Only a few short months ago, the term ‘Touchless AV’ was most commonly associated with convenience, comfort, and luxury. Automation and touchless control of lighting, motorized shades, televisions, microphones, and cameras, by merely entering a room or speaking a command with one’s voice was not a necessity or requirement in most office environments. Few had health and safety measures at the forefront of priorities, as is now the case. Today, due to the impact COVID-19 has had globally, high-traffic offices, meeting space environments, and common areas are significant concerns for businesses, both small and large. The relatively uncertain nature of how this particular virus spreads via touchable surfaces is also of great concern. Currently, most companies are adapting to a remote work business model. However, the return to the physical workplace is looming over the horizon. This creates unique challenges that we have yet to face in our lifetime. The need for a touchless and hands-free approach is required. Touchless AV solutions are readily available for deployment and widely effective as we look to return to our workplaces and keep our colleagues, employees, families, friends, and ourselves safe, while continuing to promote communication, collaboration and community.
In this article, we will present strategic Touchless AV solutions that business owners can implement immediately. But first, let’s review what Touchless AV is and how we are already using it in our daily lives, possibly, without even realizing it:
What is Touchless AV?
Touchless AV refers to technologies operated without physically touching surfaces, remotes, switches, or any public device that may have come in contact with another person. These are often light switches, TV remote controls, touch panel interfaces, and door handles. An excellent example of how the world has adopted Touchless AV solutions is by artificial intelligence like Siri, Alexa & Google Assistant to have small tasks completed, such as increasing music volume or accessing current weather forecasts. Similarly, and in an even more advanced manner, Touchless AV can take many forms and can be extremely useful for promoting productivity and collaboration, especially in these wildly uncertain times.
Motion is the New Touch
Do you remember the days where the only way to turn a TV on was to press the power button on the remote control? The days where we had to open doors by hand? Where we had to flip a switch to turn on or off our lights? Those days are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Today, Smart TVs, Doors, Lights, Shades equipped with sensors are ubiquitous.
In the workplace, consider using gestures for access control. For example, moving your hand removes the need to turn a door handle. An exciting and more radical use of motions in the workplace is the replacement of Touch in big collaborative screens such as digital whiteboards. With the right design language and intuitive interactions, employees can quickly get accustomed to a Touchless AV system at work.
Additionally, many people are familiar with occupancy sensors. This technology turns the lights on and off when you enter a meeting room, for example. However, occupancy sensors can do far more than solely that. Occupancy sensors can raise and lower the blinds, provide status about the availability of a meeting room, and even turn on room displays and projectors. They also enable the administrator to manage a conference room’s occupancy and density. Occupancy sensors are an incredibly useful way for companies to optimize their meeting spaces and adjust them to meet adapting safety needs. Products like the Crestron® GLS-ODT-C-CN Sensor can be used in large offices and can cover even bigger spaces like warehouses or building lobbies. It features dual-technology occupancy in a small and cost-effective ceiling-mounted sensor. You can use it to control lighting, temperature, shades, screens, and many devices in the office. A very powerful and timely solution.
The Power of Voice Control
IoT and devices like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant & Cortana have made voice control a regular part of our lives. Many people are used to asking Siri to play their favorite song, Google to turn the lights on, or Alexa to regulate the thermostat.
Now imagine the endless possibilities offered by voice control at work: “Set up a Zoom meeting with Jordan at 10 AM tomorrow”, “Lock the office doors,” “Order my usual lunch at 2 PM”. The most exciting part is that you can scale voice control to your liking. Imagine asking, “Set up a meeting with the HR manager in a conference room for two next Wednesday at 4 PM”. Voice control in the office can offer an effective way to combat physical interaction with meeting room consoles, touch screens, or shared devices. This technology is here now, and it is readily accessible. Logitech Solutions for Zoom Rooms is an innovative collaboration between Logitech, Zoom, and Amazon Alexa, which has made it possible for businesses to control their meeting rooms through voice for a completely contactless experience.
Personal Devices For Room Control & Wireless Collaboration
One of the more useful solutions in limiting the virus’s spread is the use of personal devices such as phones, tablets and laptops to control and present within shared spaces. If employees are sharing computers, keyboards, mice and touch screens, viruses and other germs spread.
For the sake of a safe workspace, it is now optimal to now enable employees to use their own personal devices. Technologies like QR Codes are rapidly replacing physical paperwork, instruction manuals and restaurant menus. Now, QR Codes can even be utilized to enable employees to access room and office AV controls on their own personal devices. This all but eliminates the need for shared room devices.
Manufacturers like Mersive Technologies are leading the charge by providing powerful wireless presentation tools like the Solstice Pod. This technology allows users to connect and share content from their devices without the need for any cables or physical interaction with shared meeting room devices. No dongles, no adapters, just connect and share. To take it one step further, Wireless Conferencing even allows users to conduct high quality software-agnostic video conferencing meetings without the need to connect any cables to their device. The modern meeting room is continuing to adapt and evolve to combat this pandemic.
Sanitization
Another innovative way to increase safety is the installation of a sanitary digital kiosk in commonly used shared spaces. This device can measure staff and customers’ temperature from a distance and has touchless sanitizing gel dispensers. Studies have shown that a lack of touchless gel dispensers in the workspace increases employees’ chance of forgetting to wash their hands. Another study found that these specific sanitary dispensers were used twice as much as the standard ones. The sanitary digital kiosk can also offer N95 face coverings and disposable gloves to increase everyone’s safety as they enter and depart the office. Another great benefit of these kiosks is that they can also display various information like ads, regulations, announcements, etc.
Keeping all screens and shared devices clean and germ-free is a necessity. Investing in sanitizing wipes is a necessity. If every staff member develops a habit of sanitizing screens before and after use, safety will drastically increase in the workspace.
The Future of Touchless AV
A return to the workplace will happen. When employees do return, leaders will face a wide array of complex challenges. Touchless AV solutions optimize workspace health and safety, while promoting communication, collaboration and forward movement.
This article provides only a brief glimpse into Touchless AV in the workplace and how it can make streamline work environments during and post pandemic. Limitless AV provides custom Touchless AV solutions for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our team of experts is here to help you make the transition to the new normal and navigate these uncertain times with confidence and safety. Feel free to connect with us for any questions you may have about Touchless AV or for any specific needs. Stay safe, and be well!
