Modern office, hybrid & remote working


Other vendors, such as Neat, offer single-brand, all-in-one solutions. Tere is also a lot of variation – everything from basic set-ups designed for no more than three or four people, to quite advanced systems that can accommodate up to 10 individuals. Prices will be commensurate with the scale and capabilities of the solution, but what they all have in common is that they are easy to install and manage.


Bigger meeting rooms At the higher-end of SMB (100 – 250 employees), the mid-market and within larger organisations, there will almost certainly be a need for a room where more than 20 people can take part in a meeting without people on the other end of the connection feeling they are addressing a crowd. In these kinds of spaces, you need bigger displays – and perhaps


more than one – that are wall-mounted. LED screens can also be a good option in these larger rooms. You will need more advanced multi-camera solutions and microphones, capable of intelligently switching between different parts of the room to focus on whoever is speaking and auto-framing on individuals or groups of participants. You will also require professional quality audio. Of course, this is all going to be more complex to specify and


set up. But a more comprehensive solution will deliver more added value to the customer and generate more income and profit potential for the partner. While there are fewer “off-the-shelf” type solutions of this kind, the complete offering will be a combination of good quality products from leading brand names. Most IT partners will need at least some help with specifying and installing these solutions.


Boardrooms or conference rooms Here, the level of quality required goes up considerably, and it’s important with larger conference rooms and boardrooms not to skimp or compromise. We have seen plenty of scenarios in recent years where a lower-cost option that was perhaps hastily decided upon and poorly installed has had to be ripped out and replaced. For a large conferencing space, you need excellent quality, and it


will be well worth persuading the customer to invest to achieve the desired effect and impact. Te installation may be quite complicated, involving careful placement of cameras and audio. Close attention will need to be paid to aesthetics too – you don’t want coils of cables running around the edges or under the boardroom table. A reseller addressing this kind of opportunity will need to have


their own expertise or to partner with a third-party specialist. Having access to demonstration facilities can also be important.


Home conferencing systems For quality home conferencing solutions, a pre-defined Teams Rooms bundled option – as described above – will oſten be viable. As already mentioned, there are quite a lot of good choices available from leading vendors. Alternatively, there are some excellent and very simple, ‘one-click’ solutions from vendors like Barco, that work well in home working environments and in micro businesses too. Just as we’d recommend with the boardroom, it’s important not to


compromise for remote working. If someone is regularly dialling in from home, the experience needs to be just as good as it would be


www.pcr-online.biz


in the office. It is much simpler, though, as you should only need one camera and a simple audio setup.


What about the platform? All the systems we sell will support whatever platform the customer wants to use. Microsoſt Teams has become a clear market leader, but there are plenty of other organisations that still use Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco Webex, or some other platform for their conferencing. Where the customer wants to be sure that they can integrate and communicate without limits, there are also solutions that provide seamless and secure connections between different platforms, on any scale. Tis is an area in which resellers can add more value with conferencing solutions.


Extending potential with smart tech and signage Another area of value-added potential is smart building


technology and digital signage. Interest in digital receptionist, wayfinding, and smart meeting room control is building up, driven by the need to optimise the use of office space and the working environment, and keep energy costs down. Te growth in digital signage is a good opportunity, too. It’s


not unusual now to see large format displays or LED solutions being used in public spaces and in workplaces, to communicate information, from special offers in retail environments, safety warnings in workplaces, and health messages in GP waiting rooms. Content management soſtware will always be needed to support these installations. For resellers with IT experience, these two areas are a natural fit.


UC and collaboration Another growing area that’s driving uptake of collaboration solutions is unified communications. Digital telephony means that it makes sense to provide added capabilities such as video calling, call recording, and transcription to the toolset available to call centre agents and employees. While UC is an area in which there are expert third-party providers, it is very much an adjacent technology to IT and provides a natural path of evolution for most resellers.


Getting more involved Te seismic changes that we’ve seen in working habits over the past six years have really opened the video conferencing and collaboration market to the IT channel. Aſter gaining experience and knowledge, users are now becoming more discerning. At the same time, product developers and vendors have made the tech much easier and more accessible. It’s nowhere near as difficult for resellers with an IT background to get involved in selling collaboration solutions. Te horizon of potential is expanding as well, with smart


building tech, digital signage, and unified comms, all providing areas in which more value can be added. Te biggest challenge for resellers and retailers with these


technologies is having the experience and skill to sell and implement more involved and complex solutions. While it may be part of everyday business already, the growth


in collaboration and its related technologies is just getting started. Tere is still plenty of time to take advantage.


May/June 2026 | 25


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52