Value and Robust Functionality Propel Microsoft Teams to the Top of the Market
Microsoft Teams has become the technology of choice for end-user organizations due to its compelling pricing, packaging, functionality, and ease of use. Adoption is rising as more distributed users and teams need to stay connected.
- Microsoft Teams is the go-to business collaboration solution for driving operational efficiencies and employee productivity.
- Enable access to the full Teams stack wherever work happens: in the office, at home, or on the go.
- Microsoft and its ecosystem of technology partners simplify deployment, management, and use across diverse environments and preferences.
- Utilize current Microsoft Teams investments and resources to drive down costs and complexity.
Microsoft Teams Ranks Among Enterprise Collaboration Market Leaders in Usage Metrics
[chat icon] 75 million daily active users for Teams Meetings
[user icon] 200 million meeting users in a single day
[pencil icon] 180 million MSFT 365 commercial users
[document icon] 5 billion Teams meeting minutes generated in a single day
Source: Microsoft, 2020
Microsoft Teams has become the technology of choice for end-user organizations of all types.
Standardizing Your Collaboration Environment on Microsoft Teams
Leveraging Teams Meetings is logical for organizations already using Microsoft 365 solutions. Integrating virtual and physical meeting spaces is critical for high-quality, reliable, and consistent experiences when expanding Teams Meetings deployments into rooms.
Standardizing on Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) offers benefits for meeting rooms of any size and collaboration purpose:
- Consistent user experience: Reduces employee training and help desk tickets, driving adoption and usage for more efficient meetings.
- Consistent management experience: Reduces IT training requirements, empowers efficient IT operations for enhanced ROI, and ensures room uptime.
- Uniform security and compliance framework: Enables holistic satisfaction of organizational, industry, and governmental mandates.
- Standardized integration platform: Provides a single collaboration system for lower cost, scalable customization across different use cases, user groups, rooms, and sites.
Top Challenges for IT/Telecom Staff, Global
- [security icon] Dealing with security concerns: 33.4%
- [integration icon] Systems integration; managing multi-vendor solutions: 33.3%
- [strategy icon] Aligning IT/telecom with business strategies: 27.9%
- [skills icon] Skills shortage; training requirements: 22.4%
- [adoption icon] Fear among users to adopt new technologies: 19.4%
Source: Frost & Sullivan
Constructing Microsoft Teams Rooms: DIY vs. Certified Curated Solutions
Successful Microsoft Teams Rooms deployments require careful consideration of room nuances like size, dimensions, furniture, seating, use cases, and user capacity. High-quality technology necessitates specific variants of core components (computers, controllers, audio/video devices).
The DIY approach to equipping Microsoft Teams Rooms may seem appealing but limits standardization, leading to inconsistent performance, security, manageability, and usability across rooms and sites.
A more strategic approach is to leverage a portfolio of components certified by Microsoft to work together, meeting specific performance, management, usability, and security criteria for rooms of any size.
Reduce Complexity and Drive Consistency with Curated Microsoft Teams Rooms Solutions
Key Areas:
- Control and power room devices and meeting features
- Controllers & computers
- Audio & video devices
- Configuration & support services
- Drive engagement and productivity of in-room and remote meeting participants
- Expert assistance to get up and running quickly
Components certified to work together ensure performance in rooms of any size.
To effectively outfit each meeting space, prioritize hardware providers that deliver an entire solution of curated Microsoft certified components and access to configuration and support services.
Source: Frost & Sullivan
Selecting Right-fit Microsoft Certified Teams Rooms Components
Microsoft Teams' growing popularity offers a wide selection of certified components. Look beyond minimum room coverage specifications.
Video Devices
Multiple device form factors, mounting options, field of view, PTZ, resolution, and frame rate options effectively address rooms of any size. Auto-adjusting light balance, color, and saturation, combined with automated people framing and speaker tracking, drive more engaging and efficient meetings.
Audio Devices
High-quality MTR certified audio devices, integrated or pre-packaged with video cameras, offer reliable sound delivery and capture for small, medium, and large rooms. Cloud-based provisioning, monitoring, and management utilities from Microsoft and hardware providers assure performance across rooms and devices.
Room Control Interface and Computer
Echo cancellation, background noise suppression, voice detection, and other audio enhancement capabilities reduce distractions and increase focus. High-performance audio in extra-large or unique-shaped rooms can be tailored with certified DSPs, extension mics, and additional speakers for optimal coverage.
MTR certified controller and computer combinations are available in various price points, space-saving form factors, mounting options, and intuitive touch interfaces for accessing meeting features and A/V device controls, plus custom extensions for room controls (lighting, thermostats). Enable touch-less conferencing through presence-based host and participant detection, and voice-driven meeting controls.
