Reshaping the Office Space
May 28, 2021
The global COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts.
Among them was the almost-overnight shift to working from home. Organizations throughout the world closed offices and sent office employees home to work. Thanks to internet connections and cloud-based solutions, video conferencing platforms and VPNs, workers managed their day-to-day tasks from their home office, couch or kitchen table, and companies continued to function.
After months of working from home, many companies are looking at if, when, and how they will return their employees to the office.
Most organizations are planning to adopt a hybrid approach to work: employees will spend part of their time in the office and part of their time working from home. This approach provides employees and employers with flexibility, while bringing back in-person collaboration in the office.
The return to the office
As employees return to the office, the role of the office building is shifting. “Companies that adopt a hybrid approach will likely use offices to develop more emotional connections, facilitate collaboration, and create human experiences,” Deloitte reports in their 2021 Commercial Real Estate Outlook.
What these collaboration spaces will look like is spelled out in greater detail in a paper from Panduit and Atlona: Office 2.0: Returning to Work in a Post-COVID World.
The infrastructure that enables Office 2.0 will need to support a greater reliance on technology. Changes that will be implemented as part of the return to the office will accelerate the adoption of intelligent building solutions.
With collaboration as a key role, you can expect your conference rooms and meeting spaces to do extra duty. Your employees will appreciate a thoughtful and robust approach in these rooms:
• easy-to-use equipment that supports BYOD and touch-free operation so participants can share information from any device without the need to disinfect components between uses
• dual screens so off-site participants can be part of the discussion
• room scheduling tools that know if a room is occupied
• touch-free options for AV equipment, as well as lights, blinds, and HVAC equipment
• enough wireless connectivity to support multiple connected devices for everyone in the room
Panduit and Atlona are here to help you plan for your return to the office. With a wide range of AV equipment for collaboration spaces, and the infrastructure to support smart buildings, we are your one-stop shop for the next generation of office.
Photo: Nastuh Abootalebi on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/
