Meeting room spend

With nearly 11 million meeting rooms in Western Europe and North America, companies want to create engaging, flexible, physical and digital work spaces that promote interaction, collaboration, productivity and innovation across

departments. Functions and technologies, such as IT systems, interactive displays, VC, wireless presentation solutions, professional audio and room control devices continue to grow in significance, as this latest study certainly reaffirms.

2,500+ end-users and decision makers from the US, UK, France and Germany were interviewed to gain perspectives on the demographics of meeting rooms, use of meeting room technologies, budgeting and purchasing of technologies and end-user behaviour for the research.

However, despite the available opportunities, challenges remain. This is particularly evident in the growing trend amongst major providers to incorporate a wide range of functionalities into a single device. With nearly 50 per cent of spending in small meeting rooms attributed to devices outside display technologies, it’s easy to understand the unique selling point of devices that seek to cover more of an end-user’s meeting room needs.

The findings also highlight there’s a very good reason for the widespread attention paid to huddle spaces and small meeting rooms. While defining a ‘huddle space’ remains challenging, small meeting rooms sitting up to six people account for 49 per cent of meeting rooms in Western Europe and North America.

Beyond these dedicated spaces, respondents say 20 per cent of meetings are being held in non-traditional areas such as in kitchens, breakout spaces, receptions and foyers, a clear opportunity for vendors to tap into.

Given the widespread nature of these meetings it’s important for vendors to reflect on the impact this may have on the market, particularly considering that 43 per cent of companies questioned said they’re investing in technology for meetings held outside meeting rooms.

The report also found a growing number of employees are joining meetings remotely, with 11 per cent of staff working from home three or more days a week and 32 per cent of respondents reporting an increase in the average amount of time spent meeting remotely via conferencing technology each week.

This trend has impacted not only the demand for conferencing technology but also developed the need to collaborate and share content across operating systems and platforms from a distance.

Corporate Meeting Room – End-User Perspectives, Western Europe & US (May 2018): Futuresource Consulting