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Bring Your Own Meeting (or BYOM) is a hot topic of discussion amongst workspace technology professionals in particular at the moment. For the purposes of this article, BYOM is defined as a situation whereby a person uses their device (e.g. laptop) to host a video conferencing meeting in a meeting room or collaboration space. There would be in room technology peripherals such as an LCD screen, camera, microphones, and loudspeakers that the laptop connects to and thereby enables the audio and video communication.

BYOM is not a new concept. We have been using it prolifically during and post pandemic. BYOM occurs each time we join a video conference call using our laptop or mobile phone from home, a desk in the office, at a café, or even on the train. What is relatively new and on the upward trend is BYOM in a meeting or collaboration space.

If not BYOM then what? The alternative is an “in room” based system. This is typically designed and configured to only support one VC/UC platform. All of the equipment is in the room and there is no requirement to have a portable device such as a laptop to have a conference call.

Manufacturers are flooding the market with a plethora of BYOM options for meeting and collaboration spaces right now. It can be very confusing for buyers to navigate the maze of marketing spiels. The features seem attractive, the pricing seems attractive, how can you decide whether or not to invest in BYOM for your organisation?

My recommendation is to leave the decision making about the specific tech options until last.

There is a very simple decision-making process you can follow that will help you make the right choice with respect to BYOM. This figure below is a sequenced decision-making tree we use with our clients that has proven to be very helpful in getting the right result.

The first step is by far the most important. BYOM is only the right fit for your organisation if you answer YES to both questions.

• • The first question is essentially asking you “do the people using the spaces need to be able to join calls on different VC/UC platforms? e.g. Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco Webex etc.”
  • The second question is a very important one to consider. Hybrid working is here to stay, which means nearly all conference calls will include a mix of people in a meeting space as well as a number of remote participants not in a meeting space e.g. working at home. The VC/UC platform manufacturers are investing heavily in developing the features and technology in their “in room” based system offerings to try and close the gap in user experience between a person sitting in the meeting room compared with a person joining the call from home. The smaller the gap, the better the meeting experience for all participants – irrespective of location. HOWEVER, the same investment in features and technology IS NOT being put into the desktop versions of their software. This means that when a person uses their laptop to join a call in a meeting or collaboration space (i.e. BYOM) there will still be a significant gap in user experience between in room and remote participants on the call.

If you answer NO to either of the above, BYOM is not the right path for you to take and you would better off looking at the many different “in room” based systems available in the marketplace.

I would also highly recommend applying the 80/20 or 90/10 rule to the above decision making i.e. don’t be swayed in making your decision by a minority of edge cases in the bottom 20, 10, or 5%.

The next two levels in the decision-making process are a lot easier once you have considered and made the level 1 decision.

How would you like people to connect their device to the BYOM room? I recommend the KISS principle. Less is definitely more. Two options (wired and wireless) may seem attractive but more times than not it just creates unnecessary cost and complexity, and the majority of people will always default to the easiest option. Figure out what that is and make it the only option. If you want to go with a wireless option, realise it is still less dependable than a cable and any wireless tech option should be thoroughly bench tested before deploying at scale.

The last level in the decision-making process. This is where you can start to look at the tech. However, think about the end user experience FIRST:

• • How many steps does it take for the end user to start a meeting? 1-2 is good. 3 or more is terrible!
  • What is the audio quality like? Can people be clearly heard in the room and remotely? Review this not just for a 5 minute test but for a real life scenario of at least a 1 hour call.
  • What is the video like? Can people clearly see and be seen in the room and remotely?
  • Some manufacturers have excellent local support, whilst others are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Do your homework on this before spending $1. Nothing is more frustrating than unreturned calls and emails when you need help to bring a room online.

If you have followed the decision tree to the last step and taken my recommendations, you will be pleased to note that your tech options will already be shortlisted to the most relevant for your needs. Now all you have to do is review the options and test them out!

Like to know more about this topic? We can help. Feel free to reach out.

I have been a strong advocate for network enabled AV systems in audio, video, and control. I truly believe it is not the future of AV design but it’s the current standard.

The cost of products has been steadily coming down, AV industry expertise has elevated, IT departments are more comfortable with networked AV devices, monitoring and reporting is baked in.

Network audio is a no brainer.

However, in recent times, the continued supply constraints for digital Dante audio enabled devices to have forced the konnectus design team (and many of our colleagues in the industry) to look for alternative solutions. In many instances we are forced to fall back to analogue solutions to meet project deadlines. Once we have the right analogue components, these projects have been able to be deployed surprisingly quickly, mostly due to the reduced coordination time required between AV and IT teams.

Is that enough to warrant sticking with analogue solutions?

