{"id":10698,"date":"2019-07-11T16:06:02","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T23:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=10698"},"modified":"2023-06-14T16:19:23","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T23:19:23","slug":"with-microsoft-teams-rooms-comes-a-globally-scalable-modern-meeting-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/with-microsoft-teams-rooms-comes-a-globally-scalable-modern-meeting-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"With Microsoft Teams Rooms, comes a globally scalable modern meeting experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
This content has been archived, and while it was correct at time of publication, it may no longer be accurate or reflect the current situation at Microsoft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
By deploying the Microsoft Teams Rooms solution in 2,500 rooms in Microsoft\u2019s Puget Sound campus, Microsoft Digital built a portfolio of standardized meeting-room capabilities that is easily leveraged, scaled, and supported everywhere. Read how we created this standards framework and are using a core software experience, customizable A\/V peripherals, and a centralized procurement and support infrastructure to globalize the meeting-rooms solution in 5,500 rooms over the next year.<\/p>\n
At Microsoft, the in-room meeting experience is critical to employee satisfaction and productivity. However, like most major enterprises, we have found that implementing the latest advancements in audio and video broadcasting, content sharing, remote connectivity, and other new conferencing capabilities on a global scale has traditionally been cost- and time-prohibitive. Due to the cost and complexity of premium conferencing solutions, IT experts have had to selectively implement modern conferencing technology in a few locations across the enterprise. That\u2019s led to a meeting experience that\u2019s unsatisfying and unreliable for users, and difficult and costly to maintain and upgrade for technology teams.<\/p>\n
Instead of continuing with this traditional site-by-site setup, the Microsoft Digital team conducted a project to modernize all of Microsoft\u2019s meeting-room configurations using the\u00a0Microsoft Teams Rooms<\/a>\u00a0system. By deploying a configured set of meeting-room standards under one technology framework, the team aimed to provide employees with a familiar, reliable, and consistent meeting experience across Microsoft.<\/p>\n This case study describes how Microsoft Digital created and implemented this modern framework for meeting-room standards and rapidly deployed one simple, consistent, and reliable global-conferencing solution across thousands of diverse meeting rooms at Microsoft.<\/p>\n This case study is part of a series on how Microsoft Digital\u00a0deployed Teams across Microsoft. To learn about adoption and change management, read the case study\u00a0\u201cMicrosoft Teams adoption strategy prepares employees for a new culture of work.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0To learn more about our Teams meeting experience, read the business article\u00a0\u201cEnabling simplified, modern meetings with an integrated Microsoft Teams solution.\u201d<\/a><\/i><\/i><\/p>\n Microsoft Digital has struggled to work around the limitations of existing A\/V conferencing options. Historically, the A\/V industry has been able to deliver a premium meeting experience in a few instances, like executive-level conference rooms, but not at scale. For Microsoft Digital, a great meeting experience in one environment isn\u2019t enough; a great meeting experience is one that is reliable and consistent across all devices, rooms, meeting scenarios, and locations and is accessible to all employees.<\/p>\n Internal satisfaction surveys at Microsoft showed that an inconsistent meeting-room infrastructure led to user frustration with in-room meeting setup and use. The surveys also showed that time was being wasted on managing different projection setups, content-sharing options, and audio, camera, and device connectivity between rooms. Microsoft Digital saw a significant opportunity.<\/p>\n Instead of upgrading each room on its traditional four-year upgrade cycle, Microsoft Digital wanted to support a consistent, collaborative meeting experience across the enterprise on a more rapid timeline. Concurrent advancements in meeting-join options within the Teams Rooms system, global user adoption of the Microsoft Teams software system, and the inclusion of simplified\u00a0A\/V components<\/a>\u00a0created the right infrastructure for Microsoft Digital to reach this goal.<\/p>\n Starting in 2018, Microsoft Digital was able to rapidly deploy the Teams Rooms solution at scale and create a consistent, collaborative meeting experience for all employees. Figure 1 illustrates what the solution looks like for many different meeting-room types and meeting scenarios. Currently, Teams Rooms are in 3,500 conference rooms, with the goal of complete room saturation in 5,500 A\/V-enabled global conference rooms by 2020.