Survey Shows More Work Needed by Australian Businesses to Create Meeting Spaces that Boost Productivity and Innovation

• Less than half of small meeting spaces in Australia have video capabilities, compared to two-thirds in India and China.

• Australian workplaces are more traditional in their collaboration choices with the humble desk phone being small meeting room tool of choice for 64 per cent of those surveyed.

 
SYDNEY, Aust., 4 Dec 2018 – According to a new survey,Australian businesses are currently in catch up mode, compared with markets like India and China, when it comes to transforming their small meeting spaces into technology enabled huddle rooms. Right now, less than half of Australia’s small meeting rooms – which are used by nearly 60 per cent of Australian workers – are equipped with critical collaboration tools which are essential in today’s workplace, such as video conferencing. Instead, the traditional desk phone remains the huddle room tool of choice for 64 per cent of Australian businesses, the highest in the region. This is in stark contrast to markets like India and China where two-thirds of their small meeting spaces have video collaboration capabilities. 

The survey, Growing Big Ideas from Small Spaces: The Polycom Huddle Room Report[1] unveils how businesses and employees within Asia Pacific – Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore – are rethinking collaboration technologies and the role they can play as a productivity enabler within the modern workplace.  In fact, 96 per cent of APAC employees said collaboration technologies helped them to be more productive and work smarter.

Some of the other key survey findings include:

• Almost three quarters (74%) of APAC respondents are using audio, video and content sharing to connect with remote participants

• More than 53 per cent of Australian respondents said they used content sharing capabilities – more than any other collaboration technology. 

• Asked to rank the most effective solutions in a small meeting room that would improve collaboration, 50 per cent of Australians ranked video collaboration as the top choice, followed by content sharing (32%) and audio conferencing (18%). 

These findings suggest a significant opportunity for Australia’s IT decision-makers to improve collaboration experiences for their employees within the small meeting room environment. Gabrielle Cichero, Senior Director – Polycom Asia Pacific comments: “Australian organisations need to be thinking about what steps they need to be taking now, in order to remain relevant to the future of work. Creating smarter, technology enabled huddle spaces is no longer a ‘nice to have’ in today’s globally connected marketplace. One where attributes like improved productivity, faster decision making and increased idea generation are giving businesses a competitive edge.”

Cichero continues: “Today’s digital workers want to work smarter – connect and interact spontaneously, produce outcomes and drive results quicker. Technology-enabled huddle rooms satisfy this need for real-time, productive collaboration.” 

Smarter Ways of Working
In today’s competitive marketplace that demands constant creativity and innovation, there’s an increased need to rethink workplace design. Audrey William, Senior Fellow and Head of Research, Frost & Sullivan Australia and New Zealand explains: “Creating intelligent workspaces like the huddle room, is the future of work. Small meeting spaces are fast becoming smart workspaces where high performance collaboration like problem solving and idea generation are taking place.”   

William continues: “Over time, expect that collaboration technologies like video will evolve even further with many already starting to include the integration of smart devices and voice activated speakers powered by Artificial Intelligence technologies.“ 

ENDS