Let’s talk workplace tech (no, I’m not going to talk #PropTech because that is just marketing jargon). It is a fun and vibrant topic that never fails to draw interest. If you want to cause a debate between companies, discuss the pros and cons of Teams versus Zoom versus WebEx versus Google Meet for calls and collaboration. People get way worked up.
But workplace technology is more than just A/V. It starts with the circuit for data to come in, carries on to the data room that manages traffic and networking, moves to the laptops and equipment throughout the office, and includes the many pieces of hardware around the workplace that keeps things working (think telephony, print, sensors, room panels, vending, personal accessories, etc). There are many points in the chain that can cause everything downstream to not work.
It is easy to focus on the elements that are new and right in front of colleagues. The backend stuff has always worked, why revisit it? All the new tools are why. New tools mean more data and more demand. If your office was not designed for video calls in every conference room, the odds are your bandwidth is going to be woefully insufficient to support installing new workplace tech. If almost everyone worked plugged into a network cable before, your wifi network may be inadequate for an office oriented around employee movement. If your traffic management was an afterthought, the increased traffic may require new attention.
Infrastructure, as a topic, is only cool when it starts to crumble. Until then, everyone expects it to simply work. Why would you put money toward the invisible stuff when you can spend it on the stuff that gets people excited? It turns out, the reason you put the money there is because it costs a lot more when you put in a bunch of new stuff that does not work than to get the infrastructure right at the start.