AV and IT, made simple. It’s a line we use often at AVITdirect, and it feels particularly relevant when we look at the direction collaboration spaces are taking. As hybrid working settles into business as usual, organisations are rethinking not only what their offices look like, but what their meeting rooms are actually for.
The conversation is no longer centred on which camera has the sharpest image, or which microphone reaches the furthest corner of the table. The more interesting question is how these spaces support culture, productivity, and fairness in a world where half the attendees may be dialling in from somewhere else entirely.
The meeting room as a strategic asset
For a long time, meeting rooms were treated as facilities. They were booked, used, and occasionally fixed. Increasingly, they are being viewed through an IT lens.
Yannic Laleeuwe, Marketing Director, Workplace Collaboration at Barco ClickShare, describes the change succinctly:
“The meeting room is no longer a passive space where work happens. It is becoming a strategic, data-driven IT endpoint.”
This reframing carries weight. When rooms are understood as part of the network rather than part of the furniture, they are monitored, secured, and optimised with the same discipline applied to laptops and servers. AV over IP continues to gather momentum as IT teams seek centralised control and consistency across estates, particularly in medium and large spaces where professional audio and video systems are deeply integrated.
There is, however, a notable gap. Compared with digital systems, physical collaboration spaces remain relatively data-poor. IT leaders can see how applications perform and how devices behave, yet often have limited visibility into how meeting rooms are actually used or where friction arises. As hybrid work patterns evolve, that insight becomes essential. Organisations want to understand whether their investment in space is delivering meaningful outcomes for employees, not simply ticking a specification box.
Designing for a Workforce in Motion
Hybrid work has raised expectations. Employees move between home and office with an assumption that the experience will feel consistent, or at the very least intuitive.
James Hill, Shure, observes that collaboration solutions must now “deliver a consistent experience whether people are in the office, at home, or moving between the two, while also empowering teams to work with AI tools.” Reliability, security, and scalability sit high on the agenda for IT teams tasked with supporting dispersed workforces.
At the same time, there has been a subtle (but significant) shift in how meetings are enabled. Chris White of Turtle AV points to the move from BYOD to BYOM. Rather than bringing a device into a fixed meeting environment, users increasingly expect to bring their meeting of choice into the room.
As White explains, “The meeting environment is evolving into much more of an enabler or enhancer of a meeting, rather than a facilitator of the meeting, shoe-horning you into a specific platform.” In practical terms, this means rooms that flex around Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or whatever platform the next client prefers, without awkward workarounds or glitchy switching.
For smaller rooms and huddle spaces, this philosophy often translates into elegant simplicity. A single connection that delivers power, display, camera, microphone, and network access has enormous appeal. White sums it up with textbook clarity: “One cable does it all.” In an office environment competing with the comfort of home setups, ease of use becomes a powerful draw.
Meeting equity and the AI imperative
If hybrid working has exposed anything, it’s how easily remote participants can drift to the margins of a conversation. Meeting equity has moved from an aspirational concept to a design requirement.
Audio quality sits at the heart of this. Hill puts it plainly: “If AI can’t hear you, it can’t help you.” As transcription, summarisation, and intelligent insights become embedded in collaboration platforms, the integrity of audio input determines the usefulness of AI output. Inaccurate capture leads to unreliable summaries, missed actions and diminished trust in the tools meant to support productivity.
Innovations in integrated audio and video systems are responding to this challenge. Solutions such as Shure’s IntelliMix Bar Pro are designed to capture voices and gestures clearly, while advanced processing adapts automatically to room acoustics and speaking styles. When technology recedes into the background and simply works, participants gain the confidence to contribute fully, whether they are in the room or joining remotely.
User experience remains a central theme. Hill notes that the ideal scenario is one where “a user won’t even realise that the tech is in the room with them.” That sense of invisibility does not happen by accident. It is the result of careful integration, intelligent configuration, and a clear understanding of how people actually collaborate.
Flexible spaces, standardised estates
As organisations refine their property strategies, two trends are emerging side by side: flexibility in individual spaces, and standardisation across estates.
Divisible rooms, multi-use environments, and high-spec boardrooms demand infrastructure that can adapt. Audio over IP and Video over IP architectures are supporting this shift, particularly where platforms such as Dante Audio and Dante AV converge to provide a unified framework. Integrators gain the ability to configure spaces in ways that respond to changing layouts and business needs without rebuilding systems from scratch.
At the same time, consistency across multiple sites is increasingly valued. Andy Turner, Sales Business Development Manager at UNICOL, notes: “We are seeing more standardisation across end user estates for meeting rooms.” Mounting solutions such as Summit, Rhobus Plus and the broader Rhobus range lend themselves to varied room sizes while maintaining a cohesive look and feel. Custom options allow for creativity without compromising uniformity.
Turner also highlights a notable shift in display technology, observing that more clients are switching to LED as it becomes increasingly competitive with traditional large format displays. As pricing stabilises, LED is finding its place in flagship collaboration spaces where visual impact and performance matter.
AI - from hype to measurable outcomes
Artificial intelligence has moved rapidly from novelty to expectation. The presence of AI features alone is no longer enough to justify investment. Organisations are asking more considered questions about tangible value.
Laleeuwe reflects this change in tone, noting that the industry is moving beyond asking whether a solution includes AI and towards understanding whether it resolves genuine operational challenges. Intelligent systems that diagnose issues before users notice them, optimise performance in real time, and surface meaningful insights to IT teams offer practical benefits. They reduce support overheads and create smoother meeting experiences.
The emphasis is shifting towards outcomes that employees can feel. Are meetings clearer and more decisive? Do remote participants report greater confidence in contributing? Is friction reduced across the collaboration journey? These are the measures that will define success as AI becomes embedded in everyday workflows.
Sustainability is also re-emerging in a more pragmatic form. Data around device lifecycles, usage, and performance enables IT leaders to make informed decisions about extending longevity and reducing waste. In many markets, this conversation is framed as efficiency and long-term value. Secure, modular systems that evolve over time align environmental responsibility with financial prudence.
Experience still matters
Across these trends, one theme persists: expertise counts. White offers a candid reminder that selecting the right technology requires more than a catalogue. “Find a supplier that has experience in doing this, not just a seller of boxes that may not know the how or the why.” Integration knowledge reveals what works harmoniously together and where hidden complexities may lie.
That perspective resonates strongly with our own approach. AVITdirect was created to simplify access to high-quality AV and IT equipment while drawing on decades of integration expertise through Project Audio Visual . We believe technology should act as an enabler rather than an obstacle, empowering organisations to make informed decisions with confidence.
The future of workplace AV will be shaped by intelligent infrastructure, equitable design and thoughtful measurement of outcomes. Collaboration spaces will continue to evolve, informed by data yet grounded in human experience. For organisations willing to treat their meeting rooms as strategic assets and invest in solutions that prioritise clarity, flexibility and ease of use, the reward will be workplaces that genuinely support the way people work today.
And that, ultimately, is what good technology should always do: make it easier for people to come together and do their best thinking.