The Difference Between Home Office and In-Office Tech

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Jonathan Blackwood (Host):

0:11
Hey, everyone.

0:12
Welcome to another Commercial Integrator 3 Questions Interview.

0:15
Today we are lucky to be joined by George Borden of NEC Display Solutions.

0:19
George, thank you so much for joining us today.

George Borden (NEC Display Solutions):

0:21
Jonathan, thank you.

0:22
It's a pleasure to be here.

Blackwood:

0:24
It's great to have you here.

0:25
So we're focusing on remote work this month.

0:27
And obviously remote work is something that has been really at the forefront of 2020.

0:34
But many do predict a rise in remote work continuing even beyond COVID-19 and beyond 2020.

0:41
If that is the case, how will the way employees collaborate change when more workers are remote?

Borden:

0:48
Wow, that's, that's an actual true statement.

0:51
You know,

0:52
you know, on the onset of this, I think everybody had was, well, they were caught by surprise, of course, you know, and then you have to stay home.

0:58
You have to utilize what you can.

1:00
I think a lot of people were unfortunately reactionary and not proactive and and especially since I've been consulting with a lot of these folks, you know, they've admitted that a lot of businesses aren't going back until way into 2021 and that's been established already.

1:15
So from a a hardware perspective, I mean hopefully they've had enough time now to figure out, you know, what kind of direction in which they're going to be going temporarily.

1:23
But ultimately I think a long term approach has to be taken from this.

1:26
So you would want something that has flexibility, something that could potentially be repurposed.

1:31
Right now folks, you know, they're using rooms that they didn't necessarily think that they were going to be using for different functions.

1:37
So if they're using, for instance, displays on mobile cards, that may be a good thing because those can be repurposed in other areas as well.

1:45
But also you know, how do you ultimately want to keep moving forward with with growing in this regard.

1:51
And then of course, you know, software becomes a big play on this as well.

1:55
You know, it's almost an important consideration more so than the actual hardware itself.

1:59
But you know, just some of those things, you know, come to mind.

2:02
I really feel like the surprise and shock and awe is over now and now that we're looking for, you know, solid footing and a prudent plan moving into the future for flexible solutions is the way that I'm recommending our customers to go.

Blackwood:

2:13
Yeah, no, absolutely.

2:15
And you know, the technology is, is a huge part of that conversation.

2:19
But from your perspective, what does collaboration look like when some of the participants are working remotely and and some are working within the office?

Borden:

2:28
Yeah, that of course, the big question there is what is the business, you know, what do they do?

2:33
What documentation are they working on?

2:35
What collaboration do they need to, you know, to do together?

2:39
And let's just start basically from an 8 1/2 by 11 standpoint.

2:43
You have a piece of paper.

2:44
You can easily share those, you know, online, you know, through like Google Docs.

2:48
And you can use other software, you know, some of your terrestrial software that you have loaded on your computers to do that.

2:54
But if you take it to a more advanced level where you really need to do like true ideation in real time or engineering documents, building information, modeling, things like that, then you're going to need, you know, a touch interface, you know, where you can work on and work on for a long period of time and not adhere to fatigue,

3:11
and and, you know, carpal tunnel.

3:13
You know we're really transferring from working together, sitting next to one another, working on maybe a drawing or a tablet in a real time environment to now working alone having to interface with these devices.

3:24
So you know it sounds like a a broad stroke answer, but really everybody's need is different from how they collaborate.

3:30
So I think you know, be mindful of even the basic 8 1/2 by 11, you know documents or contracts and things like that.

3:37
You know where it's very easy you know to look and annotate and edit.

3:41
But also if you're getting into things that have more intricacy and more design and development then those considerations have to be met as well.

3:48
So there are hardware, you know, thoughts and and procedures surrounding for both of those things.

Blackwood:

3:54
Yeah, no, makes a ton of sense.

3:56
And obviously everyone's needs are different, but then the spaces needs are different as well.

4:01
You mentioned touch technology.

4:04
What kind of technology should be used in the office and then what kind of technology should be used at home, in order to effectively collaborate between remote workers and is it just the same technology should be used?

Borden:

4:17
I don't think so.

4:18
I I think that again, back to the individual business and the individual use case, everybody's need is going to be different.

4:25
But since we are a hardware company, I focus on hardware.

4:28
But the big thing here is the software.

4:30
You know what software is being used in order to do your meetings, your collaboration, your real time design.

4:35
Does it have a document repository in the cloud?

4:38
Can somebody that's on the other side of the planet open it up, you know, in times when you're not in, in, in service, in in another part of the world, you know all of those things really, really roll up.

4:49
But I would, you know, I would advise to take your individual use case for your business, understand what those needs are, realizing that there's something out there that can fit the bill.

4:58
And if you're in a position where you need to have like see a managerial position and sometimes you have to work from home because of these revolving schedules that are going on now due to the due to the COVID-19, then maybe you want to have the resources that you're used to having in the office as well as your Home Office if the business can support that financial outlay for that.

5:19
Otherwise, it's good to have the flexibility and it's good to have light devices that have, again, flexibility and malleability so that you can grow into this unknown future that we're getting into.

Blackwood:

5:30
Yeah.

5:30
And certainly the partners that you work with are going to help you understand for your individual needs the type of technology that needs to go into those different spaces.

5:39
If anyone in our audience wants to learn more about any, say, NEC display solutions and what you guys can provide for them, how can they learn more, how can they reach out?

Borden:

5:47
The best place to go would be our website and that's www.necdisplay.com.

5:53
And if you need to reach me directly, feel free to e-mail me at gborden@necdisplay.com.

6:00
More than happy to help you out.

Blackwood:

6:02
Well, I encourage everyone to check out NEC Display.

6:04
They really have a ton of different technology to help out remote work in office collaboration and whatever your needs might be.

6:13
George Borden of NEC Display Solutions.

6:15
Thank you so much for joining us for three questions.

Borden:

6:18
Thank you, Jonathan.

6:18
Have a great day.

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