Authored by Vipin Pungalia, Director, Professional Segment, Sennheiser India
Technology has become an integral part of our lives. It is omnipresent in organisations and it’s impossible to imagine workspaces without it. As a result of these rapid changes in technology, work has become fast-paced, companies have become more profitable, employees have become more efficient, and communication within an organisation has become much better and easier. A continuous development towards digitisation has become necessary for businesses to stay relevant. This year, technology will further play an integral role in modernizing workplaces and work collaboration, especially with the on-going pandemic.
This unprecedented situation has forced companies to adopt digitisation in a short period of time. Employers are currently focusing on developing plans for returning to offices whilst following hygiene and social distancing. Prioritizing the health of employees is of the utmost importance for companies. While collaborating for work, audio-video communication becomes critical. The collaboration tools will not only ensure seamless connectivity with people working remotely, they will also provide a safe, touch-free environment. An example in this case are the ceiling microphones as they ensure the best speech intelligibility for close cooperation between on-site and remote teams – and operate totally touch-free.
Thanks to the pace of innovation for collaboration and unified communications technologies, IT teams are now able to deliver consistent, simple and high-quality experiences with voice, and video. With advanced audio-visual systems, companies help in enhancing interactions between employees which results in a better understanding- ultimately creating better trained and more engaged employees.
The power and breadth of these innovations are important factors in enabling workplace transformation. Organizations are now able to deliver the tools, technologies and cultural environment to support an increasingly mobile and tech-savvy workforce, one that is also team- oriented and geographically diverse. As technology gets more advanced with time, organisations that aren’t keeping pace will surely experience consequences. Ways of working and workplaces have changed dramatically ever since the emergence of this pandemic. Over the last 10 years, the industry has been witnessing the emergence of impressive new devices that answers to the demands of these modern workplaces.
By investing in cutting edge technology, organisations would ensure maximum safety and explore opportunities that lie ahead without having to be troubled about any future crisis. According to a recent study, advancements in technology have helped increase productivity by more than 80% over the past four decades. Currently, the demand for technology is high as there are many exciting trends to see. According to a report, the Sound Reinforcement market (Professional audio and corporate) is projected to reach USD 8.5 billion by 2024, from USD 7.3 billion in 2019. The corporate segment of the sound reinforcement market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2019 to 2024. A rise in flexible and mobile work is creating demand for solutions such as cloud-based software, and project management tools so employees can access tools and information they need anytime.
There are certain technologies that may change the way we work in the coming years. The use of voice assistant technologies is set to surge. Soon organisations will also plan to deploy voice assistant technologies or more AI assistants for work-related tasks. A report by Gartner predicts that 30% of all browsing sessions will include voice search by 2020. Additionally, we can also see the emergence of audio software that recognises acoustic scenes and delivers a responsive audio solution, thanks to machine intelligence and deep learning techniques. We’ll soon be seeing technologies that will clearly optimize speech intelligibility in noisy environments and allow employees to adjust and customize sounds to their preference and ensure messages are clear, thereby improving overall concentration and productivity.
Today’s evolving workplace technologies present both an opportunity and disruption for end users and support organisations. The pace of change can be overwhelming, however, it’s critical to understand that we are currently living in a VUCA world with several risks and changes taking place. Employers have a responsibility to look at the entire workplace to ensure the safest and the best working environment. With modern collaboration and wireless technologies in place, we believe that organizations can better deal with the ‘new normal’ and offer their employees a maximum of support in challenging times.
