In the COVID era, it’s essential now more than ever to embrace the touchless workplace concept. From investing in brand new touchless AV systems to installing retroactive firmware updates, you can ensure your facility is safe from COVID for both staff members and clients by implementing the latest technological developments.
Our partners at Crestron have been at the forefront of the touchless workplace revolution, releasing several updates and new technologies to facilitate the new normal in which organizations now find themselves.
Let’s start by taking a look at the latest advancements in touchless AV systems.
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Touchless AV Systems Can Facilitate Safer Face-to-Face Interaction
As has been recently highlighted by government studies, the virus can stay active on surfaces such as stainless steel and plastic for as long as three days. Thus, it is vital to eliminate the touching of surfaces to keep personnel and customers safe. More specifically, it’s crucial to avoid the shared touching of surfaces at all costs.
But face-to-face meetings, presentations, and conferences are vital functions of many corporate organizations. Enter touchless AV systems like Air Media® 2, developed by our partners at Crestron. This solution takes AV presentation requirements for meetings and makes them touchless.
It allows you to facilitate both in-person and virtual meetings by removing the need to touch cables, devices, or screens. It also benefits from high interoperability, as it’s compatible with unified communications solutions such as Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms. It is also compatible with room management and monitoring solutions such as Crestron XIO Cloud and Crestron Fusion. In environments where touchless presentation capabilities are crucial, touchless AV systems such as Air Media® 2 can provide the touchless solution you’re looking for.
Create a Touchless Room Experience
As highlighted above, the need to eliminate many shared touch points in both workplace and educational settings is paramount. But AV systems traditionally require at least one touch of a screen to initiate the start of a meeting or presentation.
By harnessing PoE technology, Crestron has managed to create the first-of-its-kind completely “touch-free” room. It works by using PoE sensors to recognize your presence in a meeting room or presentation space. Those sensors then communicate with the Crestron AV products to begin to start up for the collaborative meeting or presentation.
For example, let’s say you need to conduct a six-person HR meeting to discuss the challenges presented by COVID-19. All you would need to do as the presenter is walk into the room and ask the attendees to take their seats. As you enter the room, the PoE sensors will then document your presence and turn on the lights. Then, via voice command, you can notify the Air Media® 2 system to start, and you can roll straight into the presentation or meeting without having to touch anything at all.
Touchless Room Access with Mobile Control
While the meeting room can be made touchless, what if you want to retroactively make traditionally high-touch products into low-touch or no-touch? Enter Mobile Room Control. With this Crestron solution, all the power you require is found in the palm of your hand via your mobile device.
You can control everything in the room via the Crestron mobile room control app, from dimming the lights for your presentation to starting your unified communications device, and even booking and scheduling slots remotely for meeting spaces. The only screen you have to touch is that of your smartphone, eliminating shared touchscreens within the workplace. Better still, it’s a solution that’s compatible with any post-2016 Crestron room deployment.
This could be particularly useful in the educational setting, with all lecturers and campus instructors switching control over to their personal smartphone devices—no more shared touching of cables, touchscreens, or light switches.
Flex R-Series Gives Organizations Unified Communications On the Move
Lastly, what if the meeting or collaboration space is no longer safe due to the required six-feet-apart social distancing measures? What can organizations do to satisfy workplace and educational guidelines?
The solution may well come in the form of the Crestron Flex R-Series, which brings unified communications functionality to wherever you need it. This rapid-deployment UC cart (Microsoft Teams or Zoom enabled) can make meeting and collaboration rooms out of any space with an on-the-move solution. All that it requires is power and an ethernet connection.
Whether you need to have a meeting on the factory floor that connects management to the operatives without any face-to-face contact, or you need to take lessons out of the classroom and into an auditorium, the Flex R-series UC cart can provide the answer. Better yet, it has complete compatibility with the Air Media® wireless presentation system, eliminating additional touchpoints.
Contact NCS to Inquire about Taking Your Organization Touchless
AV technology and wireless equipment have stepped up to meet the new demands of the workplace. The solutions mentioned above are by no means exhaustive; they are merely a snapshot of Crestron products that leverage technological innovations to better protect your employees or students.
Contact us to find out how Crestron AV technological solutions, such as voice-activated room-control systems, can transform your corporate, health-based, or educational environment into a COVID-secure facility of the future.
