Transforming Workspaces: Opportunities for AV Integrators in the Hybrid Era

The office is no longer just a place to clock in and tackle individual tasks — it’s evolving into a destination for collaboration, mentoring and social connection. “The office is becoming a destination for activities that are better together,” says David Danto, principal analyst at TalkingPointz and director of emerging technologies at the Interactive Multimedia and Collaborative Communications Alliance (IMCCA). This shift means less focus on rows of assigned desks and more emphasis on spaces like small and medium collaboration rooms, focus pods, informal lounges and workshop areas.  

“Good design now has to acknowledge the variability of office attendance patterns,” explains Danto. “Many organizations are discovering that their peak ‘in-office’ days are two or three days a week and those days have very different demands than the quieter ones.” 

Hybrid work, it seems, is here to stay. According to JLL’s 2025 Workforce Preference Barometer, most enterprises will maintain structured hybrid models that emphasize the quality — not just the quantity — of office presence. Peter Miscovich, global future of work leader, executive managing director at JLL, underscores the importance of this shift for AV integrators. “This means delivering technologies and experiences that make attendance genuinely worthwhile, prioritizing flexibility, community-building and a frictionless digital-physical interface,” he says. 

Even as some organizations push for more in-office presence, the reality of distributed workforces remains. “The office has to be designed not just as a place for co-located teams but as a node in a distributed network,” Danto notes. “Every room and every desk in an organization now needs to be equipped to support high-quality collaboration wherever it happens to be or they will simply drive their best people elsewhere.” 

This reimagining of corporate workspaces is reflected in shifting real estate priorities. The JLL’s 2025 Workforce Preference Barometer highlights a move toward high-quality fit-outs, modular zones for distributed teams and AI-enabled collaboration spaces. Technologies like smart booking systems, occupancy analytics, and frictionless AV platforms are becoming essential for dynamic space management and seamless hybrid collaboration.

“For AV integrators, this means growing demand for intuitive, user-friendly solutions that support both physical and virtual interactions,” says Miscovich. “Integrated platforms for videoconferencing, advanced audio and AI-driven tools must work flawlessly across various work settings, helping enterprises continuously calibrate space usage, enhance employee experience and optimize operating costs.” 

As the workplace continues to evolve, the focus is clear: creating environments that prioritize experience, flexibility and meaningful connections, ensuring the office remains a vital part of the modern work ecosystem. 

Prioritizing Collaboration Over Presence 

Shure sponsored IDC research reveals a surprising shift in how organizations are responding to the evolving workplace. Rather than mandating more in-office days, 70% of companies plan to increase the number of meeting rooms and collaborative spaces, prioritizing better collaboration over physical presence to drive return on investment.

However, many organizations still measure success by room utilization and attendance, overlooking whether employees can effectively collaborate once they’re in the room. Unified communication and collaboration tools have become mission-critical, with workspaces increasingly designed to foster teamwork and innovation. Yet, simply investing in technology is not a guarantee of success. The impact depends on how well people, processes and technologies align to support collaboration.  

“Collaboration not only directly supports strategic priorities and organizational success, but it also amplifies the impact of wider investments,” the IDC research notes. By understanding how employees work and interact, organizations can target investments that deliver greater impact on both people and business outcomes. The key, experts argue, is partnering with providers who deliver tools for communication and collaboration — not just products to meet technical requirements. In a time of continued disruption, this approach ensures that investments in areas like security, cloud, and automation are amplified by a workforce that is truly connected and empowered. 

The Key to Thriving in the Hybrid Workplace Era 

Perhaps the biggest opportunity in 2026 isn’t tied to a single product or platform — it’s the end-to-end lifecycle management of hybrid meeting and collaboration spaces, according to Danto. “Organizations now understand they are running a permanent hybrid workplace, not a temporary pandemic response, and they are realizing that ‘set it and forget it’ never worked for collaboration environments,” Danto explains. This shift is driving demand for integrators to focus on three key areas: designing standardized room archetypes, equipping those spaces with real analytics and remote management, and offering managed services with ongoing lifecycle refresh. “Clients are asking questions like, ‘Which rooms are actually being used, for what, and how well do they work for remote participants?’ Whoever can answer those questions and keep the rooms healthy will own the relationship and the recurring revenue,” Danto says. 

He also highlights the opportunity to help organizations streamline their mix of native rooms, BYOD spaces and flexible multi-purpose areas. Many enterprises, he notes, are dealing with a patchwork of solutions that evolved organically. “Integrators who can come in, simplify the experience, standardize on a small number of patterns, and then maintain that estate over years will do very well in 2026,” he adds. 

However, Danto warns against the growing trend of “AI-washing” in the market, where exaggerated claims about artificial intelligence promise to revolutionize collaboration. “Some of those capabilities make sense and a few are terrific, but many are just relabeled old features or pure hype,” he cautions. Instead, he advises integrators to act as trusted filters, separating meaningful innovations from marketing noise. “The profitable opportunity for integrators is not to chase every AI buzzword, but to deploy what genuinely improves reliability, usability and measurable outcomes,” Danto says. 

AI Advancements in UC&C: Balancing Innovation with Human Connection 

UC&C technology is evolving rapidly, with AI-driven advancements reshaping the way meeting spaces are designed and experienced. Danto highlights how artificial intelligence is transforming the fundamentals of room design. “Microphones no longer have to be expensively installed in the ceiling in perfect patterns and tuned by technology wizards to sound acceptable,” he explains. “We can now place microphones around the room in more flexible ways and feed them through stacked processing algorithms that make people sound as if they are holding a hand mic — clear, present and largely free from background noise.”   

