Steelcase is working alongside tech leaders Microsoft, Zoom, Logitech and Crestron to provide hybrid collaboration solutions today and to prototype, iterate and evolve for tomorrow.

MICROSOFT

Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Modern Work

The employees who went home in 2020 aren’t the same as those coming back to the office in 2022. They have great expectations for what they get out of a job and flexibility has become a non-negotiable. Making hybrid work work will require a new cultural mindset, as well as the right technology and space to enable every employee to contribute, regardless of when, where or how work happens. Technology is critical to bridging the physical and digital divide. New technologies like cameras, digital whiteboards and virtual meeting rooms will give everyone a voice and seat at the table.

Steelcase has been an invaluable partner as we work together to understand how work is changing, test new hybrid spaces and technologies, and develop future hybrid meeting experiences. We’re optimistic that hybrid work will ultimately give us the best of both worlds and allow every employee and organization to thrive.

ZOOM

Randy Maestre, Head of Industry Marketing

As companies return to the office and conference room use increases, there will still be the need to connect remote attendees. We’ve launched tools to create individual views of participants in large conference rooms, add live translation and transcription, and share content via advanced whiteboard features and integrated applications to encourage more meaningful dialogue and interaction.

The future of work will be hybrid and we’ll see physical spaces and technology becoming increasingly intertwined. Think of a conference room: You need furniture, monitors, appliances and collaboration software and tools. If these components can be integrated, installation will be simpler, operation will be easier and, as a result, adoption will be higher. We have partnered with a number of companies including Steelcase to ensure conference rooms, collaboration spaces and future classrooms are tightly integrated for a uniform, frictionless user experience.

“The future of work will be hybrid and we’ll see physical spaces and technology becoming increasingly intertwined.”

Randy MaestreHead of Industry Marketing, Zoom

LOGITECH

Sudeep Trivedi, Head of Alliances and Go-To-Market

In the new hybrid world, the need to collaborate from anywhere is business-critical, not just nice-to-have. We’ve made big strides toward improving how people connect like using AI to provide a zoomed-in speaker view while simultaneously presenting a full-room view, creating an all-in-one docking station with a single connection for cords and cables and offering professional grade audio with beam-forming technologies that eliminate distracting noises. And our cloud-based software makes it easier to manage devices from anywhere to reduce friction for large-scale hybrid work implementations.

We are working with Steelcase to ensure every meeting space offers an optimal user experience for camera field of view, viewing angles, lighting, audio reverberation and performance, whiteboard capture and content sharing. We help reduce the complexity of integrating technology into the space and create more choice and flexibility in accommodating ever-changing needs.

CRESTRON

Bob Bavolacco, Director of Technology Partner Programs

With hybrid work, space planners will need to collaborate with IT and facilities teams very early in the design process. To help, we’ve developed a strategic partnership with Steelcase to ensure planners are aware of technology requirements early in their decision-making. Together, Crestron and Steelcase can help our customers create hybrid individual focus areas, huddle rooms and conference rooms to accommodate all types of hybrid work.

For 50 years, Crestron has been a global leader in workplace technology including secure and optimized A/V transmission, room reservation and digital signage, wireless presentation and conferencing, automation to turn a room on or off, automatically start meetings, as well as optimize lighting and environmental conditions. Integration and choice are key in the hybrid workplace which is one reason we offer dedicated Microsoft Teams and Zoom solutions, as well as support personal devices.

Explore new hybrid collaboration research and see what we learned from putting hybrid collaboration prototype spaces to the test.

Read More