Smaller, Smarter, More Agile Spaces

Organizations are moving toward adaptable, tech-enabled areas that can flex to support different work styles. Workspace management tools simplify daily experiences by streamlining room, desk, and resource scheduling, making the workplace easier to navigate and more employee friendly.

Purpose-Built Spaces for Every Work Style

Dedicated areas that include specialized technology tailored to specific use cases help to foster more engaging experiences. Spaces designed to support certain activities – from training programs and brainstorming workshops to team-building and interactive sessions drive interactions and encourage collaboration. Immersive video walls and other advanced displays add to improving engagement throughout the digital workspace.

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Smart Technology for Seamless Interactions

AI-powered tools are transforming the way employees connect. Smart cameras track speakers so remote participants can easily follow a conversation, while advanced audio eliminates background noise and ensures clarity. These innovations create a more natural, engaging experience for everyone, whether in the room or joining virtually.

Data-Driven Space Optimization

By tracking how spaces and technology are used, organizations gain valuable insights that inform real estate decisions, measure ROI, and guide future investments. Underused areas can be reconfigured, collaboration can be enhanced, and tech issues resolved quickly—all leading to smarter, more efficient workplaces.

Upgrading the office with smart technology creates a connected, flexible environment where employees feel supported and engaged. The result is a more agile workplace that evolves with organizational needs.

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Contact Cenero to learn more about creating flexible adaptable spaces that allow people to connect and collaborate with ease so they can work together more effectively.

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Today’s Digital Workplace requires collaborative tools throughout the office that encourage interactions between people in the office and remote teams, while also driving engagement and adoption for those going back to the office on a frequent basis.

Video conferencing solutions can extend beyond the meeting room to other areas like multi-­­­­purpose spaces and collaboration hubs. Interactive video walls are also a great way to promote interactions in shared spaces and make a significant impact during client meetings and presentations. Workspace management tools like maps and wayfinding, room and desk reservation, and digital signage can also help create a more immersive and interactive working environment.

The ideal Digital Workplace features tools and technology for seamless experiences, everything works the same from any location, with smart technology that is easy to use and always works when needed.

Contact Cenero to learn more about creating flexible adaptable spaces that allow people to connect and collaborate with ease so they can work together more effectively.

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The current meeting space set up does not work very well for hybrid meetings. Remote participants often have trouble seeing and hearing people in the room, viewing content on the whiteboard, or even worse, get left out during in room conversations.  It is time to rethink spaces to make sure everyone can be seen and heard, and fully participate from any location.

Rethinking Hybrid Meeting Spaces

The solution? Redesign meeting rooms, optimizing the layout and the technology for more inclusive, interactive, and immersive hybrid meeting experiences. For example:

• Reconfigure the room with the display on the long wall and a curved table facing the screen
• Display video calls in new video gallery format that maximizes content size and provides a life size view of remote attendees
• Place camera at eye level, making interactions between people in the room and remote participants feel more natural
• Include AI-informed audio and video, such as intelligent cameras that enhance focus and framing, allowing people in the room to have their own frame in the gallery view

Updating spaces can help improve face-to-face interactions with remote teams, making the hybrid meeting experience better for everyone, in every space.

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The right technology can make or break a video meeting. Smart AV solutions can offer both in-office and remote participants an equal seat at the table, so everyone can engage and interact easily and comfortably.

 AI–informed technology can improve audio, video and interactive experiences, creating a consistency across spaces and seamlessly connecting remote teams. Everyone can be seen and heard clearly, providing everyone with the same great meeting experience from any location.

Intelligent Video

Advanced auto tracking cameras automatically moves the lens and adjusts the zoom to frame all meeting participants, or a single person. Using AI, voice and face tracking, and automated PTZ, smart cameras can adapt to meeting dynamics – highlighting active speakers, displaying everyone in the room, and combining both options for a clear view of the conversation.

Cameras allow remote participants to see the whole room and individual participants simultaneously – everyone is always in view, for more engaging and interactive meeting experiences.

Smart Audio

Advanced audio technology can remove unwanted background noise from meetings, even while someone is speaking. Smart microphones zero in on active speakers, auto level loud and soft voices and auto boost quiet talkers, giving everyone an equal voice during meetings.

Meeting Equality

By incorporating smart AV technology, all participants can enjoy the same great experience from any location. Solutions need to be flexible and consistent, and offer high quality audio and video for all meeting types.

