Cloud Supports First Class Remote Work

We’ve entered a new era of work. Remote and distributed working looks set to be part of how and where we work for the foreseeable future – if not, permanently.

In a new paper, ‘7 Steps to Improve Virtual Meetings in the New Era of Work’, consulting and research firm Frost & Sullivan asserts that "remote participants should not be at a disadvantage – they need to hear and be heard within the conversation”.

This assertion is not simply the result of the sudden shift to working at home prompted by COVID-19. Indeed, as Frost & Sullivan &F&S) point out, the cloud web/video meetings services market was predicted to experience a strong 24.6% compound annual growth rate in user licenses globally from 2019-2025 – even before the pandemic hit.

Now, however, there is clearly an acceleration of this move to cloud web/video meetings.

KEEPING PEOPLE CONNECTED

F&S state, “As business requirements and market demands quickly shift, leading organizations are implementing modern cloud conferencing services with integrated audio, video and content sharing capabilities. These will ensure they are able to keep an unprecedented volume of distributed employees and teams fully connected.”

While cloud offers the prospect of anywhere connectivity and anytime collaboration, there’s more to ensuring that all meeting participants are treated as ‘first class’. At Shure, we know that audio is the foundation of any meeting. But not just any audio. It must be seamless audio that is natural, high quality, reliable and easy to use.

According to Jim Schanz, Vice President, Global Integrated Systems Sales at Shure, “No meeting can function effectively without quality audio, so investing in a scalable infrastructure can position businesses of any size for improved success as we battle evolving market factors.”

This is echoed in the F&S paper, which states, “The collaborative organization of the future will require meeting rooms equipped with advanced AV devices that complement the modern, robust cloud conferencing services organizations have invested in – and that professionals expect to use to be successful, no matter where work is conducted.”

AUDIO ECOSYSTEM APPROACH

Of course, this means a lot of audio and conferencing equipment, as well as investment in the latest collaboration platforms. Shure advocates a conferencing ecosystem to bring everything together. And according to Frost & Sullivan, the ecosystem must be “flexible across audio system architectures in all room types to ensure users experience high-quality, unifying AV conferencing regardless of location.”

This ‘regardless of location’ is important. It brings us full circle to the need for all your participants, whether working from home, in a contact center, or at the office, to be treated equally. With consistent audio. Technology that ‘just works’. And cloud platforms for anywhere, anytime remote access to network-connected meeting rooms.