- Logitech report finds not even a third of companies involve IT/AV teams at the early stages
- Failed audio and dropped connections are costing workers time
- Businesses should use tech downtime as a productivity metric
Logitech’s latest Workplace Experience study has claimed technology teams are often brought into projects far too late, after important decisions about offices and meeting spaces have already been made, and it’s leading to suboptimal tech and friction that could be impacting worker productivity.
In the UK, for example, fewer than one in three (31%) workplaces involve their IT and Audio-Visual (AV) teams before space planning begins.
It means that tech decision-makers are then having to piece together hardware in a room that’s already being designed, rather than being able to integrate the smartest solutions from the ground up.
IT teams should be involved in office planning, Logitech says
With hybrid working now commonplace, Logitech’s data found that failed audio and dropped connections alone caused a median productivity loss of 12.2 minutes per person per poor meeting.
Despite poor IT team involvement, most business leaders agree that a strong workplace experience has a direct link with productivity (86%) and collaboration (90%).
However, upgrading tech and involving more teams from the get-go isn’t quite so straightforward. Only half (56%) feel confident that have the right ROI data to justify workplace experience investments, with only 29% treating it as a core business strategy today.
Logitech’s solution focuses firsts and foremost on aligning teams more closely. The report calls for greater collaboration between IT, HR and Real Estate earlier on in projects. By itself, planning rooms as a well-coordinated team could reduce long-term costs associated with upgrading legacy and unsuitable hardware.
But to further help with ROI justification, the study also introduces tech downtime as a metric, with impacted productivity serving as sufficient proof that office spaces need to perform better.
