AV it!

Published on 24 Jun 2006

Ann Clarke of Claremont Group Interiors looks at the latest developments in audio visual technology and why it is becoming so important for facilities managers

Flexible working is big news again. After several years in which we began to think the new ways of working revolution would never begin, there has been an explosion of interest in new work practices. According to research from the Future Foundation, 8.6 per cent of the UK working population now works from home for at least one day a week.

That figure is set to rise to over 16 per cent by 2020. Another recent survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit of 600 executives discovered that the average respondent spent a third of their time away from their main place of work. Over 80 per cent of managers confirmed that they had a laptop to allow them to work anywhere. All had mobile phones. These are the same forces that are driving the market for wireless networks which are increasingly commonplace in train stations, airports, hotels and cafes and all our public spaces.

So with flexible working resurgent and workers increasingly willing to work from home, the question is: what is the office for if technology allows us to work anywhere? Fortunately, the answer to this existential crisis is already formed, because the office fulfils the same function it always has, which is to bring people together.

This is particularly important in a world in which the capital of most organisations is intellectual. The problem with having the main asset of your company in the heads of the people who work for you is that it can suddenly disappear so the need for people to communicate with each other daily has never been greater.

That is why there has been a profound shift in office design over the past few years, with the emphasis moving from the provision of dedicated private spaces for individuals, to shared spaces and meeting rooms for teams of people.

So, the principle role of the office has now become increasingly that of a conduit for the exchange of information. The office must serve a technologically literate and mobile workforce and provide them with a focal point for all that they do.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the convergence of technologies but I believe that the issue of convergence goes much deeper than that. If we are to fully exploit the tools we now have at our disposal, there must be a convergence between technology, business cultures and building design. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the way we create meeting rooms.

We have certainly seen people take more of an holistic approach to meeting room design. It starts with a clear understanding of what is needed from the facility and from that we have to look at how the whole package is integrated; from the design of the room, the products used to fit it out, access to data and power, audio-visual equipment, booking systems and the integration with facilities management services.

Technologically enabled rooms are now the norm and they are increasingly sophisticated. It’s no longer enough to have basic AV equipment that cannot integrate with other systems.

The rooms and their equipment have to integrate seamlessly with the technology people bring with them so that information can be displayed and shared quickly and without disruption to the meeting. They must allow for videoconferencing, which has now reached the tipping point at which enough people have systems to make it a must-have for an increasing number of organisations.

They must also integrate with the intelligence now inherent in buildings. Room control systems such as those from AMX and Crestron allow the host to control all aspects of the environment. That includes the lighting, ventilation, projection equipment and curtains and blinds.

Some of these systems provide fully integrated control, covering projectors, audio and video sources, cameras, screens and lighting. Also these modules are becoming more sophisticated and can now host room booking systems too. These systems can also be used across the client network and can work with other proprietary products such as Outlook.

The convergence of AV equipment with other IT has driven demand for a new generation of networked AV products. In many ways, this simplifies the convergence of technology with wider business needs not least because it encourages people to share information from their laptops and other IT when they are in meetings and presentations.

Problems can be resolved over the network so that also helps to minimise disruption. Presentations can now be run across multiple rooms and across sites, mirroring the virtual working environment which more and more of us enjoy.

Ten years ago, people were talking about the death of the office as a consequence of new ways of working. But that was premature to say the very least. What we’ve actually seen is that these developments have driven a change in the way offices are used.

And, rather than becoming less important to the business, the office has become far more sophisticated in response to the changing demands we put on it. Not least because it is the key for the exchange of knowledge between that expensive army of road warriors we now have. Your intellectual capital has no value if it is dormant in the head of somebody sitting in their kitchen at home.

Ann Clarke is Design Director of Claremont Group Interiors