AudioCodes: Huddle Room Solutions
Business happens everywhere these days, and nowhere is that more evident than in the huddle room. Huddle rooms have become the incubators of innovation in many companies, providing an ad-hoc, compact, and usually no-frills meeting place for small groups of 2-15 people. They help you do more with the space you have as well, as your huddle room could be any unused or underused space that would have otherwise gone to waste, or started to collect yesterday’s discarded technology like so many piles of broken dreams.
The “no-frills” aspect of the huddle room is underscored by its very existence: an unused or unallocated space, perhaps too small for an office, and maybe repurposed from an old server room, file room, or something similar. It’s an afterthought, and not generally outfitted as a conference room would be, with audio-visual capabilities, screens, projectors, and so on.
Ultimately, all you need to turn this repurposed space into something dynamic is access to your network Wi-Fi signal, and a little help from our friends at AudioCodes.
Modern Problems
Today’s workspace tends towards flexible options. Largely driven by the burgeoning millennial workforce, open-concept offices, co-working spaces, communal and collaborative environments are becoming more commonplace. In an effort to boost productivity and encourage interaction, we are encouraging distraction and taking away the possibility to meet for more focused, or confidential interactions.
The solution
The huddle room remedies the open-space issue. It provides employees with a separate meeting area that they can repair to when needed, to hash out details, have private conversations, or brainstorm new ideas without co-workers encroaching on what little personal space we have left.
Since practically any space at all can be a huddle room, there is a high probability that it won’t be much better than meeting in the alleyway, at least in terms of technology. This is where you need a solution that is agile, portable, and flexible enough to work anywhere. Sure, you’ve all got your smartphones, but call latency and dropped connections can be a problem, as can call quality. Plus, you’re connecting from your personal phone, when you could be accessing your CRM and using your company’s considerable network assets to add value to the call.
Huddle room technology
So, what happens when your huddle room needs a little technological help? what if the conversation needs to include other team members or vendors who are outside of the building?
AudioCodes has several solutions that are specifically geared towards huddle room productivity and connectivity, solutions that facilitate quality conversations, and provide a robust suite of integrations to help you make the most of your valuable time.
Huddle room technology imperatives
To be viable, huddle room technology needs to address several very specific needs:
- It needs to maximize the space you have
- It needs to be simple enough for anybody to use
- It needs to be easy to connect and implement
- It should have scalable options, in case your group grows in size
- It should connect to the productivity solutions you use most: Microsoft Office365, Microsoft Exchange, and Skype for Business
- It should work autonomously, without needing to have a computer connected to it
- It should provide excellent voice call quality, be loud enough for everyone to hear, and have no latency issues
- It should be easy to manage, with a centralized dashboard for reporting on performance, updating software and firmware, and full voice quality monitoring
More on AudioCodes Huddle Room Solutions
AudioCodes has answered the call to provide a real, scalable solution for the growing number of huddle rooms that are popping up everywhere. Not only do they tick the boxes of every single one of the imperatives mentioned above, they deliver what they promise: easy-to-use, high quality, fully scalable, and representing the ultimate in connective technology in a portable, compact package. Each unit is centrally managed through your existing UC dashboard, where they can be configured, updated and monitored for call quality. Most importantly, each unit can be set up in seconds, so your team can hit the ground running.
The smaller version of their huddle room solution is the UC-HRS-457, an IP phone and speaker combo that can accommodate up to six people in a room. Providing full integration with your existing S4B environment, users can leverage company contacts to make calls over the network using only a Wi-Fi connection. With touch-screen technology, running your meeting is as easy as pie.
The medium sized huddle room solution is the UC-HRS-457D, which facilitates up to twelve huddle room participants. The large touch-screen display allows the meeting leader to easily add remote participants from within the S4B environment, and it comes with a second wireless speaker/microphone combo for extended use.
AudioCodes’ large huddle room solution is model number UC-HRS-458. It can accommodate up to 15 users, and provides all the features of the two smaller units, but adds the benefit of advanced echo and latency cancellation, as well as one extra-large, wireless, omnidirectional speaker/microphone combination that can be placed in the center of a room to give all stakeholders easy access.
CCG Telecom and AudioCodes: a knock-out combination for your huddle room needs
If you are looking for a solution to support your company’s huddle rooms, call CCG Telecom today. Since 2004, we have specialized in VoIP and unified communications solutions for businesses of every size. We work with startups, SMBs, and enterprise to help them streamline and improve their communications and add value to their bottom line. Simply put, nobody knows VoIP better than CCG. It all starts with a phone call: call to speak with one of our technicians, and find out more about AudioCodes Huddle Room Solutions.