Commercial Integrator February 2022 - 29

As technology continues to improve,
'Today, with the
emerging reality
of hybrid work,
we no longer have
predictability.
The employee is
at the center -
not the room.'
- Daniel Rogers,
vice president, global
accounts, AVI-SPL
Danto predicts traditional PTZ cameras
will fade away. " Cameras will have the
needed resolution to see the entire space
that they're meant to cover, and they will
electronically frame the needed shot, " he
predicts. " Motors will become dinosaurs,
giving way to new electronic PTZ
systems. Manual zoom cameras will only
exist in circumstances in which each one
has a full-time operator - that is, in video
production. Everything else will be, or will
soon be, automated with AI and machine
learning algorithms, " Danto says.
collaboration technology and other means
for users to manage room use.
Camera Technology Will Dominate
Andrew Gross, VP of enterprise sales, Crestron,
predicts that camera technology will
come to dominate the meeting space. He
lays out his view, envisaging multiple cameras
and multiple screens all around the space.
This approach, he says, not only " envelops
the room but [also] immerses the meeting
participants into the meeting itself. "
Before we get to the metaverse, Gross
continues, " We need to leverage the tech
we have to provide individual, personal
viewpoints of all folks in the meeting, regardless
of where they are and where they
are looking. "
Cameras with tracking capabilities
are going to be popular as more people
move around the conference room. The
technology will be able to recognize hand
gestures and body language, and it'll allow
all meeting participants to see each other
without requiring a VR headset.
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Not 'Good Enough' Anymore
Since the start of the pandemic, Gross says,
we've collectively become experts in videoconferencing.
Thus, he continues, " Simply
having the ability to 'join a meeting' in a
new, upgraded offi ce isn't enough. "
" Expectations have changed, and, thus,
it must be made not just easy but [also]
enhanced, " Gross declares. " Better audio,
better video, automation, control, etc.
Just putting a soundbar at the front of the
room, [putting] a touchpanel on the table
and running an HDMI cable isn't good
enough to draw remote workers back to
the offi ce, " he says.
Rogers reminisces about the huddle-room
explosion, during which integrators
were seduced by the idea that " good
enough is good enough. " Thinking back
on those days, he says, " As long as I could
plug in my laptop, display content, and see
and hear what was going on, [then] a cheap
display, webcam, USB microphone and
speaker would have been good enough. "
The huddle-room explosion ended
up easing the transition to remote work.
" When COVID-19 hit, there were plenty
of cheap webcams, USB peripherals and
broadband internet connections to enable
the whole world to work from home overnight, "
Rogers says.
Rogers continues, " But something miraculous
is happening when we now work from
home [and] we switch our cameras on: We
care about our backgrounds and lighting,
and [we] get increasingly frustrated by barking
dogs and noisy kids. Our mere presence
in meetings is now being supplanted by our
desire to perform in meetings. "
To that end, these days, workers can use
apps like Krisp, an AI-powered noise-canceler
that removes background noise and
echo during online calls, or ManyCam,
which allows users to deliver professional
live videos on any streaming platform to
facilitate semi-pro video production. Alternatively,
workers can use similar functions
embedded in devices or other soſt ware.
Danto argues that, these days, the professionalism
with which one conveys oneself is
of paramount importance. " How knowledge
workers present themselves to clients
and colleagues will signifi cantly impact
how successful they are and how successful
they're perceived as being, " he notes.
Rogers expects to see companies start
to invest in mini-home broadcast kits for
their hybrid workers. " Not necessarily for
internal meetings, " he says, " but [for] those
all-too-important and more frequent client
meetings where fi rst and last impressions
either make or cost money. "
The Big Upgrade
Rogers believes 2022 will be the year of the
big upgrade, saying, " Not only have many
conference rooms been leſt untouched and
poorly maintained throughout the pandemic,
but most of them also don't work the
way employees now want them to. "
" We have all become used to 'one-clickto-launch'
applications from our home PC,
and our 'Brady Bunch' view displays lots
of beautifully framed heads and shoulders
with eye contact and decent audio, " he
continues. " It's important that everyone is
seen and heard in meetings, whether they
are physically in the meeting room or joining
remotely. " Rogers adds, " And, quite
frankly, that's not how we designed most of
the meeting experience historically. "
" More money is being redirected to support
wholesale upgrades, most of which
will be driven by the UC&C platform of
choice, " Rogers says. " Supply-chain issues
are likely to ease by the end of Q1/22, so
watch for massive upgrade activity that is
likely to last well into 2023. "
" This could be one of the most liberating
and exciting times to be in technology, "
Rogers concludes on a propitious note.
" The rulebook has been shredded to
pieces, so our view is: Let's be brave, experiment
and try stuff we have never done
before. " CI
FEBRUARY 2022 Commercial Integrator 29
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Commercial Integrator February 2022

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