On the video side, Danto points to the emergence of “camera arrays,” where multiple cameras work together as a system to deliver the best shot to remote participants, rather than relying on a single fixed view. “Endpoint manufacturers are also delivering composite views that present people, content and context together in a single, intelligible layout, which is a huge help for users who are not particularly tech-savvy,” he adds. 

However, Danto warns of the growing oversaturation of AI in collaboration tools, often deployed for reasons that have little to do with improving communication. “Replacing people with robots has been derided as a bad idea throughout history, yet now it is being embraced by many company leaders, mainly out of cost-cutting and greed, often at the expense of actual meeting quality and human connection,” he cautions. He notes that some platforms are prioritizing flashy AI features over meaningful improvements to collaboration. “We are seeing platforms brag about AI capabilities that do not really help people work together any better, and in some cases, those gimmicks are distracting from otherwise excellent video and audio experiences,” Danto says. “Some of the most advanced platforms risk dropping out of serious consideration and into the noise floor simply because their loudest story has become ‘AI for AI’s sake’ instead of ‘better communication for real people.’”   

As UC&C technology continues to advance, the focus, Danto argues, must remain on enhancing human connection and communication, not just chasing the latest AI trend. 

Pete / stock.adobe.com

Task-Oriented Design and Studio-Quality Spaces 

AV design is shifting away from traditional room sizes and toward spaces tailored to specific tasks, according to Danto. “Rather than just ‘small, medium, large,’ we are seeing more thought put into collaboration archetypes: quick stand-up huddle spaces, hybrid workshops, co-creation rooms with digital canvases, and content-first review rooms where the primary focus is the work on the screen, not the table,” Danto explains. This task-oriented approach reflects a growing demand for spaces that align with how people work. 

Another emerging trend is a renewed focus on design fundamentals like lighting, acoustics and sightlines. As employees spend more time on camera, they are increasingly aware of how poor lighting and untreated glass-walled rooms affect their appearance and sound quality. “Spaces with appropriate lighting, controlled reverberation and camera positions that show faces at a natural angle will become the default expectation,” Danto notes. 

Additionally, “studio-thinking” is making its way into everyday enterprise spaces. This includes small rooms purpose-built for high-quality video presence, featuring optimized acoustics and professional backdrops. “Executives and subject-matter experts will be able to join a call, record a message or present at an event without needing a separate broadcast facility,” Danto says. These trends signal a broader shift toward creating workspaces that prioritize functionality, user experience and adaptability in the hybrid era.

Meeting Room of the Future

The meeting room of the future is set to merge advanced technology with human-centered design to create spaces that are as functional as they are inspiring. Miscovich describes these spaces as “flexible, scalable and fully integrated with workplace technology ecosystems.” He adds, “Expect modular furnishings, adaptive audio and visual layouts, real-time room utilization analytics and immersive AV experiences that support both in-person and remote participants. AI-driven cameras, smart microphones and environmental controls will make the space responsive to occupants’ needs, while touchless operation and cross-platform compatibility will be standard.”

Drawing parallels to science fiction, Danto says, “To imagine the meeting room of the future, it is useful to look at science fiction – because a lot of what used to be fantasy now looks like a product roadmap.” He points to the bridge of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek, where “there are no visible cameras or microphones, yet the ship routinely delivers excellent images and clear audio to the far end, regardless of where crew members are standing.” Danto envisions similar capabilities in enterprise meeting rooms, with distributed sensors, intelligent beamforming, and multi-camera orchestration creating seamless, natural interactions. “The focus is on people and conversation, not on giant black rectangles and hardware dominating the room,” he explains. 

The concept of holographic presence, akin to the Jedi Council in Star Wars, is also within reach. “Advanced displays and spatial rendering could give us a similar effect in real enterprise spaces – remote participants appearing in natural positions at the table, with minimal visible technology,” Danto says. “If we do it right, the tech will recede into the background, and what will be left is what meetings were supposed to be in the first place – people looking at and talking to each other, regardless of where they are physically located.” 

Ben Dandola-Grubb, vice president of technical integration at Verrex, highlights the role of smart spaces in this transformation. “Spaces become smart; they learn our personal habits and expectations,” he says. “They know who is who and where we are in a facility. The big brother aspect is scary at first and then adopted quickly as the smart spaces make our lives easier.” 

These meeting rooms will also serve as cultural and social anchors, promoting well-being and community. Miscovich notes, “Rooms will support broader well-being and community goals with amenities like healthy food options, personalized interfaces, and digital wayfinding.” As technology fades into the background, the meeting room of the future will prioritize human connection, creating environments where people can engage meaningfully, no matter where they are. 

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From Technology Providers to Strategic Partners 

According to IDC research, the success of modern technology lies not just in interconnected systems but in the integration of people. “If data is the fuel of digital transformation, and technology the engine and infrastructure, then communication is the driver,” the report states, emphasizing that investing in communication is not optional but critical to an organization’s direction and success. JLL’s Miscovich echoes this sentiment, urging AV integrators to think beyond technology.  

“AV integrators should see themselves not just as technology providers, but as strategic partners helping clients address pressing organizational needs – well-being, retention, community and adaptability,” he says.  

Miscovich stresses the importance of designing systems that are “flexible, data-rich and easy to update or scale,” while also collaborating with HR and facilities teams to align solutions with employee feedback and evolving business strategies.  

He points to emerging opportunities in smart space management, workplace analytics, and AI-powered tools that enhance both productivity and emotional well-being.   

“Prioritize user training, real-time support, and step-by-step adoption programs to bridge digital divides and foster true engagement across all workforce segments,” Miscovich concludes, underscoring the need for a human-centered approach to technology integration.