Commercial Integrator February 2022 - 28

UC&C 2022 Predictions
UC&C
LEADERS
SHARE TECH
PREDICTIONS
FOR 2022
Many people crave a 'return to
normalcy' amid the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic, but IMCCA board members
expect vast changes to continue to
take place over the course of this year.
By Alyssa Borelli
TODAY'S ERA OF HYBRID WORK is not
about where we go; rather, it's about what
we do and how we do it. David Danto,
director of emerging technology for the
Interactive Multimedia & Collaborative
Communications Alliance (IMCCA), as
well as Poly's director of UC strategy and
research, has echoed this statement for the
last eight years. Now, however, he says, it
has reached an " undeniable state. "
Even though many crave a " return to
normalcy " amid the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic, " there is no going back, " Danto
warns. Members of the IMCCA board of
directors agree with him: The change is
permanent.
They believe that, amid ongoing health
and safety concerns, as more and more
companies adjust to staff members working
from home, unifi ed communications and
collaboration (UC&C) tools will be at the
forefront of the future of work.
Commercial Integrator spoke to board
members from the IMCCA, a New Yorkbased
non-profi t industry association
28
whose mission is to strengthen and grow
the UC&C industry, so we could gather
and share their predictions for the year.
The Future of Work is Asynchronous
One of the major challenges facing customers
is how to align and adopt practices
that fi t in with the hybrid-working model,
Nigel Dunn, vice president and managing
director, EMEA North, Jabra, said at a UC
Today: Trends roundtable discussion. A
common sentiment among integrators and
end users alike is that there is no single
solution to hybrid work. Organizations will
have to consider their own unique needs as
they seek to optimize their approach.
Daniel Rogers, vice president, global
accounts, AVI-SPL, says, " We used to design
workplace technology to support synchronous
work. It was a safe bet that most employees
would commute into the offi ce, fi ve
days a week...[and] sit at their desks. And
when they needed to meet, they would turn
up at a conference room at the same time as
a bunch of their colleagues. "
Commercial Integrator FEBRUARY 2022
" The synchronicity of space, time and
people provided us predictability, and,
with that, we designed 'built-to-last'
solutions with the room being the center
of our universe, " Rogers said. " Today, with
the emerging reality of hybrid work, we no
longer have predictability. The employee is
at the center - not the room. "
Productivity is still high, and it's being
boosted by the same people working in
many diff erent locations, across multiple
time zones, with highly fl exible calendars,
using tools like Zoom and Microsoſt Teams,
which allow everyone to collaborate in real
time and near real time.
Rogers makes a prediction, saying,
" Microsoſt Teams will become dominant
in the enterprise, and, with licensing and
deployment mostly done, customers will
be looking to integrate room technology,
extensively train, utilize the full depth of
existing features, and embrace the emergence
of AI and automation. "
It's going to be crucial for every space
to have videoconferencing capabilities,
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Commercial Integrator February 2022

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