every time.
Both Tesira and Devio offer certified solutions for Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom, making it easy for you to upgrade spaces and allow teams to use the meeting solutions you already have in place.
3. Nobody Wants to Touch Anything
To combat the spread of COVID, teams should avoid using shared devices and meeting controls as much as possible. Even with cleaning protocols in place, employees may not want to touch anything in the room. To make everyone more comfortable, enable BYOD and touchless meeting controls, and wireless content sharing.
Wireless Presentations with Modena
With Biamp’s Modena solutions, team members can walk into a room with their devices and easily connect to presentation or conferencing via Modena’s wireless USB functionality, without handling cables or shared devices. That means no new cables to run when you retrofit your meeting rooms either. Modena also allows remote meeting participants to access AV equipment in the room to present and share content.
4. Remote Meeting Monitoring and Management is a Must
In addition to meeting participants, support teams need health and safety protocols too. One of the best ways to keep them safe during is to enable remote monitoring and management of meeting rooms and devices. That way, your IT team does not have to enter the room to perform routine maintenance and troubleshooting physically.
Biamp SageVue and AVI-SPL Symphony
Your IT teams can remotely manage, update, and maintain the Terisa platform with Biamp’s SageVue software. SageVue can be used as a stand-alone solution, or you can integrate it with AVI-SPL Symphony to manage all rooms and devices.
AVI-SPL and Biamp RTO Solutions
AVI-SPL and Biamp are ready to help you make your RTO easy and safe for everyone. Contact us to learn more about audio, collaboration, and remote meeting room management solutions.
