Hybrid work has become the new normal for organisations around the world, with many employees embracing the ability to work from home when needed to improve their work-life balance.
According to a 2024 report from Cisco, 40 per cent of office interactions now involve remote participants. This flexibility means that an increasing number of virtual meetings are taking place daily, and delivering a positive user experience has become a key concern.
“If you’re in a virtual meeting and you can’t fully follow the flow of conversation, see people’s reactions or understand who is speaking to who, you’re not really part of the meeting,” says Knut Helge Teppan, chief design officer at Huddly. “Misunderstandings will happen, engagement will drop and people will leave meetings more tired than they should.”
According to Teppan, the key to building efficient spaces for virtual meetings lies in deploying modular audiovisual (AV) solutions with components and devices that can be added, removed and repositioned to cater for different rooms and scenarios.
“Having just one vantage point isn’t enough anymore,” says Teppan. “Meetings are dynamic, and the technology should be too.”
Huddly’s AI-driven multi-camera system, Huddly Crew, is designed to help organisations build a modular AV system. The kit comes with three cameras (with the option to add more if needed) that use AI to connect with each other and frame meeting participants from multiple angles.
“The cameras collaborate,” explains Teppan. “They learn the room layout and participant positions dynamically. This is a foundational part of modularity; not just being able to plug and play but having the system understand what’s happening and adapting accordingly.”
Audio also plays a significant part in the user experience. In fact, during Huddly’s testing processes, users indicated that the video experience felt worse if the audio quality was poor, compared to when AV was strong.
This led to Huddly developing the Huddly C1, a video bar that includes AI-powered microphones and high-quality stereo speakers, all integrated into one device.
“The Huddly C1 is designed to provide everything necessary for a small meeting space so users can set it up and use it efficiently,” says Teppan. “However, it's also able to connect with the Huddly Crew and scale up. It’s a complete solution yet also provides the flexibility our customers need.”
While having an efficient AV system can help to improve communication, a modular approach can also bring cost and sustainability benefits for an organisation.
“It’s about having a limited number of hardware devices that users can mix and match as needed,” says Teppan. “When a company reconfigures a space, they shouldn’t have to rip out cabling or buy an entirely new AV setup. With Huddly, you can reposition existing cameras, add new ones and be back up and running in minutes.”
Throughout its solution development process, Huddly closely follows evolving Microsoft standards to ensure that its products are fully certified for Microsoft Teams and optimised for use within Teams Rooms.
This evolution plays out in real-world scenarios at The Hive, Microsoft’s experimental laboratory for prototyping hybrid work experiences. There, Teams Rooms setups are tested across a variety of room types, from huddle spaces to large, flexible meeting environments.
“We look at the kinds of experiences Microsoft is designing for, then ensure our technology can adapt to those dynamics and elevate the user experience,” says Teppan.
In fact, when Microsoft set out to modernise its large meeting spaces at its Redmond campus in Washington, USA, it opted to use the Huddly Crew, citing its scalability, ease of deployment and ability to deliver AI-directed multi-use camera experiences that feel natural to both in-room and remote participants.
“The future of work depends on meeting spaces that are modular, intelligent and human-centric where technology supports presence, participation and equity for everyone,” says Teppan.
Teppan believes that meeting spaces will continue to develop into the new social hubs of the modern office.
“For many organisations it’s become important to create an atmosphere that fosters collaboration and a social, welcoming environment,” he says. “We’re seeing a lot of companies experimenting with different types of scenarios and room designs. Aside from the classic small, medium and large meeting rooms, we are seeing soft seating, creative rooms and flexible spaces where things can be moved around and that’s where modularity becomes essential.”
Find out more on the Huddly website
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