If you’ve ever had to use a PC at work, a Mac at home, and juggle various tablets and smartphones with different user interfaces, you know work is simpler when you don’t have to keep switching between different kinds of technology.
An intuitive and consistent experience is so valued by employees, it often supersedes the appeal of new and clever features. Even something as small as the placement of an on/off button can be a time-waster and major frustration when it varies from location to location.
One study revealed that 48 percent of employees wish the technology they use for work performed in the same way their personal technology does. They certainly don’t want to have to learn a different set of technology for each meeting room.
So how do you solve frustrations that arise from different interfaces? Read more to find out how standardizing your workplace technology can help diminish frustrations.
Users Want a Standardized Technology Experience
Collaboration room users want to get to the work at hand without figuring out the equipment—even if they use a huddle room one day and a large conference room the next. They also don’t want to find out mid-meeting that they’re using a room that doesn’t have the capability they need, whether it be content sharing, video conferencing, or BYOD control.
If each room is outfitted with a different system—or a hodgepodge of technology—your teams risk starting meetings late as they remember how to turn on the system. They also waste time getting connected and fiddling with controls.
Employees want simplicity and ease of use—much like the intuitive features they get with their smartphones, home displays, consumer content sharing devices, and voice control. By standardizing your workplace technologies, users will be familiar with the interface and features even when they encounter new solutions.
Standardized Solutions Improve Efficiency
While the user experience is important, an organization with a convoluted collection of technologies can create even more significant problems for IT teams. Your IT team is responsible for technology across rooms, buildings, and even campuses. Without technology consistency, the processes of maintaining equipment, troubleshooting, and resolving issues become significant time-wasters.
For your organization to run less chaotically and more efficiently, you need simple, reliable solutions that are flexible, scalable, and can easily integrate with your existing infrastructure. Standardizing your technology solutions enables your IT team to easily monitor and address issues in multiple sites quickly, ensuring the technology you need is readily available.
Standardize Technology the Easy Way
To solve these common user and IT pro frustrations, standardize the technology in your spaces and provide training so that everyone knows how to start and control the equipment. For example, all rooms—regardless of size or purpose—can be controlled by the same touch panel solution, so users don’t have to spend any time determining what they can do or how to do it.
Similarly, the IT team doesn’t have to guess which display, amplifier, microphone, etc. is in the room because the same technology is located throughout your campus.
The best way to standardize technologies across your organization is to partner with integration experts who look to the future, as well as across locations and spaces. Finding an integrator that can implement easy-to-use and easy-to-manage solutions based on basic IT and audiovisual standards is easy. Find your location on this map and we’ll give you the contact information for your local AV systems integrator.
