Commercial Integrator February 2022 - 31

With in-room systems, users would have
to sign in, access their profile and then start
the meeting. That's more time-consuming
and error-prone.
As far as disadvantages, Rhatigan listed
just one: having to choose between different
audio and video devices from the user
interface when changing locations.
However, some wireless BYOD systems,
such as the Barco Clickshare or Kramer Via
portfolio, allow the user to just walk in the
room; connect via button or app; and have
full AV connectivity and wireless sharing.
" I struggle to find real meaty cons to
the bring-your-own-meeting scenario, "
Rhatigan says.
BYOD's Part of Every Conversation
Indeed, conference room integrators are
seeing the demand for BYOD room solutions.
RoomReady is a conference room
integrator that services mostly large enterprise
organizations. BYOD is at least part of
the conversation with every customer, says
Aaron McArdle, president and CEO.
" Everybody wants to talk about it because
they aren't sure how they're going to deal
with their platform, their customers' platform
or their partners' platform, " he says.
Even McArdle's largest customers that
are standardizing on a particular platform
and building dedicated room solutions for
that platform are nevertheless designating
some platform-agnostic BYOD rooms.
That middle ground - customers seeking
both dedicated solutions and BYOD
rooms - makes up about 70% of RoomReady's
clients, with the rest split between
fully BYOD and fully dedicated platforms.
Organizations adopting a hybrid-work
strategy and embracing extended remote
work are rushing to add videoconferencing
capabilities to their meeting rooms. In general,
they're seemingly more concerned
with quantity than quality.
" They wanna know how many rooms
they can get installed for a $1 million budget,
not [whether] they can do 10 rooms
really well, " McArdle says.
According to McArdle, those not fully
buying into the BYOD trend say the serviceability
and feature sets tend to win out
over flexibility. Further, some customers
say BYOD adds another layer of complexity
commercialintegrator.com
and threatens to undo the move to simplify
meeting-room systems.
For SMBs, McArdle says, BYOD has a lot
of long-term appeal, but dedicated room
systems should win out at large enterprises.
" The guy who's trying to manage 10
conference rooms has a much different
value proposition than the guy who's trying
to manage 100, 1,000 or 10,000 rooms, "
McArdle adds.
Currently, interoperability between
some of those major platforms is splintered,
but McArdle believes the industry
will get to a point at which there is more interoperability
between different platforms
and devices.
" I think the Microsofts, Zooms, Ciscos,
Polys and Logitechs are going to realize
[that] they're going to sell more, the more
friction that they remove, " McArdle concludes.
CI
Collaboration experts
say this technology is
here to stay, as
it allows users
still concerned with
sharing in-room
devices and social
distancing to use their
own personal devices
to run a meeting.
Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Cisco Webex and other platforms have become
wildly popular in the new normal, with each reporting a massive uptick in users since the
onset of the pandemic and the movement to remote work.
FEBRUARY 2022 Commercial Integrator
31
RATCHAPON/STOCK.ADOBE.COM
http://www.commercialintegrator.com
Commercial Integrator February 2022

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