…As Poly unveils AI-powered Video Conferencing Solutions

By Ron Chen, Correspondent ASEAN Region

As the UAE adapts to the inrush of Expo 2020 and the workforce continues to make their way back to the office after a prolonged work-from-home experience, concerns about how noise rage will ultimately affect their productivity, especially after being used to isolated and quiet environments are now emerging.

A new survey conducted by Poly that outlines the evolution of the workplace and changing employee attitudes to the 9-5 has exposed a trove of worrying issues that will ultimately impact the UAE workforce output as local and international businesses and organizations try to accommodate the relatively new work model.

The Report

The Poly ‘Evolution of the Workplace’ report provides analysis on the findings of a survey of 7,261 hybrid workers from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Poland and the UAE.

The report shows that 37.2 per cent of UAE employees are more concerned about noisy phone calls and meetings while 31.60 are worried about their noisy colleagues.

Thirty-six percent of the employees polled across the UAE also indicated that they will most likely get fed up if their noisy colleagues break their concentration with those in the healthcare sector at 53 per cent expressing their concerns.

Women vs Men

The report cites that female employees are likely to be more affected at 41.68 percent compared to their male counterparts at 34.76 per cent while 50 per cent of employees aged over 55 years are more worried about noisy colleagues.  

Thirty-nine per cent are, however, hopeful that people will be more aware of the noise they make in the office while 37 per cent of men compared to 34 per cent of women admitted that they will be more prone to office outbursts and their inability to mute themselves or even turn off their cameras when they are with other colleagues.

More men at 37 per cent also raised their concern that noise levels in the office will most likely make them less productive compared to 34 per cent of women while 34.15 per cent of men compared to 32.56 per cent of women also said that they will be fed up if noisy colleagues interrupt their concentration.

Keeping Noise at bay

To create a noise-free office environment, Poly will be showcasing its latest addition to its family of video conferencing solutions – the Poly Studio X70 and Poly Studio E70. The new devices feature the Poly Director AI technology, which includes Acoustic Fence and NoiseBlockAI that upgrade the video collaboration experience and generate meeting equality by bringing pro-grade audio and video to large workspaces.

The lineup of Poly Studio video conferencing gear brings broadcast-quality video to meeting rooms regardless of the participants’ location so that participants can be seen and heard clearly.

“At Poly we are committed to delivering a broadcast-quality experience through our video-conferencing gear. By incorporating film production rules and AI capabilities we are bringing meeting equality to participants in every style of room, regardless of their location,” noted SVP and general manager, Video Collaboration, Poly, Beau Wilder.

Gen Z

The report showed that only 27 per cent are looking forward to returning to the office because they find their homes too noisy to get any meaningful work done with 31.25 per cent of workers aged between 16 and 24 also feeling the same way about returning to the office.  34.38 per cent of Gen Z workers also admitted that they’ll be more prone to outbursts in the office.

Based on the report, technology, culture, and technology are now the key ingredients in the recipe for a successful hybrid model.