Video conferencing
Most conference rooms are enabled for virtual meetings. Enablement technologies can be based on an ecosystem like Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Google, or be platform agnostic “Bring Your Own Device”, or a combination of both.
Ecosystem Rooms
There are a number of established, video conferencing room software; Mircosoft Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms and Google Meet Rooms being the most popular. These rooms provide a dedicated meeting space equipped with hardware and software components that work seamlessly together to deliver a more immersive and productive meeting experience.
AdvantAGES
Ecosystem rooms transform physical meeting rooms into intelligent, collaborative spaces. These dedicated meeting spaces are equipped with specialised hardware, including cameras, microphones, and speakers, optimised for seamless software integration.
Tight integration with a software platform, ensures a consistent user experience. Users can schedule, join, and manage meetings directly from the dedicated room system, making it easy to connect with colleagues, clients, and partners.
Sharing content into meeting rooms is easy and can be done using a variety of different ways (cables, wirelessly or via co-joined device).
IT teams have complete control, reporting and are able to better control the audio and visual environments.
dISADVANTAGES
It is not always possible to dictate which software a call may run on; organisations will want to use the platform they have invested in, which may not be the same as yours. Ecosystem software providers have conceived “Direct Join”, allowing the Teams to join Zoom meetings, but the experience is limited.
Organisations may want to add BYOD anyhow to accommodate different joining preferences and software.
Dedicated rooms are more costly to buy and will need updating.
Bring Your Own Device Rooms
"Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) video conferencing refers to the practice of allowing participants to use their own personal devices, such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones, to join video conferences, from virtually anywhere using software already installed on their devices and used for one-to-one calls.
AdvantAGES
Participants can use their own devices, regardless of the operating system (Windows, macOS, iOS, Android), making it inclusive and accommodating to various technology preferences.
BYOD eliminates the need for organisations to invest in expensive hardware for every employee or meeting room. Instead, participants use their existing devices to power the call, reducing overall costs associated with technology infrastructure.
BYOD video conferencing solutions are often designed to work seamlessly with a variety of software and applications. This allows participants to choose their preferred communication platforms and tools, making it easier to join calls which don’t use the main corporate system.
dISADVANTAGES
While BYOD offers convenience, it also raises security concerns as calls within their facilities will originate from devices, potentially unknown to the IT teams.
Calls originate from the users laptop and assumes they know how to select the room speakers, microphones and screen.
Dedicated vendor rooms, such as a Microsoft Teams Room have many conference room specific add-ons, making it easier for participants to interact with the call. Using BYOD the call is run from the users laptop account and this won’t have these features.
