Commercial Integrator January 2022 - 28

INDUSTRY Collaboration
to embrace the thinking of the new college
graduates and interns. It might be wise
simply to adopt their principles outright.
Echoing Obusek's thoughts, Loza
commented, " We were the generation that
brought in the BYOB culture and the BYOD
culture. But the younger generation has
adapted extremely well to the asynchronous
environment. My advice would be to
really listen to that generation instead of
conforming them to how we used to work. "
Setting Up the New Workspace
In the second panel discussion, Earon,
who led the group, said that future office
spaces should be tailored to the purposes
of not only the enterprise but also the individual
employees. She then asked, " How
should office designs change to adapt to
this future? "
Jason Moss of QSC stated that office
spaces should emphasize collaboration
and a sense of community. He reasoned
that, since people return to the office to
meet with others and engage in conversations,
it is vital that office designs reflect
those priorities.
According to Scott Srolis of Salamander
Designs, there has been a significant rise
in huddle spaces and agile spaces. He
described a project in which 300 " silent "
rooms with no audiovisual technology
were recently turned into conference
rooms. " [While] there are fewer heads
Gary Sorrentino, global deputy
CIO of Zoom, observed that
most people or their employers
have now invested in homeoffice
technology. So, returning
to the office might not provide
the same productivity boost
that it formerly did.
down in workstations on the open floor
plan, there is more real estate to bring
people together and have that community
and collaboration. So, we are designing
a lot of spaces that really resemble those
elements, " Srolis remarked.
Stambaugh of TD SYNNEX added,
" Video [and audio] is an absolute necessity.
And it needs to be seamless and simple,
and that connectivity has to be there. But it
has to be part of the room, as opposed to
being the purpose of the room. "
Broadly speaking, the physical office
needs to be a hub for nurturing company
culture. As Moss put it, " It's not necessarily
about being there for the connectivity
and productivity, but more for the human
connection that builds that culture and
camaraderie. "
The panel also touched on sustainability
and environmental consciousness. During
the pandemic, several people noticed
commuting's negative impact on the environment;
those harmful effects decreased
as people began to work remotely. Moss
added that, moving forward, companies
need to be more cognizant of energy
usage and consumption when making
workspace decisions.
What's more, particularly with the
pandemic likely to continue in some form,
employees need to be able to receive
information on office-space population
density through tools like room-booking
systems. These allow employees to decide
if they wish to be present physically.
" We are piloting a thing where I can tell
if a room is booked or not...and if it's empty
or not when I'm on my way in, " ChristoIf
physical offices are going to persist, they
must become hubs for company culture.
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Commercial Integrator JANUARY 2022
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Commercial Integrator January 2022

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