Certified preconfigured MTR controller and computer pairs eliminate security, performance, management, and wired connectivity issues associated with BYO and general-purpose computers.
Source: Frost & Sullivan
Solution Spotlight—Logitech's Comprehensive Teams Certified Portfolio
Logitech provides comprehensive Microsoft Teams Rooms certified solutions for small, medium, and large meeting rooms.
MeetUp
A display-mount bar form factor audio/video device for rooms of up to 8 participants, featuring integrated beam-forming mics, HD speaker arrays, 5x zoom pan/tilt wide field of view 4k camera, extended mic pod support, and Bluetooth connection for mobile devices.
Rally and Rally Plus
A modular system with a 4k motorized PTZ camera for rooms of 20 people or more, supported by dual front-of-room speakers, up to 7 extended mic pods, and display, table, and mic hubs for consistent, efficient cable connectivity.
Tap Controller
A tablet-like device certified for use with Intel NUC, HP, Dell, and Lenovo PCs, supporting content sharing and room automation. It features an integrated speaker and motion sensor, with a 10.1" touch screen to access native Teams Rooms conferencing features and A/V device control.
RightSense Automation
Includes RightLight light and color optimization; RightSight people detection auto-framing; and RightSound noise suppression, echo cancellation, and auto-leveling.
Accessories
Customization options include multiple mount options for MeetUp, Rally, and Tap, cable management solutions, and additional mic pods and speakers.
Sync Device Management and Insights
Cloud-based utilities for provisioning, monitoring, updating, troubleshooting, and managing audio/video devices, with APIs for 3rd-party integrations. For managed services, consider MTR Premium.
Jumpstart Configuration and Support Services
Complimentary for 90 days with Logitech certified solutions for Teams Rooms, providing resources for systems, software, and security configuration.
Logitech Tap is available in a Microsoft Teams Rooms certified solution bundled with an Intel NUC meeting room computer, along with Rally or MeetUp, to support small, medium, or large Teams Rooms.
Microsoft Teams Rooms certified pairings of Logitech Tap with PCs from Lenovo, Dell, and HP, bundled with Rally or MeetUp, offer a range of price points, connectivity, and form factors for robust room-based meetings.
Intel Core processors power all room PCs in Logitech MTR certified solutions, providing affordability for large-scale deployment with the reliability and performance critical for always-on meeting room solutions.
The combination of Logitech, Intel, and Microsoft anchors small, medium, and large Teams Rooms for more productive meetings, lower costs, scalability, and better manageability.
Extending the Teams Room Experience
Implementing Microsoft Teams Rooms does not mean creating walled gardens. Capabilities exist to expand Teams Rooms use cases and usage to enhance ROI.
Teams Rooms for Meeting Participants Outside the Firewall
- Distributed and remote employees can securely join Teams Rooms sessions from desktop apps, browsers, and mobile clients with full feature access to high-quality audio, video, and content, empowering them as engaged contributors.
- External guest participants located anywhere can securely join Teams Rooms video conferences from anywhere through Teams desktop, browser, and mobile clients as full contributors to the collaboration.
Teams Rooms Interoperability with Third-Party Cloud Video Conferencing Services
- Microsoft Teams Rooms Direct Guest Join enables users to securely join third-party video conferencing sessions (e.g., Zoom and Cisco Webex).
- The plug-and-play Logitech Swytch device allows use of BYO compute and third-party video conferencing services in Teams Rooms via USB connection to Teams Rooms audio/video devices.
Standardizing on Microsoft Teams Rooms should not prohibit the use of your technology investment to collaborate with meeting participants located anywhere, including those using third-party video conferencing services.
[Venn diagram description: A central "TEAMS ROOM" circle is surrounded by segments representing "Remote Guests," "Distributed Employees," "Third-party Video Service Users," and "Other Teams Rooms," illustrating connectivity and collaboration reach.]
Source: Frost & Sullivan
Call to Action: Take Your Teams Rooms to the Next Level
Extending your Microsoft Teams environment to include room-based Teams Meetings video conferencing is scalable and affordable.
Sourcing curated Microsoft Teams Rooms certified solutions from a single hardware provider delivers room computers, controllers, and audio/video devices that are qualified to meet Microsoft's stringent criteria and enable advanced functionality.
Consider Logitech for one of the most comprehensive solutions portfolios for Microsoft Teams Rooms in the market.
As a partner of choice for leading providers Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo, and Microsoft, Logitech anchors the Microsoft Teams Rooms hardware ecosystem to efficiently and effectively equip rooms of any size and use case for high-quality, reliable Teams Meetings.
Try Logitech's Video Collaboration Solutions for Microsoft Teams:
https://info.logitech.com/102020-intel-ms-meeting-rooms-trial.html