<\/p>\n Microsoft Teams Rooms includes a core software experience with a framework of device configurations. The solution encompasses the Teams meeting software, the Teams Rooms system, and an ecosystem of Teams Rooms-certified A\/V peripherals fit for each room. This framework covers three areas:<\/p>\n Unlike previous generations of A\/V technology, the Microsoft Teams Rooms system is built on a standardized architecture with a framework of multiple device configurations and room-customization choices. This framework enables Microsoft Digital to ensure the same standards of consistency and simplicity for employees and visitors across Microsoft meeting rooms while offering cost-efficient customization at scale. This standards framework includes:<\/p>\n At the core of the Teams Rooms solution is a standard software solution implemented in each and every room. Each room is equipped with a single PC that runs Windows 10 and the Teams software.<\/p>\n The Windows 10-based meeting-room solution is augmented by a library of A\/V peripherals (e.g., personal devices, cameras, interactive whiteboards, speaker packs, phones) that enhance and modify the in-room capabilities. Microsoft Digital works with a broad-based ecosystem of OEM partners that create devices that are compatible with the Teams environment, allowing users to decide which devices offer the right fit for their meeting environment. A\/V choices create the following gains:<\/p>\n This flexibility architecture enabled Microsoft Digital to create a centralized meeting framework for room-by-room standards. Microsoft Digital created a menu of options, depending on room size, that:<\/p>\n Creating a consistent software experience through the Teams Rooms system and certified A\/V peripherals enables Microsoft Digital to change, upgrade, and improve its menu of equipment options without changing the core user experience between rooms. The team can continually test and implement new devices and options into its meeting-standards framework. As the team works through its technology refresh cycle, older rooms and upgraded rooms still maintain the same experience.<\/p>\n A consistent platform built on centralized meeting standards helped the Microsoft Digital team create a meeting-room solution that scales without becoming cost-prohibitive. With Microsoft Teams Rooms, Microsoft Digital can offer the best user experience possible and deliver in cost-effective ways by:<\/p>\n The standard system and all of its in-room configuration options create global standards that reduce the cost of ownership for the solution at each site:<\/p>\n The Microsoft Digital team also decreased the cost of system installation and system complexity by moving to a centralized procurement and distribution provider. Instead of having each project designed and constructed by on-site procurement teams and experts, the Microsoft Digital team uses one distributor with four regional locations to procure parts and assemble each systems in the following manner:<\/p>\n The \u201cRoom in a Box\u201d distribution model also led to significant reduction in the labor time and costs involved in installing meeting-room equipment. Because the system comes with prefabrication of components and detailed instructions for installation, a local installation crew can install the system faster and with less device-specific expertise:<\/p>\n By deploying and standardizing Teams Rooms platform globally, Microsoft Digital had the opportunity to create global-demand forecasts for meeting-room-infrastructure needs. This enables the team to:<\/p>\n By creating a consistent platform based on a simple PC-based solution, Microsoft Digital was able to implement standard management and monitoring tools that drive visibility into the state of each room and reduce reliability issues. The team improved global reliability for conferencing capabilities through:<\/p>\n By reducing the number of components needed for each room, Teams Rooms platform requires fewer moving parts to deploy, manage, and monitor.<\/p>\n In the past, in-room support was monitored and managed by a team of local support technicians, leading to a variance in the timeliness and the quality of issue resolution. Now, device monitoring from the cloud creates global support that can be scaled across rooms. A centralized team can see in-room and device issues in real-time and send a tech onsite to address it.<\/p>\n Because the software environment remains the same across meeting rooms, Microsoft Digital can leverage the same local support resources as typical PC support. On-site technicians don\u2019t need to be experts in the Teams Rooms system to resolve on-site issues. Microsoft Digital\u00a0can provide detailed instructions on what to fix and how from the centralized monitoring service.<\/p>\n The Microsoft Teams Rooms system was first deployed in 2,500 rooms in Microsoft\u2019s Puget Sound-area offices over 18 months. By 2020, Microsoft Digital aims to install the Teams Rooms system in 5,500 global conference rooms. Microsoft Digital is accomplishing this rollout through three core methods:<\/p>\n Before a new device or OEM partner peripheral is added to the Teams Rooms framework, the Microsoft product group certifies each device to ensure that it meets Microsoft standards.