I’ll answer that for you, NO!

It all comes back to user experience. Let’s put aside quality of sound and the audio signal for a moment. A high quality is achievable with both analogue and digital systems, so it is a bit of a moot point!….no pun intended : )

The significant difference lies with Support. The analogue systems mean “reactive” service and maintenance as opposed to “proactive and preventative”, which is possible with digital networked systems

More specifically, compare these two scenarios:

• • Room A has an analogue audio system. One day, an end user finds it is not working and calls IT. A ticket gets raised. Someone eventually goes to the room to investigate and discovers that a technician is required. A few days later the technician comes and identifies the problem. The technician fixes the problem, and the room is back online.
  • Room B has a digital audio system. It tells a central management system it has a problem before any end user finds out. A technician knows the problem straight away and knows what is needed to fix it.

In the Room A example, the end user is inconvenienced, and the room is offline for potentially many days or more. Conversely, in the Room B example, nobody is inconvenienced, and the room is offline for much less time.

So, which do you prefer for your business? Obviously, the Room B scenario.

In the months and years after deployment, the old school analogue systems will become a support burden for client operators and will in most cases be on an express path for upgrade.

“Connecting digital systems to the network” is the right choice. Delivering a joyful technology experience means the system works first time significantly more often.

Network audio systems also enable support teams to detect and rectify issues before the end user has an unpleasant experience. This is just a WIN for everyone and guarantees the best use and return on the AV technology investment.

Like to know more about this topic? We can help. Feel free to reach out.

Many would say that AV is a black art. An industry that few truly understand or have deep experience and expertise in. To a significant extent I would probably agree that statement was true for all commercial AV markets back in the day. However, things have definitely improved significantly over the last five years as the industry has matured and the AV and IT industries have merged more closely together.

In the last 2-3 years we have seen some sectors transform completely as hardware and software solutions have become more ubiquitous and commoditised. An example of this happening at breakneck speed since 2020 can be seen with meeting and collaboration technologies.

Not so long-ago organisations would install AV systems in some of their office meeting rooms and spaces and upgrade them every 5-10 years. Managing the service and maintenance of these systems was not too taxing on the organisation as long as they had an AV Partner to call when something broke.

Now, with the emergence of Hybrid Work, everything has changed. AV systems are needed in just about every meeting room and space in the office as well as in the home office for many remote workers.

Additionally, AV in the modern workplace is no longer just the tech in the meeting and collaboration spaces. Businesses are wanting to deliver a wider and richer “experience” for their staff and customers. Systems like space management, targeted digital signage and comms, digital wayfinding, unified communications, and even file and document management are all becoming standard requirements.

AV is now critical technology for businesses to function effectively, which means that now more than ever, the technology solutions must be dependable and simple to use for all.

This change has presented organisations with a number of key challenges:

1. 1. More time and effort is required to deploy significantly more AV systems across the business that are seamlessly interconnected.
   2. More time and effort is required to keep the AV systems up to date and relevant as the technology constantly evolves and improves year on year.
   3. More time and effort is required to manage and maintain a higher volume of AV systems and keep them always online.

So, what can a typical organisation do to address these new challenges? There are two clear choices:

• • OPTION A – Employ some specialist in house technical resources to manage the AV, or
  • OPTION B – Outsource to an external provider.

The first option may be relevant for some but in most cases will be cost prohibitive. Hence the growing demand and use case for the second option, which is AV as-a-Service (AVAAS).

Historically, to deliver an AV solution, an organisation needed a complex and creative approach that was difficult to scale and often needed to be supported by the company that integrated and installed it. That is no longer the case – with AV as-a-Service, complexity and costs can be reduced and solutions can be scaled across the broad geographies over which the different AV technology solutions are deployed.

Thanks to the application ubiquity of software platforms and hardware commoditisation, AV as-a-service is finally becoming a realistic commercially viable option for specialist providers to offer their customers.

With AV as-a-Service combining the AV hardware, software with updates, on-demand support, and warranty in a single package, organisations can upgrade their workplace AV technology without the large upfront capital investment they used to face. Partial or full transition to an operating expense model is possible with AV as-a-Service.

In Australia we are only just seeing the start of AV as-a-Service. Select companies are already offering partial workplace AV technology packages wrapped up into fixed term contracts with monthly payments. Over the next 2-3 years we will see significant growth in this area as the AV providers develop their offerings to become more sophisticated and appealing. The increased competition in this space will also see pricing become more attractive.

One thing is certain. On your next AV technology uplift project, it would be worthwhile gathering information on your AV as-a-Service options from those offering it in the Australian market.

Like to know more about this topic? We can help. Feel free to reach out.