Easily turn small, low-tech rooms into future-ready collaboration hubs

Partner’s perspective

Hybrid work has solidified into the norm for knowledge workers as 60% of Australian professionals and managers now usually work from home, according to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).

With this in mind, making sure that communication across an organisation remains effective by creating spaces where in-office and at-home workers can easily collaborate is vital.

Two specialist audio visual partners shared what it takes to create effective meeting spaces, even in places that were never designed for virtual interaction.

Pro AV Solutions director Ben Daffy said many organisations are using rooms that were never intended to be hybrid meeting spaces.

“A significant portion of meeting rooms, particularly smaller spaces, remain under-enabled or reliant on ad-hoc setups that struggle to support hybrid collaboration effectively, yet these rooms often host the highest volume of everyday meetings, making their performance critical to employee experience,” he said.

But bringing virtual meeting capability into these rooms is often easier said than done, Daffy added.

“Barriers include inconsistent user experience across rooms, poor audio quality in typical office acoustics, and frustration with unpredictable connectivity. Technology alone doesn’t solve these issues; the deeper challenge is that many spaces were designed for in-person meetings, not hybrid interaction,” he said.

Further, employee expectations are only increasing.

Daffy said that regardless of where they are meeting, modern workers expect meeting rooms that not only support hybrid work but also enable it.

“People expect meeting room technologies and spaces to support seamless transitions between in-office work, remote participation, and hybrid team dynamics, with varying approaches to attendance patterns,” he explained.

Merge Technologies founder and managing director Marty Clark said that rooms need to be flexible to meet a wide array of user needs on the fly.

“It’s about experience-led design with scalability and flexibility thoughtfully built-in to systems in a way that doesn't introduce user discomfort, anxiety, and cognitive load,” he said.

Modern meeting technology needs to be easy, consistent and make the transition between modes of collaboration frictionless.

“Flexibility, in practice, now means consistent technology experiences across rooms, quick setup, and spaces that support everything from informal hybrid catch-ups to structured project sessions without complexity,” Daffy said.

Merge Tech’s Clark added that as well as user expectations increasing, their needs are also becoming more complex.

“Often installing any old front-of-room conferencing video bar won't cut it, which results in more costly components being required to deliver the desired outcome of an effective meeting room,” he said.                                                                                                        

Daffy pointed out that these challenges actually present a “major opportunity” as a quick and cost-effective way to uplift collaboration across an organisation.

“By deploying intuitive, high-quality technology without complexity or heavy capital investment, organisations can dramatically improve meeting consistency, utilisation, and satisfaction across their entire workplace,” he said.

As workspaces become more digital, Daffy noted that customers are increasingly looking to collect data about the way that their spaces are being used so they can maximise efficiency and suit the needs of a hybrid workforce.

“Data and analytics, including intelligent space utilisation and scheduling insights, will increasingly shape how organisations design and optimise their real estate and collaborative spaces," he said.

“There is also a clear shift toward tighter integration between meeting technologies and broader workplace management systems - data that helps organisations understand room usage, workflow patterns, and connectivity performance will increasingly inform strategic decisions about space and technology investments.”

Dicker Data’s perspective

Creating modern meeting spaces is no easy task, but Microsoft has created a solution that can help partners turn that challenge into the opportunity Pro AV’s Ben Daffy described.

While small rooms are often used for meetings, especially to connect with at-home workers, they are also the least likely to contain the tech to support that use.

Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) Express Install can turn small, low-tech spaces into areas where real hybrid work can happen.

MTR Express Install is a flexible, pre-configured “room-in-a-box” solution that includes everything needed for a fully-functional meeting room.

Australia’s leading distributor Dicker Data is supporting partners in the delivery of MTR Express Install to help customers make the most of their workplace.

Dicker Data head of AV Andrew Upshon said the MTR Express Install offering makes doing that easy.

“With MTR Express Install, it’s quicker to design and quote, plus easier to install, meaning less time on-site in each room, bringing efficiency to the process,” he said.

Even the least tech-friendly room can be transformed into the ideal hybrid collaboration space, he said.

“The MTR Express Install bundles are designed for ‘low-tech’ or ‘no-tech’ meeting rooms, where the customer has not implemented a Teams Rooms solution, either due to cost considerations or physical limitations, such as not being able to wall-mount products due to glass walls or heritage listings, for example,” he said.

The partners highlighted the importance of flexibility to organisations and their employees, and the MTR Express Install bundle offers the ultimate flexibility.

Small rooms of any kind can be converted into a hybrid meeting space thanks to a range of video conferencing cameras, microphones and speakers, various display sizes and a selection of mounting options.

“The MTR Express Install bundles include MTR systems that are designed for small meeting rooms or huddle spaces, and have the advantage of choice of display sizes from 32” to 65” to suit the specific room it is going into, which can be mounted on a meeting room table, a side table/credenza or even a floor stand,” Upshon explained.

MTR Express Install’s standardised approach to rolling out meeting solutions means that when a new meeting room is spun up, users can walk in knowing what to expect and how to use the room for their specific needs.

“The main reason for MTR Express Install solutions is to enable as many meeting spaces in offices that historically didn’t have any room technology, so that you can get the same Teams meeting experience in every space in the office,” he said.

This consistency ensures every meeting room is fully connected and is able to share data seamlessly, an advantage that Daffy highlighted as a key element of future-proofing for customers.

Not only does Teams’ broad integration capabilities make sharing data with other software seamless but, Upshon said, Microsoft’s next-generation preparedness means organisations will be ready for the next evolution of meetings

“The Teams meeting experience is the foundation for getting these rooms ready for the new world of meeting tools in the form of AI Agents, which will sit with Teams Rooms and change the way we have meetings moving forward,” he said.