In our last post, we discussed five things that organizations should consider before bringing employees back into the office. While pandemic-related restrictions forced organizations to move quickly to work-from-home models, the return to work doesn’t need to be rushed. Organizations have an opportunity to assess what worked and what didn’t, and develop a strategy that will take them into the future.

The success of remote work has led most organizations to opt for a hybrid work environment that blends in-office and work-from-home models. This is causing organizations to reconsider their real estate strategies, reducing the number of assigned workspaces and creating more collaborative areas.

This trend is leading to the revival of two older design concepts — hoteling and hot-desking. As the name suggests, hoteling involves the reservation of workspace for a specific time, with check-in through centralized booking software. Hot-desking is less formal. Employees simply use unassigned workspaces as needed.

But redesigning the office environment is only one component of a Hybrid Workplace Strategy. Many organizations will need to realign their collaboration tools and IT infrastructure to support evolving user needs and business requirements. Rahi’s A/V specialists can help organizations establish a solid foundation for work-from-anywhere models.

Agile and Collaborative Workspaces

Hoteling and hot-desking don’t eliminate the need for workspace technology. Users will need highly available and flexible tools to remain as productive in the office as they are at home. At a minimum, a workspace will require network connectivity, a large monitor and a universal docking station. A voice over IP desk phone or smartphone allows the user to log in and access the company phone system.

Many organizations are also turning larger conference rooms into multiple smaller “huddle rooms” and team meeting spaces. These spaces do away with the trappings of formal meetings, focusing instead on a high-quality audio-visual experience. Equipment, lighting and acoustic treatments are designed to optimize meetings that include both remote and onsite team members. User interfaces should make it easy for participants to set up video conferences and utilize various collaboration technologies.

In many cases, this will require a rethinking of communication and collaboration platforms. Cloud-based conferencing and collaboration tools may not integrate well with traditional on-premises technologies. Organizations need a technology partner who understands the available options and can weave together a solution that masks the underlying complexities.

How Rahi Can Help

Rahi has the depth and breadth of expertise to help organizations develop and implement a hybrid workplace strategy. Our A/V practice utilizes our proven ELEVATE framework to modernize and transform your audio, video and collaboration environment.

We start with a thorough assessment of your environment and interviews with key stakeholders to determine business needs, understand user adoption and identify gaps. We then provide recommendations to help you determine the best technology platform to meet changing requirements and anticipated growth.

As customers downsize their headquarters facilities and open more remote satellite offices, they can benefit from our global standards development process. This minimizes the number of unique designs and enables us to develop a solution for global rollout. Each standard will have the flexibility to support product availability and deployment requirements in each region.

The post-pandemic workplace will be more flexible and collaborative, combining in-office and remote work in a hybrid model. Rahi can help you select and implement the right technology tools to support your operations well into the future.