<\/p>\n Once a device has been certified by the product group, Microsoft Digital conducts a detailed testing process to determine whether the device is compatible with the Teams Rooms system and offers added value to global conferencing needs. The testing process is conducted in the following manner:<\/p>\n Managing global deployment from a centralized, standardized meeting platform also enables the Microsoft Digital team to plan out meeting goals and maturity models for the next fiscal year across all meeting sites, instead of room-by-room or site-by-site.<\/p>\n Ensuring the global availability for A\/V projects was also critical to reaching these efficient deployment timelines. To make the system an affordable solution for global field sites beyond the Puget Sound headquarters, the team made key changes, including:<\/p>\n Rapidly piloting and installing one conferencing solution in thousands of global meeting sites led to significant insights into global-deployment best practices. Because the solution continually evolved to include new configuration options and installation sites, Microsoft Digital continues to iterate on its deployment practices. Lessons learned include:<\/p>\n By adding Microsoft Teams Rooms systems instead of refreshing an entire room\u2019s technology suite, the Microsoft Digital team can continually upgrade its global-technology lifecycle at a much faster pace and lower cost to each meeting-room site. By standardizing global meeting rooms on the Teams infrastructure and centralized procurement process, Microsoft Digital achieved the following outcomes:<\/p>\n Because Microsoft Digital can continually test and add new devices and configuration options for compatibility with the Microsoft Teams Rooms system without changing the core software experience, the suite of capabilities can quickly evolve to include the latest advancements in audio, video, and conference technologies. This flexible architecture combined with reductions in typical procurement and implementation roadblocks allows Microsoft Digital to reach rapid global deployment for the Teams Rooms system.<\/p>\n By 2020, the Teams Rooms deployment will include:<\/p>\n The Teams Rooms systems support simple, consistent, and reliable meetings for users across the globe at Microsoft. By creating a portfolio of modern meeting rooms standardized and scaled from one platform, Microsoft Digital can offer users customizable device and meeting technologies fit to each room type and meeting scenario. And the team does so while ensuring that users can expect the same meeting experience no matter where they go. A consistent framework built on one standard software experience and configurable A\/V options by room type not only helps modernize meeting capabilities, but it also reduces the costs and friction of implementing a new meeting solution at scale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This content has been archived, and while it was correct at time of publication, it may no longer be accurate or reflect the current situation at Microsoft. By deploying the Microsoft Teams Rooms solution in 2,500 rooms in Microsoft\u2019s Puget Sound campus, Microsoft Digital built a portfolio of standardized meeting-room capabilities that is easily leveraged, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":10706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_hide_featured_on_single":false,"_show_featured_caption_on_single":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[674],"class_list":["post-10698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","m-blog-post"],"yoast_head":"\nAccelerating the modern meeting-room experience<\/h2>\n
The solution: a standardized meeting-room architecture<\/h2>\n
A consistent yet flexible meeting-standards framework<\/h3>\n
A consistent software experience with Windows 10-based meeting-room solutions<\/h4>\n
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A library of peripheral add-ons standardized for quality<\/h4>\n
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Core standards enforced by room type<\/h4>\n
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One continually evolving meeting framework<\/h4>\n
Increasing cost savings at scale<\/h3>\n
Creating cost-effective meeting-room standards<\/h4>\n
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Reducing procurement costs with centralized distribution<\/h4>\n
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Reducing labor costs<\/h4>\n
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Improving reliability with a consistent service and support network<\/h3>\n
Simplified device support<\/h4>\n
Proactive worldwide monitoring<\/h4>\n
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Scalable global support<\/h4>\n
Cost-effective maintenance<\/h4>\n
Deployment and scalability<\/h2>\n
Certification of equipment by product group<\/h3>\n
Standards and testing process<\/h3>\n
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Robust, centralized forecasting model<\/h3>\n
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Lessons learned<\/h2>\n
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Benefits<\/h2>\n
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Future capabilities<\/h2>\n
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A modern meeting solution at scale<\/h2>\n