A survey by technology firm Barco has revealed that 59% of senior business managers believe that the meeting room of the future will be fully digitally equipped by 2014.
Barco said that more than 300 senior business managers in the EMEA region participated in the survey, jointly organised with InAVate and PFM magazine.
About 25% of the respondents said they expect the meeting room of the future will be fully digitally equipped by 2016 while 9% anticipate it will be the case by 2020.
According to the survey, 91% said that they work remotely on a regular basis, while 27% said they work remotely almost daily.
Barco said as increasing numbers of employees are working remotely, meeting spaces must become more flexible and support a greater range of technologies and demands for virtual conferencing.
The survey found that when attending a meeting, 82% bring their own device.
92% of the respondents say they support for presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint as the main priority while 59% of businesses are now using photos and video to deliver better meeting performance.
47% of the respondents said investing in new AV equipment will improve meeting dynamics and 41% feel it will reduce meeting setup times while 40% think it will enhance the reliability of technology.
The three most important technology priorities when investing in meeting spaces are presentation tools, remote conferencing technology, and audio reproduction systems.
In the respondents’ organisations, 47% of the IT managers, 30% of CIOs and 28% facilities managers are the main decision-makers for investing in AV equipment and the average budget for meeting room technology is €10,000.