How Employees Are Using Mobile Devices at Work
Personal mobile devices are making in-office technology integration simple, and it is driving most in-office tech trends today.
GlobeSt.com: What are some of the top trends in-office technology today?
Eric Lockwood: On of the core technology trends is the increasing importance of simplification through programming as individual pieces of equipment become ever more complex, flexible and feature rich. Another is the migration of the audiovisual system “backbone,” communications and signal distribution infrastructure, to the data network, whether it be wired, wireless or both.
These are broad, overarching trends that apply almost universally to any audiovisual implementation in any environment. However, technology has also evolved on a micro level to address specific changes in workspace demographics, working styles and resource utilization. Two of these key changes center around what are almost ubiquitous workspace requirements: mobile devices and meeting room management.
GlobeSt.com: How do personal mobile devices overlap with technology trends in the office?
Lockwood: There are many facets to the “bring your own device” movement. The distinction between “work” and “home” has increasingly blurred in terms of where people physically work, when they work and even workspace interiors. There is also a trend toward more comfortable, residential-style, ancillary furniture and casual “campfire” collaboration nooks over traditional benching, meeting rooms and private offices.
The idea of using a singular mobile device of your preference for both personal and professional functions becomes increasingly compelling. This presents significant challenges for the combined technology systems in the workspace to support those unsanctioned devices in a user-friendly way and without compromising network security.
As mobile devices by definition are primarily wireless, accommodating them within a workspace collaboration environment requires a strategic approach to, first, wirelessly connecting the device to the audiovisual system and then allowing the user to share their content. As usual, there is no one right solution that fits all, but there are a variety of options and approaches to facilitating this need.
GlobeSt.com: Are employers providing Internet connectivity for these devices, and how do they maintain security?
Lockwood: With respect to wireless connectivity, the mobile device can be connected to a dedicated “guest” network, which is separate from the corporate network Wi-Fi and configured with relaxed authentication protocols specifically for use by visitors. In this scenario, the audiovisual system can be designed to utilize this guest wireless network (as well as the corporate Wi-Fi) to share content from a mobile device.
Alternatively, mobile devices can be wirelessly connected directly to the audiovisual system without joining either Wi-Fi network. This approach typically requires a few steps for the user to select the “room” they want to wirelessly connect with and possibly to download an app or other client software to facilitate content sharing from the device.
Different solutions have different advantages and require different degrees of user interaction to connect and collaborate. Regardless of which approach is preferred for a particular application, one way to help guests and users get connected and start collaborating quickly is for the integrator to provide a custom, default “splash” page on the room display with basic directions on how to get started, whether it’s sharing content, starting a videoconference or simply watching cable TV.
GlobeSt.com: What are some under-the-radar ways that employees can use personal mobile devices?
Lockwood: With the proliferation of web conferencing platforms available today such as Skype, WebEx, GoToMeeting and Zoom, to name just a few, another option to content sharing from mobile devices is to use one of these “soft codecs” to create a collaboration session on the cloud into which multiple people and “rooms” can join. Sometimes referred to as “bring your own conference” (BOYC), this newer approach has its own benefits and limitations with respect to ease of use, interoperability and disparate means of content sharing by each proprietary platform.
It’s also worth mentioning that the concept of advanced room reservation is another trend that is gaining increased interest and adoption in the workspace. The ability to reserve a room through a common calendaring system like Outlook and display that room schedule on a screen next to the room entrance in itself is not new.