This article was written by Phil Stanley, T1V’s Territory Sales Manager, Europe.
I trust you are well and staying safe in these challenging times.
It would be great if you could grab a coffee, a cup of tea, or a glass of water and spare ten minutes of your time to read some of my thoughts about how the collaboration landscape has changed for us all. We, at T1V, are working to bring people and teams together now, and in the future as our lives try to get back to whatever the new normal will be.
The last few months have certainly been a struggle for many and the repercussions will be felt for many years to come. It will be very interesting to see and understand how the world will get back to work and how our families and children will continue to cope with a change in lifestyle. I personally don't see too much alteration from where we are now for a number of months. When it does change, it will deliver a very new normal for us all.
I joined T1V at a time when collaboration was very room-based and the term "digital transformation" was something that was being discussed, but not implemented in any major way. As with all new technology and thinking, there are evangelists, pioneers and leaders. At ISE this year, I had a number of interesting discussions about this, and collaboration in general with customers from all industries. The vast majority were just starting their journey and planning what might be needed in the future. In the corporate world, the main question was how do we bring teams together and allow them to collaborate in a way that adds value to the VC infrastructure that already existed? This was not just a simple screen share of PowerPoints, but integration of content and materials that could be worked on at the same time by all participants. It shouldn't and doesn't matter that participants of a session are employees or guests. All input is vital and collaboration stretches beyond an internal meeting. My meetings involve customers, suppliers, partners and many more. Having simple, open collaboration is hugely important for me.
So, what about our return to work? Having been based from home for the last 15 years, I have learned many new skills, became hugely aware of my surroundings, and how to manage them. My two children know that if my door is closed, I'm not to be disturbed. I make sure I take breaks for drinks and lunch, and get out of my office to stretch and clear my head. A run, walk, or cycle at lunch time is great to reset for the afternoon. I am also very careful that my days don't drift into nights so that I can spend time with the family. Working at a US company can add a challenge to this because there is a need to join calls and respond to emails, but this can be managed.
So, how does T1V and their solutions help me and our customers now and how will they help the so called "phased return" as the epidemic starts to slow?
I hear from many people that there is a desire to get the economy moving again and get people back to work, but how? There are huge challenges around transport, building occupancy, lecture theatre space, and the need to distance ourselves from each other. Those who have worked from home for the first time realize that it is possible, it's not too disruptive and you get extra time to spend with family and friends. Companies realize that staff can be more productive and have a better quality of life, but there will still be the need to get them into meetings in the office or remotely. On every occasion that we are asked to attend a meeting we will all ask ourselves: "Do I need to travel for that meeting?”, "Is it safe for me and my family?”, and "What happens if there is another lockdown in the country I travel to?".
T1V brings a series of collaboration tools that I believe will aid the return to work whilst allowing flexible working and collaboration between teams and partners. ThinkHub, T1V’s flagship product, is a great example of this.
During my time at home I have been very fortunate to have a large touch screen and ThinkHub running in my home office. My children love working out their math questions as they can share web browsers with content, whiteboarding for solutions and discussions, notes for point taking and ideas, and screen casting to bring live content to life. With customers I have been using Zoom, Webex, and MS Teams for calls, all integrated into ThinkHub for demonstration purposes. For example, I had a great call with a lady locked in Milan. I demonstrated ThinkHub and had her share content directly to my system so that we could discuss content specific to her application. Through our showroom in Charlotte, North Carolina, we have been delivering live showroom tours where we can all share our content and ideas. Our company updates have also been delivered using ThinkHub, so we can see an array of content from the team located all over the world.
ThinkHub, ThinkHub Connect and our new HubVC solution brings teams together to drive collaboration, creativity, and productivity.
I feel very fortunate to work in an industry that can help deliver great solutions for companies, universities, and organizations to work together and I look forward to supporting them all through the next months and years.
If you would like further information about T1V solutions or would like to arrange a personal demonstration or showroom tour please click below to schedule a demo. Our T1V team is standing by.