A new kind of office for a new kind of meeting

The evolution of digital and mobile technologies has radically changed the way people collaborate within an office. This shift in mindset can prove an ideal opportunity for growth, enabled by smart tech empowering employee interaction.

A shift in attitudes

Today’s tech revolution – the infinite well of information at our smartphone-heavy fingertips, the ability to connect with people across continents in real-time – has dramatically blurred the lines between work and play.

A job is no longer a nine to five affair, with a variety of personal devices allowing people to keep up with their correspondence, tasks and projects anytime and anywhere.

This shift in attitudes is especially prevalent in the tech-savvy Millennials, the generation born in the period between the early 1980s to the early 2000s, who in 10 short years will represent 75 percent of the global workforce. They work differently and expect different things from work, explains the New Ways Of Working report. A job is no longer a nine to five affair, with a variety of personal devices allowing people to keep up with their correspondence, tasks and projects anytime and anywhere, using smart devices to solve problems in a new way.

Breaking the fixed time and location constraints of the traditional workplace, new tech is creating a better flow between work and everyday life, helping workers achieve better results in a shorter time.

In an era where an average employee will change jobs every four years or less, encouraging such flexible and dynamic models of meetings and collaboration is a huge opportunity for forward-thinking organizations, resulting in improved employee satisfaction and retention.

Online synchronization and push technologies are allowing for a break from the traditional nine to five work model, with office spaces evolving to reflect this shift towards collaboration – supported by smart, interconnected technology. (Image: Cowork|rs Brooklyn Coworking Space, Officelovin’)

The meeting room reimagined

As work changes, so does office space, an environment that had remained more or less the same for decades, now reflecting the shift in workplace paradigms.

If work before was a 20% collaborative affair and 80% individual, this ratio is projected to be reversed in 10 years time, with individual workplaces shrinking and meeting areas becoming more prevalent.

The traditional workplace is giving way to an agile working model, where office space is all about collaboration and socializing.

Be it open areas with enclosed meeting rooms, conference rooms for larger gatherings or even coworking spaces, the traditional workplace is giving way to an agile working model, where office space is all about collaboration and socializing.

The office is no longer necessarily a place where we go to do work, explains the WorkShift: The Future of the Office report. Rather it is a place where we go to communicate about work – have meetings, encounters at the coffee point and see and be seen.

Office productivity through smart tech

Supporting the shift towards collaboration is new technology providing for a seamless and effective office interaction model. From team collaboration software to project management systems, online calendars and different office productivity gadgets spanning everything from Google Apps and Office 365 to smartphones and tablets.

Supporting the shift towards collaboration is new technology providing for a seamless and effective office interaction model.

Especially important in the new, agile workplace that sees many employees spend more and more time outside the main office and the designated desk model are tools allowing for more effective space management.

Offices are evolving from just places of work and increasingly communicate corporate culture, representing a window into the company brand. (Image: OpenTable offices, Officelovin’)

Choosing the right tool

The choice of a meeting room management device is, just like with other smart tech helping an office along, often a complicated task. And the problem is not just the functionality and ease of use of the new tool.

Office equipment is the fastest growing energy user in the business world, with its consumption representing 15% of total electricity use in offices. This figure is expected to double by 2020.

In an era where it is reported many choose employment because it aligns with their environmental and social values, and where offices increasingly communicate corporate culture, choosing the wrong technology can prove a problem when headhunting and retaining personnel.

Joan Meeting Room Assistant is the world’s first eco-designed digital door label, using 99% less energy than comparable solutions. The secret? Electronic ink technology and a platform developed from the ground up for digital signage.

Joan door label, CES 2016 eco design winner

Joan Meeting Room Assistant, the smart digital door label from Visionect and E Ink® has been designed to overcome these trappings of office tech.

Developed to simplify office processes, Joan connects seamlessly with the calendar in use and displays scheduled meetings in minutes after unboxing. Its interactive display denotes meeting room availability and allows for booking on the spot.

Joan is the greenest digital door label on the market, becoming the first eco-designed digital door label in the world by receiving the CES 2016 Innovation Award.

Most important, however, is the fact that Joan is the greenest digital door label on the market, with an almost imperceptible power consumption. Joan uses 99% less energy than other door labels, becoming the first eco-designed digital door label in the world by receiving the CES 2016 Innovation Award.

It is a demand for energy efficiency that other office tech will soon have to follow. According to the New Ways of Working, there is pressure on businesses to operate more responsibly, with workers highly aware of ethical issues, and boundaries between business and social issues blurring.

Want to see the future of office technology in person? The Joan conference room system will be officially launched at CES 2016, which runs January 6-9, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Visit Joan at E Ink®’s booth #30466.