Barco, a world leader in workplace visualization and collaboration solutions conducted a big survey of 1200 executives across 13 countries to find out how the office is changing, and how workspaces are used. The main objective was to find out how the covid pandemic and lockdowns (leading to forced working-from-home of the entire staff) have affected the global office spaces. The results show a clear desire for more engaging and inspiring workplaces, although regional differences are striking.
Some key findings at the global level:
- 62% of respondents say employees are happy to return to the office
- 23% are transforming auditoriums and experience centers based on new staff expectations
- 73% feel that large video walls will help people to collaborate and interact
- 45% say that large video walls can create a wow effect and impress whoever enters the lobby
As the workplaces continue to transform and shift between remote, in-office and hybrid work models, companies are planning and redesigning their office spaces to create wow experience for customers and empower employees in enabling them to ideate, innovate and deliver their desired outcomes. There is an increasing focus on creating cohesive and collaborative workplaces with easier access to tools and resources. In a world of hybrid working, creating an engaging and inspiring workplace is fast becoming a top priority. Further, businesses are now intelligently allocating resources to maximize the entire back to office experience for employees and to impress visitors with more engaging visualization technologies and solutions.
It goes without questioning that the covid-pandemic has changed the way offices work. Repeated lockdowns forced the workplace to evolve and shift between remote, in-office and hybrid work models. This forced office culture and technology to change in a rapid pace, accommodating the evolving expectancies and needs of the staff and instill ‘wow factor’ for customers. That is why companies are redesigning their office spaces around their vision, mission and strategy, helping to create a wow factor, inspire people to do their best work, seamlessly blend digital and physical design, nurture company culture and deliver training.
Glad to be back!
A first noteworthy finding from the survey is that employees enjoy being back at the office. 62% of respondents agree with this. The office is no longer just the place for desk work, but rather a dynamic space for better meetings, stronger collaboration and social interaction. An important example of the evolved way to use office technology are video walls. They were typically used to grab the attention of external visitors but are now transformed into tools to engage employees and improve collaboration and productivity.
Lobbies: the beating heart of the enterprise
Corporate lobbies have evolved from their traditional function (greeting visitors or having them wait) into places to create an impactful first impression and to instil pride in employees. According to the survey, the lobby is the second most chosen space for meetings (49%) and aims to impress whoever (staff or visitors) enters the building (45%).
31% of corporations in *APAC region already have a video wall installed in their lobby or reception areas, and 21% are planning to install new or upgrade the existing ones. The lobby or reception area is also their top ranked choice (43%) for a large video to be located to create the most impact. When it comes to choosing a video wall, 36% of respondents ranked image quality as the key consideration, followed up technology.
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