In 1918, at the height of the last global pandemic, the U.S. telephone system — with handsets in only about 35% of homes — was on the verge of collapse. The phone offered one-to-one, contact-free communication, but automatic dialing had not been widely adopted, and the availability of human operators connecting phone A to phone B was being impacted badly by the virus. These shortcomings (obviously) didn’t spell the end of Bell’s invention. Quite the contrary, according to this tidbit from Fast Company:
The phone’s inadequacies during the 1918 pandemic only underscored what a marvel it was. “Less than forty years ago the telephone was an amusing toy ...,” wrote The New York Times in an editorial urging readers to make calls only when absolutely necessary. “Now it is become an invaluable implement in daily use … nobody can understand how we lived without it, and its value is [certainly] inestimable.”
The parallels to the current pandemic are obvious — except this time, the system met the challenge. Just as the telephone went from novelty to necessity, though, the role of unified communications has become a ubiquitous part of our landscape. As Anna Brandt, content writer for Huddly, notes, “We really do believe that video conferencing is not just an emergency solution to the situation that has popped up — it’s an equally good solution as being together in person. It has to get better than it is, but it's getting there.” And it’s here to stay.
“Our insights tell us that 90% of executives envision a hybrid model moving forward.”
- Michelle Ritz, Jabra
Hybrid Work Equality
Huddly (based in Norway), Crestron, and the team at Jabra have partnered to improve the digital workplace — and one of the most critical elements in creating successful hybrid environments (that is, a mix of remote and in-office collaborators) is ensuring “equality” for all participants. Meaning, according to Crestron’s Senior Product Marketing Manager Lauren Simmen, “Creating, first and foremost, ‘equal pixel’ real estate.” That’s a pretty simple ask on a Microsoft Teams® meeting or a Zoom Rooms™ call when everyone’s remote (and arranged on a screen in the familiar “Brady Bunch” layout), but add the dynamic of multiple attendees in a conference room, and suddenly there are bigger issues at work. People move. They have sidebar conversations. They may illustrate a concept on a whiteboard. And keeping everyone engaged — giving those not in the room a form of “meeting equity” — is absolutely critical.
The research that Jabra’s doing underscores the need. “Our insights tell us that 68% of employees believe their ideal work week is a hybrid mix of time in the office and from home and that 90% of executives envision a hybrid model moving forward,” says Michelle Ritz, Jabra’s product marketing manager for North America. “We also understand that while employees prefer to work from home, 52% are concerned their career would suffer long-term as they might not have the same face-to-face interaction with leaders if they are remote.”
“We are currently working in an environment where some people who have accepted new employment or transfers in the past 18 months have never physically met their colleagues — or even seen their office,” adds Jabra’s Director of Global alliances Travis Dusek. “The features that we’re building, and the clarity of image produced, are all in an effort to give human-like interactions even remotely.”
“Creating ‘video equity’ means, first and foremost, ‘equal pixel’ real estate.”
- Lauren Simmen, Crestron
Intelligent Video
Those interactions are helped immeasurably by what’s called “intelligent video.” Both Huddly and Jabra have deployed ever-improving AI solutions that offer a variety of tracking and framing. With the right software, it’s impossible for a meeting attendee to walk out of a shot. The AI powering a wide-angle camera captures the entire room, widening or narrowing the frame as participants join, leave, or simply move about.
While those at home need screen equity, there’s AI that can also do the same for those in a conference room. Multiple streams of video can put everyone attending in a larger room at the office in their own frame on a screen — meaning no one’s ever relegated to the “back of the room,” off in the distance on a Microsoft Teams or Zoom Rooms call.
Other features of intelligent video automate lighting exposure in a room as well, adapting the brightness of an image to ensure that no one’s in the shadows. The software’s also keeping track of attendees, recognizing both in-person and remote workers, providing data on room usage and occupancy throughout a space’s life cycle — and that’s one reason the Jabras and Huddlys of the world have teamed with Crestron. “Crestron has the most complete computing and systems management grouping of any company in the market,” says Ritz. “The MTR units backed by XiO Cloud are a powerful solution that’s just waiting to have data delivered to it.” For Huddly CEO Stein Ove Eriksen, the partnership was a natural fit: “The design of the initial Crestron Mercury devices sealed it — and the quality of Crestron’s products is unbeatable.”
While it’s true that solid audio is arguably more important than video (you can join a meeting even if you’re without a camera), “Research tells us that video meetings are 40% more productive than audio alone but ensuring the video quality is clear and crisp is critical,” Dusek notes. (Watch this space for more info on the audio part of the equation.) “The goal here is allowing the user to experience more immersive, natural video collaboration without having to stay static to one spot,” adds Ritz. “Our PanaCast solutions are getting there through a mix of advanced processors, powerful on-board AI, and a 13-megapixel camera to deliver an impressive real-time 4K Ultra-HD image that’s crystal-clear, with virtually no latency.”
As more and more features are added to the mix, the need for better AI becomes apparent. Huddly’s Canvas — a dedicated whiteboard camera — frames the presentation, drops shadows away, takes out the gloss, and, maybe most importantly, pulls the people out of the image so remote participants can see the content and nothing but the content. “Training the neural network to clean up that image was a challenge all by itself,” says Eriksen.
“We really do believe that video conferencing is an equally good solution as being together in person.”
-Anna Brandt, Huddly
The Other Benefits
When the world’s connected virtually, the ability for employers to be able to recruit talent reaches a global scale. Downtime spent on commuting diminishes. Resources once spent on bricks-and-mortar locations can be reallocated. And, as Dusek notes, “We’re living in a world where climate change matters. Providing companies with the right tools to collaborate remotely can drastically reduce a company’s — and an individual’s — carbon footprint.”
There’s another aspect at work, here, though — none of these connectivity solutions are reserved for work. That Zoom Happy Hour you might have hosted has a benefit bigger than mere socialization. It’s as if the internet as a device of human connection may soon start to reclaim its potential as a force for positive interaction. Borders disappear. The knee-jerk reactions spawned by social media fade when people are actually speaking to one another, not weighing in — often anonymously — on a comment thread.
“So many of these platforms drive engagement by agitating people, and it's not healthy or productive,” says Eriksen. “But if you get five people together, whether over a table or at the bar or in a virtual room for real time conversation, more often than not, people will find similarities and common ground and work together in that situation.”