Hybrid work is set to become the norm for most Singaporean companies following the Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests. These guidelines require employers to consider employee requests for flexible work fairly. Additionally, 45% of Asian employees prefer a hybrid work model.
“As work moves towards a hybrid future, quality of collaboration is an increasingly critical consideration. Equipping the workforce with the right tools and solutions ensures reliable communication, seamless collaboration and optimised productivity, which all contribute to the bottom line for businesses,” says Sharon Seah, B2B country head for Southeast Asia at Logitech.
Many organisations follow the principle of “if it works, don’t fix it.” However, Seah believes this approach may not suit a hybrid workforce. For instance, 60% of the Logitech Hybrid Meeting Survey’s respondents agreed that hybrid meetings are more engaging with high-quality audio and video output. This underscores the importance of enterprise-level video conferencing equipment that minimises technical distractions that hinder productivity.
Budget is key for organisations choosing between consumer-grade tools and enterprise-grade collaboration solutions. Seah explains: “Businesses may hesitate to invest in such equipment due to concerns about high upfront costs and ongoing maintenance expenses. Additionally, ensuring technical compatibility with existing legacy IT infrastructure can present significant challenges for them, adding complexity to the implementation process.”
There is also concern about the adoption and learning curve of new tools. “Organisations may hesitate to adopt new video conferencing tools because they worry they will be difficult for employees to use, leading to low adoption rates and underutilised equipment,” she explains before sharing tips on creating an optimal environment for a high-performing hybrid workforce.
What factors should you consider when investing in enterprise-level video conferencing equipment?
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Here are five key questions to ask when considering an investment in enterprise-grade video conferencing equipment:
- Is the video conferencing solution easy to use and operate?
Ease of use is a primary consideration when organisations purchase video conferencing solutions. Complex technology discourages adoption, leading users to avoid its usage whenever possible. Conversely, facilitating adoption involves providing solutions that enable users to start meetings effortlessly with minimal steps and seamlessly integrate with familiar video software applications.
- Does the solution deliver a consistent user experience always and everywhere?
Ensuring a uniform video conferencing experience across all rooms guarantees seamless meeting initiation for any employee, fostering collaboration as they transition between personal and shared workspaces.
- Is the solution easy to deploy and maintain in multiple locations?
Ensuring ease of installation and maintenance for video conferencing solutions is crucial, particularly for widespread deployment across multiple offices and locations.
The total cost of ownership is often overlooked, encompassing the equipment’s initial cost and ongoing costs associated with installation, maintenance, support and upgrades over the equipment’s lifespan. The availability of software tools to manage updates and monitor devices from one centralised place is crucial for IT to gain insights into the health of devices, reducing work disruptions.
- Is the solution flexible, offering IT and end-users choice?
Choice is a highly desirable quality for enterprise users these days. Ideally, video conferencing hardware should work fluidly with common software applications like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom Rooms. For greater flexibility, it should offer integration options with multiple computer partners so you can continue to use your preferred PC vendor.
- Is the solution scalable across your organisation?
Given the importance of a consistent experience, video conference solutions must be easily scalable to be deployed to dozens, hundreds, or, for global organisations, even thousands of rooms. Accessibility and support should be widespread, with pricing conducive to broad deployment.
At the end of the day, when businesses and their workforce are equipped with the right solutions, the organisation as a whole can reap the benefits.
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For instance, leading securities brokerage firm PT Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia offers its global and domestic clients training and webinars related to finance and security. To do so in a virtual setting without the limitations of space and distance, it tapped into enterprise-grade video conferencing systems that are easy to set up and deploy and certified with top video conferencing platforms, 4K video and room-filling sound. This enabled them to scale their services for their ever-growing client base.
With deepfakes on the rise, how do you ensure secure hybrid meetings?
To ensure the security of virtual and hybrid meetings, it is essential to prioritise robust security measures across all aspects of the meeting environment. This includes implementing encryption protocols to protect data transmission, utilising secure authentication methods to verify participant’s identities and regularly updating software to patch vulnerabilities.
Additionally, organisations should raise awareness among meeting participants about the potential risks of deepfakes, spying, and other cyber threats by encouraging participants to use secure networks and enable two-factor authentication.
Security and privacy are critical aspects of the design of all Logitech video collaboration products. We build security from the earliest design phases and take several steps to safeguard our devices from threats.
One of these is our ISO/IEC 27001 certification. The basis of an ISO/IEC 27001 certification is the development and implementation of a rigorous security programme, which includes the development and implementation of an ISMS which defines how Logitech continuously manages security in a holistic, comprehensive manner.
This widely recognised international security standard specifies that Logitech has systematically evaluated our information security risks, considering the impact of threats and vulnerabilities.
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At Logitech, we design and implement comprehensive information security controls and other forms of risk management to address security risks. By adopting a multi-layered approach to security and staying informed about emerging threats and best practices, organisations can effectively mitigate the risks associated with virtual and hybrid meetings.
How can organisations get the most value from their high-performance setups for a hybrid workplace?
Although the video conferencing platform may be one of the biggest investments, its success depends on other factors, including user adoption, meeting room experience and IT time. Addressing these areas ensures maximum value from that investment.
The three key areas that organisations need to consider to leverage video collaboration tools effectively are:
- Optimising meeting room environments
A great experience in the meeting room can encourage employees to maximise the value of using video conferencing solutions. To achieve this, organisations can simplify organising video and hybrid meetings by adopting touch controllers, allowing meetings to start with the push of a button.
Versatility is another key factor to consider, as well as ensuring that the video conferencing solution is compatible with major video conferencing platforms. Solutions integrated with advanced AI technology can also significantly improve audio quality to ensure clear voice transmission and suppress background noise, facilitating a productive session.
Finally, look into levelling up the collaboration experience with AI-powered whiteboard cameras that seamlessly integrate with video meetings to transmit whiteboard content clearly for effective brainstorming sessions.
- Supporting remote employees
Employees want the flexibility to work from home but in an environment that resembles the office for maximum productivity. To replicate this experience, organisations can provide a “work from home” toolkit with a purpose-built headset, webcam and the standard mouse and keyboard combination. These enterprise-grade solutions are designed for business use, with features that employees want (e.g. automated muting) while ensuring that IT requirements are met (e.g. certifications with major software vendors).
- Helping IT teams work efficiently
Beyond the adoption rates of these solutions, it can be easy to overlook the time IT teams spend to deploy, manage and support these devices — another input to include in ROI calculations. Providing a work-from-home toolkit of approved and certified devices can significantly reduce helpdesk tickets and simplify support if problems occur.
IT teams also benefit from having a management console for remote device management, making it easy for IT to support large-scale video deployments while minimising site visits and trouble tickets — all from a simple browser-based interface.
