Commercial Integrator August 2021 - 24

Hybrid Work
Kramer
As users return to the workplace, many are forced to embrace a hybrid environment
where meeting participants are split between their homes and offi ces. Touchless environments
off er the most hygienic approach to shared spaces; a space that is thoughtfully
designed and does not require the user to handle cables, remotes, or other roombased
accessories is ideal. Wireless presentation solutions like Kramer VIA, coupled with
VIA Versa's BYOM (Bring Your Own Meeting) capabilities, allows users to drive meetings
from their own devices. Users can connect through soſt ware to not only mirror their
screen to the shared display, but over the same wireless connection they also have full
access to the professionally installed microphones, cameras, and speakers in the room.
VIA Versa is soſt ware and device agnostic, permitting users to use whatever soſt ware or
AV peripherals that they desire. Kramer's next generation VIA Connect2, coming soon,
off ers a full suite of both wired & wireless presentation, BYOM, and collaboration in the
smallest form factor in the market. Simple. Wireless. Collaboration.
deployments installing a videoconferencing
system. Laptops were the second-most
common hardware with more than half of
WFH installations (53%) including setting
up a PC or Mac. Enterprise-grade home
networks (46% of projects), followed by
headphones/headsets (45%), individual
web cameras (38%), large displays (37%),
microphones (36%) and cabling (31%)
were also popular.
In addition to hardware, integrators were
kept busy deploying soſt ware solutions for
hybrid work needs. Four out of every 10
installations had some sort of cloud-based
application, while 35% included a new collaboration
platform and 28% of home offi ce
projects included a new communications system.
More than one in fi ve installations (21%)
included a VPN, and 14% had some type of
employee monitoring soſt ware included. Ten
percent of hybrid work projects had a data/
analytics platform element included.
Despite the boost in WFH business
driven by COVID-19, commercial AV-based
integrators have not gone out of their
way to create bundled solutions for their
clients. Even though companies like Savant,
Crestron and others have built WFH
packages for dealers (see sidebar), three
out of four integrators, exactly 75%, says
they have not created a WFH package they
can sell that might include large displays,
an upgrade home network, microphone
and web cam.
For commercial AV integration companies,
the demand for WFH solutions is
coming both directly from the employee
looking to set himself or herself up with a
workable home offi ce as well as demand
from facilities managers and corporate
clients on behalf of their staff s. Almost onein-three
home offi ce project was generated
due to a request directly from a C-Suite
level executive or owner, both for his or
Most Common Hybrid Work Hardware (Percent of Integrators Who Installed in 2020)
59%
53%
47%
45%
38%
37%
36%
31%
22%
Video
Conferencing
Cameras
Laptops
Network
Hardware
Headphones/
Headsets
Standalone
Webcams
Large
Display/
Desktop
Display
Microphones
Cables
Routers
21%
Power
Strips
19%
In-Home
Collaboration
Systems
From
a hardware standpoint, integrators were busy installing gear designed to enable home video conferencing for the most part.
24
Commercial Integrator AUGUST 2021
commercialintegrator.com
16%
10%
Modems Furniture
2020 Projects with WFH Element
(Percent of Projects)
1% to 10%
14%
75%+
39%
51%
to 75%
19%
Commercial integrators report that a
median of 61% of their projects in 2020
included some aspect of work-fromhome.
Anticipated
2021 Projects with
WFH Element (Percent of Projects)
11% to 25%
10%
26% to 50%
17%
75%+
25%
51% to 75%
19%
1% to 10%
17%
11% to 25%
17%
26% to 50%
22%
Commercial integrators expect a median
of 43% of their projects in 2021 to
include some aspect of work-from-home.

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Commercial Integrator August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator August 2021