When you think of a traditional office, you think of cubicles and watercoolers. When you think of a modern office, the first thing that pops to mind are screens, lots and lots of screens. You imagine people sitting behind monitors or staring at a massive screen in a conference room.
When you close your eyes, you hear the typing of dozens of keyboards and the clicking of a mouse. Ideally, these are masked by white noise or soft music in the background.
All in all, audio-visual solutions are the foundation of any modern business. Here are some tips to help you pick the right solutions for your business.
Assess your needs
The first thing you need to consider is your business’s needs.
A screen is a standard option, but projectors give you the best screen-to-dollar ratio if you want to go extra large with the screen size and save some money. This is the most important screen in your office, the one in the middle of your conference room, however, you’ll need other screens, as well.
Screens are not the only part here; if you want to play music and send important notices via a voice, you’ll also need enough speakers on the main floor. Installing these is not as simple as it seems and will require extra cable management and craftiness.
Each of these speakers is, on its own, quite inexpensive, but these minute expenses have a habit of adding up.
The bottom line is that you need to get the exact number of hardware pieces you need for your office, and then you may also want to include some of your remote workers. Some businesses subsidize equipment acquisition for their remote teams, and it might be cheaper to do it as a package deal.
Once you know your needs, you can more accurately define your budget. Keep in mind that the cost of ownership and installation are just a part of the whole deal. You also need to consider installation, maintenance, and future upgrades. This way, you’re in for quite a ride.
Know your options
When you start negotiating with your providers of AV solutions, they’re likely to offer you some choices. However, it’s worth doing independent research before this meeting so that you understand how good of a deal you’re looking at.
First, when it comes to displays, you have the choice of projectors and interactive displays. As we’ve already mentioned, projectors are a lot more frugal, but their biggest downside is that they’re not touch-friendly. This can be a problem with meetings, especially during brainstorming sessions and group efforts.
Then, there’s the question of the audio system. You could go for something grand and infrastructural. We’re talking about something along the lines of massive ceiling speakers and strategically distributed soundbars. You could also outfit the office with a lot of standalone speakers that are relatively heavenly distributed. The last part is simple and inexpensive, but the result is not as simple.
The last part is particularly important – video conferencing. Your team must have high-speed internet access and decent audio and video recording equipment. This is especially true when it comes to people who represent your business in conversations with outsiders.
Previously, we’ve mentioned the option of subsidizing some of your remote workers’ hardware. Well, this is the area that you want to invest in. They need a quality camera and a great microphone.
Futureproofing and scalability
When investing in equipment, you want to know that you’re not buying something that will become outdated soon. You want something future-proof. The problem is that this is going to cost you more.
Now, remember that the current work you’re getting done isn’t all you have to worry about. Instead, you also need to worry about your potential for expansion. What if you add an extra office and need an extra screen? What if you need more speakers? What if you expand the office so that your current screen size won’t be visible from the workstations in the back?
Just consider how realistic this option is before committing to a purchase.
The last thing you need to bear in mind is the importance of long-term maintenance. Sometimes, it’s worth paying a bit more if you’re getting a reliable team that will be on-call 24-7 and won’t charge extra for routine maintenance and simple fixes. You see, when some of these equipment pieces fail, you’re facing a downtime. A downtime can sometimes be more expensive than any malfunction or repair.
Integration with existing systems
What kind of tech infrastructure do you currently have? For instance, buying a bunch of 4k screens when your internet connection is struggling to keep up with 720p videos on all your devices simultaneously is a bit of an overkill. It will also create a bottleneck that will prevent you from tapping into the full potential of the hardware (even though you paid a premium price).
Also, do some audits of the tools that you’re already using. Chances are that you’re using standard communication tools like Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. Neither of these platforms is very demanding, but if you want to connect in HD, 1440p, or 4k, you might face a bit of an issue.
Just understand that it’s cheaper and simpler for you not to have to change too much with each new installation.
User-friendly interface
You need this technology to be simple to use and easy to understand. This way, you avoid creating a bottleneck where there are only a few people who can operate issues and troubleshoot technology so that the rest of the team has to either bother them or wait for them to be available.
Also, remember that user-friendliness increases your staff’s overall satisfaction with technology. Sure, technology is there to serve a purpose, but the sense of working with top-shelf equipment may also affect your talent retention.
Wrap up
The last thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that this is an asset like any other. However, it’s an important asset that will be used every moment there’s someone in your office. Therefore, it’s a major decision that you shouldn’t take lightly.