Digital technology is an integral part of everyday work, with communication and collaboration taking place across locations via digital tools. Employees spend a lot of time in virtual meetings and video conferences. Most of the time, people are connected remotely. Mobile, hybrid working presents companies with new challenges. The technology in meeting rooms must work in order to maintain productivity.
The expectations of employees have also changed. They want to be mobile and flexible, be able to work from anywhere and not have to deal with technical problems.
Despite the large number of meetings and video conferences, experiences with the technology are not always positive. For example, users complain about inconsistent equipment in different meeting rooms and lack of clarity in its operation, about connection problems or lack of compatibility of room equipment with software from external customers.
Companies must provide the appropriate solutions for these needs. The industry is constantly offering new approaches and products for this purpose. One popular concept for more efficient meetings is “Bring Your Own Meeting” (BYOM).
What is BYOM?
Bring Your Own Meeting (BYOM) is a technical concept for wireless video conferencing solutions to improve user experience in the meeting context. It is similar to the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) approach and represents the next step in this concept.
In keeping with distributed forms of work, where everyone always has their own digital devices with them anyway, the focus here is on the use of personal laptops, smartphones or tablets in the work environment.
BYOD basically allows employees to bring their own devices into the work environment and connect seamlessly to existing systems, networks and resources, regardless of which building or room they are in. This is especially true for the communication and collaboration environments in meeting rooms. All users can connect to the system in the meeting room, start meetings, participate in meetings and use the available devices in the room. Without a long setup or major preparations, all users can access room cameras, displays, microphones and speakers, work with them and share content via the room system.
Bring Your Own Meeting goes one step further and makes the approach even more flexible and individual. The users are not dependent on a predefined room system. The BYOM set-up only requires the peripheral devices. The users control the meeting and the technology from their own end device.
They can use not only the technology in the room, but also any software they want, without being limited to certain tools. The meeting room is designed to work with as many tools, programs and UC platforms as possible that the users use to work. Whether Zoom, Webex, Teams or Google Meet – they have a free choice. The room devices react to the end device in order to make the process as smooth as possible. It’s not just about using the professional equipment in the meeting room, but about designing the workflow yourself.
The advantages of BYOM solutions at a glance:
- Personalised meetings: The user has full control over the meeting experience and workflow and controls the meeting with his own device.
- High meeting quality through the use of professional equipment in the meeting room.
- System and platform independent: Users can use hardware and software with which they are familiar, which they use every day and which suits their working style. They do not have to learn how to use new devices and software. But they can also change platforms at short notice if necessary. This leads to more productivity, flexibility and user acceptance.
- Content diversity through the use of all their own apps.
- By integrating your own apps such as the calendar, scheduled meetings can start automatically.
- Fast, simple connection possible without any cables.
- No extra PC necessary, no extra room control required.
- Usually cheaper than room solutions
- Flexible, simple and spontaneously usable
- Contactless operation
- Compatible with most devices and platforms
- Possible cost savings through the use of private devices
BYOM or room solution
Compared to a fixed room solution, BYOM solutions offer more flexibility for the users. They are particularly suitable for heterogeneous groups and changing requirement scenarios. Room systems with dedicated PCs that are tailored to a specific meeting platform (e.g. Microsoft Teams Room, Zoom Room). Here, the available system must be used as it is. The idea behind room solutions is uniformity. All rooms run with the same system. For operation, these systems are somewhat easier to manage, where a dedicated appliance does not suffer from as many user errors and can be supported and controlled remotely. For example, a user not turning off a virtual background when having multiple people in the room.
That being said, it is possible to have a hybrid system where dedicated Room System’s peripherals can be taken over from a user’s device. This gives the freedom of choice that may well be a business requirement.
In terms of data security, the room system is also ahead. More openness is needed for BYOM. If staff members use their own devices, devices and programs that have not been checked can also enter the system.
Depending on the budget, room solutions and BYOM solutions can also be combined.
If you are looking for the right technical solution for your meeting environments, please contact us. We will be happy to help you.