To celebrate survivors and support those impacted by ovarian cancer, this quarter we joined forces with the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (NOCC). We first hosted a virtual event, bringing together our employees from all over the country, to play trivia, enjoy presentations from NOCC, and raise money. Next, we joined NOCC’s annual Together in Teal walk. This was the first walk the NOCC has put together since 2018 (due to Covid restrictions) and we were thrilled to be a part of such a wonderful event. The first ever NOCC walk was also in Arizona in 2010 and the event has continued to grow year after year!

Companies across the U.S. and the world are looking at in-office, remote, and hybrid work models as well as technology to ensure an effective team environment, no matter where their employees are located. In recent posts, we’ve discussed technology like unified communication and collaboration solutions to the particulars of creating better meeting spaces for hybrid teams. 

Aside from “standard” meeting rooms, collaboration spaces are a different breed of room for getting work done. While much collaboration happens in regular meeting rooms, small and large, many companies invest in purpose-built spaces to enhance ideation, creative thinking, developing new concepts, products, and services, and overcoming roadblocks in complex projects. The problem is: most of those spaces weren't designed for the hybrid work revolution. If you are grappling with how to create better collaboration spaces in your Scottsdale, AZ, company, please keep reading below for some ideas that can help. 

We all want to make the workday simpler and less chaotic, don’t we? Yet, with too many communication tools, people become confused about when and how to use each. 

That’s why unified communications solutions are so beneficial to modern companies. UC creates a seamless flow through all layers of communication, from chat to email to audio and video calls. With a consistent user interface on every device, people can confidently access everything they need, whether they’re at their desks, on their phones, or in the conference room. 

But while it’s easy enough to access a unified communications platform on a single device like a laptop or desktop computer, it’s a whole other challenge to outfit UC on fifty or so devices in conference rooms. Why? We’ll explain the process below and how we can solve any issues.

In the post-pandemic workplace, companies have been facing new challenges to old work models. Whether companies go with mandatory "X days in the office" policy or a more liberal approach to in-office presence, the need to better support hybrid work models is evident. And most companies, in reality, are still muddling their way through this new world. 

Fortunately, the companies that enable remote work with technology are paying attention and adapting the platforms to create more seamless collaboration models. Microsoft, of course, is a big player in every aspect of productivity and collaboration software. Its latest updates to its Teams platform have focused on bridging the divide between remote and in-office workers for more flexible and inclusive collaboration. Keep reading below to see how the latest Microsoft Teams Rooms enhancements can help your Tempe, AZ, company accommodate hybrid work.

Do you ever play Box of Chocolates: Netflix Edition? It’s where you just pick whatever show the algorithm picks for you... but you go in blind. You don’t look at the cast list, the description, the language, etc. It’s a risky game. Sometimes you get directed to Squid Game, and it’s a wild ride. Other times... if the young’uns forgot to change Netflix user accounts... you get Season 12 of Bluey, an Australian animated television series for preschoolers. You just don’t know what you’re going to get. It’s a young person’s game, though. This used to be fun, but now I just don’t have the time or the patience for it. I want to know what I’m getting into, what genre, who’s in it, and how many seasons. I want to know exactly what I’m getting before pressing that Play button.

We often talk about the modern conference room and outfitting the space with cameras, microphones, and displays for successful video conferencing. And while it’s crucial to prepare your conference rooms for the hybrid future, many people are discovering that these long table layouts are not ideal for brainstorming and collaboration. 

When designing your office for a collaboration strategy, each room needs to have a specific purpose. Not every meeting room will make a good collaboration space, and that’s okay. Here’s how you can think strategically about your meeting rooms, so you can create the best environment for every forum.

In terms of microphones, some mics exhibit a “proximity effect” causing an increase in bass as you move physically closer to the microphone. It’s not that it just gets louder, the deeper frequencies are amplified more than the high frequencies are. A good example of this is the Shure RE20 microphone which has been the personal favorite of live radio DJs, since it makes their voices sound deeper.

In other circles, “the proximity effect” is a social psychology theory proposed by Leon Festinger, which is that physical and/or psychological closeness between individuals increases interpersonal attraction.

In an era of email, Slack, text, and videoconferencing with screen sharing, is audio still as important? It may be true that with all the communication and collaboration tools available to businesses these days, some meetings might be less necessary. It’s also true that with hybrid work environments, with workers both in and out of your Phoenix, AZ offices, meetings may not be as convenient to hold as before. 

However, that doesn't mean communicating by voice has gone out of style. Unfortunately, voice sometimes takes a back seat to more visual communication. That is sometimes reflected in the choice of equipment for conference rooms. The trend in many spaces is to install all-in-one soundbar-style videoconferencing systems with a microphone, camera, and speaker. While the microphones and speakers in these systems might work well in ideal conditions, sometimes they're not up to the task. Stay with us below as we explore audio issues in modern collaboration spaces and how distributed audio can help.