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How many times have you entered a conference room and walked out again because you KNOW that the meeting isn’t going to start for at least another 15 minutes, killing your day’s productivity? Maybe you saw:

The conference room video solutions have greatly improved and are simpler to implement, use, and support than ever before.  I see two major drivers for this trend.  First is the move to cloud for endpoint registration and video bridging in the cloud.  This move to cloud has lowered the entry point for many customers to enable video in the conference room.  The second driver is the decreasing cost for the video endpoint.  Video is now more affordable for all types of rooms including small huddle rooms, general purpose rooms, large training rooms, and executive conference rooms. However, there are still major differences between manufacturers when it comes to the way these solutions are installed, managed, and their usability.  For this blog I will be comparing the Cisco Room Kits and the Zoom Rooms.  I find it very interesting how both companies have taken a completely different approach enabling video in conference rooms.

Simple, effective collaboration is more important to today’s business than ever before. Today's workforce is becoming more mobile and video conferencing is becoming less of a luxury and more of a necessity. Whether you’re hosting an all-hands meeting, collaborating with remote employees, or connecting with customers having the right space and solutions is essential for your business.

There are many video solutions in the industry.  When deciding on a solution it’s important to understand the primary needs for a Collaboration Conference Room.  This includes whether the room will be used purely for video and content sharing or if it’s more of a multi-purpose room with movable tables.  Conference rooms where everyone sits around a table are quite different than a classroom style room where there is a speaker at the front of the room.  It’s also important to review the user experience with any video / collaboration solution.  Many technologies look good on paper, however successful video room deployments are directly tied to the user experience.  This includes how easy is it to schedule a meeting, start the meeting, and join the meeting.  I’ve seen this be a complicated process that involves IT for the entire process and I’ve seen it as easy as placing a FaceTime call from an iPhone. When video rooms have been designed with usability at the top of the list, you will see an increase of collaboration.

When most people hear the word “meeting” they think “boring, time consuming, and often pointless”. It is important that if you are going to pull a team out of their daily tasks to meet with each other, the meeting is fruitful and efficient. As a project manager, it is our job to lead meetings that clearly relay project status and allow a forum for collaboration that keeps the project moving forward. Below are five tips for conducting effective team meetings:

Companies are beginning to experience a cultural shift, catering to a mobile work force. The days when business meetings required travel, and time away from the business are becoming a thing of the past. More and more companies are connecting both internally and with customers via web based video conferencing. The Spark application is designed to address the needs of the workforce of 2017 and beyond. In the age of the agile business, it is how you trump the competition and deepen engagement with your customers.