It is also important to consider the type of space, and select the right technology for room size and use cases, so that every meeting flows seamlessly, every time.

Poly AI-driven technologies can help make hybrid meeting experiences equally engaging for all participants.

Learn more about Poly meeting room solutions, or contact Cenero to learn more.

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Most current meeting spaces do not easily integrate with collaboration platforms like Teams and Zoom. In a new hybrid workplace, using these tools will be an essential part of connecting in-office and remote participants. Since meeting spaces will soon become a critical part of everyday interactions, it will be vital that all rooms include support plans to make sure collaboration technology is working when needed.

Meeting spaces will need to be set up to integrate with UC platforms, and should include support programs to make certain communication using these platforms always runs smoothly. Establishing a service and support program will help to ensure the collaboration technology is always up and running. A managed service can remotely monitor, test, diagnose and repair technology to make sure it is fully functional. Also, providing access to an on-demand help desk to assist with common issues during meetings can allow people to get back on track right away.

A complete support program will be an important part of any return to office plan. There are a few key items you should consider to help provide seamless support of hybrid meetings.

Consider the Impact of More Virtual Hybrid Meeting Experiences

In a hybrid work environment, avoiding issues and delays during meetings will be essential to conducting productive meetings with remote teams. With over 40% of current meetings facing technology issues, establishing service and support programs can help mitigate common problems. Technology issues can be avoided with proper planning in terms of making sure the right technology is available and effective support protocols are in place to rapidly handle any issues that arise. Having a managed service like Cenero’s Proactive Services that can continuously monitor all systems and concierge support at the touch of button allows you to optimize collaboration spaces and ensure successful meeting sessions.

Adjust for a Reduction in Meeting Spaces

New social distancing requirements are having a tremendous impact on meeting spaces in the workplace. Due to capacity restrictions based on room size, many small (and even medium-sized) meeting rooms may not be usable depending on the number of meeting attendees – resulting in a significant reduction in the number of available meeting rooms. With these changes, it’s vital that the spaces actually in use are fully functional every day. Having a remote managed service monitor these key spaces can help ensure technology is consistently operating properly at all times.

Set up Meeting Spaces to Integrate with UC Platforms

Since the beginning of the pandemic, UC platforms such as Teams and Zoom have experienced exponential migration, growth, and adoption rates.

Microsoft Teams now has more than 115 million daily users, and Zoom has grown to 300 million meeting participants.[1]  People have become accustomed to using these tools to connect and collaborate and will expect to continue to do so when working from the office. Meeting spaces should be set up to easily integrate with these solutions. However, since PCs in meeting rooms are often an integral part of video collaboration solutions, PC updates can lock up and even disable technology – causing issues, delayed meetings, or cancelled meetings altogether. A managed service can remotely monitor UC platforms and peripherals ensuring all technology is fully functional.

Prepare for Limited In-office Support

According to a recent report by Janco, more than 35,000 IT jobs were lost during 2020 as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic.[2] The downsizing of critical support staff, coupled with restrictions to in-person staff, has created an atmosphere in dire need of AV and IT support. Even companies who have IT support may find that a hybrid work model makes real-time support for in-office workers more difficult. Outsourcing AV support to a managed service can remove this burden entirely, allowing companies who either don’t have IT staff or are utilizing a hybrid working model to still receive high-quality support and expertise.  Setting up access to a remote help desk who can help resolve any issue can keep meetings running smoothly, without requiring IT staff to be on-site.

Implement Detailed Data and Analytics

Information on system performance and room usage can help ensure all spaces across an enterprise are set up to accommodate a hybrid workforce. Capacity limitations necessarily reduce the number of available meeting spaces, so it is critical for companies to be able to monitor the number of people using those rooms. For example, people count technology can determine whether all new health and safety standards are being upheld in every meeting space without requiring any effort from attendees, for seamless and confident meeting experiences.   Having a managed service like Cenero’s Proactive Services can provide real time analytics of how your rooms are being used every day.

Since every company is different, it is important to look at how people at your organization like to meet and the type of technology needed to best improve interactions. Whether they need in-room support, proactive support of UC platforms, or help supplementing current IT staff, an AV partner like Cenero can create a tailored program designed to enable more successful and productive meeting experiences.

[1] Foley, Mary Jo. “Microsoft: Teams now at more than 115 million daily active users.” 27 October, 2020. ZDNet;

Warren, Tom. “Zoom grows to 300 million meeting participants despite security concerns.” 23 April, 2020. The Verge.

