How do you provide a consistently great collaboration experience in a work-from-anywhere world?

Microsoft Teams added 95 million new users in 2020 and – from March to June of that year – showed 894 percent growth1. The driving force was the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with people suddenly working at home turning to Microsoft Teams meetings to stay connected and collaborate in real time. Our hats go off to the IT Leaders who kept your teams together during this huge surge in video-powered virtual meetings. But what happens now?

Today, as employees are beginning to return to the office, the expectation for video conferencing continues in a new model of hybrid work. In this new reality, some people work at the office, some remotely, and others alternate between the office and home on different days of the week. Maintaining the consistent collaboration experience employees have grown accustomed to presents IT with a new set of challenges:

Regardless of where employees are calling in from, two things remain certain: every meeting now has video, and at least one remote participant.

Helping Everyone Look and Sound Professional

If workers don’t feel like technology equals, the consequences can be severe. Poor audio and video quality can hurt the professional image of individuals and your entire brand. Lack of compatibility and interoperability with Microsoft Teams in meeting room equipment can complicate meetings with customers and partners. And remote employees on the far end of calls can become less productive and engaged.

How do we make remote workers not feel like second class citizens? That’s what our products aim to solve. Making everyone feel like they look and sound their best and like they are in the room.  Empowering people to not just show up to meetings, but to show off in them.

The answer starts with a robust collaboration platform like Microsoft Teams, but it doesn’t end there.  Pairing Microsoft Teams with the right audio and video solutions—for both group and personal workspaces—ultimately determines how your employees experience and show up in virtual meetings.

Professional-grade headsets, speakerphones, and external video cameras are the equalizers that elevate the virtual meeting experience for everyone in a Microsoft Teams meeting—no matter where they work. To find the right equipment, support, and services to create meeting equality, take these key steps:

  1. Deploy Microsoft-Teams Certified Equipment

Microsoft Teams certification is a badge of quality for select audio and video equipment. It tells you that Microsoft and its partners have worked together to optimize these devices for high quality user experiences with Microsoft Teams, and that both Microsoft and the device manufacturer stand behind your solution.

  1. Match Equipment to Different Workspaces, User Needs

Research shows that 92% of employees can be categorized into six distinct workstyles that represent how and where people work in today’s enterprises.2 By understanding these workstyles, you can better match individuals with the audio and video solutions they need for meeting equity—whether they work in cubicles or shared spaces at the office, at home, or on the go.

  1. Download our free eBook to Learn More

These first two steps are just part of the best practices that give your users best-in class solutions and support to work anywhere, at any time, and as technology equals. To learn more about creating meeting equality for your workforce, download our eBook Collaboration Best Practices Using Microsoft Teams.

Whether your employees are in the office, on the go, at home—or a combination of all three— create an environment that helps them consistently experience virtual meetings on a level playing field, where everyone can see and be seen, hear and be heard equitably. That’s just not good for them, it’s good for your entire business.

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  1. ( Source: Aternity)
  2. Source: Poly Persona Research, 2020