[2] IT Job Market and US National Employment Data. Janco Associates. Accessed 23 February, 2021.

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The return to office plan for many companies includes a hybrid workforce strategy – with people working in the office only part of the time. In this new environment, it will become business critical that meeting space technology is always fully functional. Meeting delays and technical problems during video calls will have a greater impact on productivity than ever before.

Although meeting failure is all too common, it can easily be avoided. Remote management of meeting spaces can ensure all technology is always working – avoiding wasting time and money due to delays and tech issues. Remote managed services also eliminates the need for on-site assistance, reducing strain on the IT department and limiting the number of required on-site personnel.

Cenero’s suite of managed services, Constant Connect, can remotely monitor, test, diagnose and repair all collaboration technology to ensure ongoing reliability and connectivity for all meeting spaces. Check out this video to see how Constant Connect can help create more successful meeting experiences.

Constant Connect provides peace of mind that critical technology will always be up and running – so you can get back to focusing on the meeting and not the technology.

Check out our eBook on Collaborating in a Hybrid Workplace to learn more helpful tips for adjusting your office to the new way of working.

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JLL recently put out a research report on The Future of Global Office Demand that details how the office will not go away but will evolve to include things like more flexible working opportunities and more collaborative, smart spaces.

The Office is Not Going Away

The office is essential for face-to-face interactions that cannot easily be replicated remotely. Things like onboarding new staff, training, mentoring and managing employees can be difficult to do virtually and are all a necessary part of maintaining a productive workforce.

When people work together in person, they are able to collaborate, innovate and come up with new ideas needed for business growth. The office helps boost this creativity while also influencing team building and corporate culture. When asked, the thing people missed the most about the office is the people – the human and social interaction that only in-person interactions can provide.

Not to mention, in many situations working from home is less than ideal, with limited space, lack of privacy and many distractions. In the end, the office will remain a necessity and plays a vital role in work productivity.

The Evolution of the Workspace – More Flexibility

Many are now used to working from home and might be hesitant to give up some of the nice perks like no commute, flexible hours and improved work/life balance. A recent survey of 3,000 office users showed an affinity for the office with a preference for more days working from home – averaging around 1-2 days a week.

Because of this employee demand and the need to realign space for new health and wellness regulations, for the short-term many companies will more than likely take a hybrid approach – with people working in the office only part of the time. This flexible working style will soon be considered the norm as a way to attract and retain happy employees. It will also benefit companies as they try to keep occupancy levels at a max of 50% for the time being.

This flexible, hybrid approach will put a strong emphasis on offices having the right collaborative technology to help facilitate remote workers connecting with those in the office.

The Evolution of the Office – More Collaborative Spaces

The office will need to change to accommodate the needs of both in-office and remote workers. The function of the workspace will continue to evolve – accelerating trends that emphasize the importance of collaboration and employee productivity.

We will see a shift towards more experiential spaces designed to support collaboration, innovation and working in teams. It will become essential to have the right technology in place to enable effective and productive working sessions.

The Evolution of the Office – Smart Buildings

There will also be an increase in office buildings being set up as smart buildings. The buildings will be set up with automated processes to control building operations and will use data from things like lighting, room usage and more to help inform business decisions.

Cenero’s suite of managed services, Constant Connect, provides detailed analytics on room usage, system performance and common issues to help improve reliability and performance of technology and meeting spaces. You can see what rooms are used for and the types of technology used to help improve business and planning decisions moving forward. You can quickly adjust room styles and tech tools based on actual data for more productive collaborative sessions.

In summary, the office will still be necessary to allow for face-to-face interactions while remote working and technology will become an essential part of a flexible corporate life.

Just reach out to Cenero if you need help setting up a more flexible technology-enabled working environment. We can help by first implementing a Meeting Experience Survey to determine how people meet and what type of technology will be best to improve collaboration among distant teams.

By Rob Gilfillan, President of Cenero

As President of Cenero, Rob oversees all customer facing aspects of the business and helps shape overall market strategy. By focusing on the customer and integrating technology to streamline business processes, Rob has created a unique business model that produces cost effective solutions for customers while also delivering specific applications that will improve overall value to an organization. Rob has been integral in developing a discovery and design philosophy that addresses criteria typically missed by other integrators. He has been an integral part of designing, deploying and supporting thousands of collaborative solutions for education, corporate and non-profit institutions.

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