The Future of Workplace Technology in 2020

With such a wide variety of types of technology in the workplace, it is important to stay up to date with upcoming technology trends.

Midwich has a strong workforce of specialists trained by market-leading brands. Jenny Hicks, our Group Head of Technology, actively tracks trends in the technology market and looks out for emerging technologies.

Future workplace technology trends she predicts we will see in 2020 include:

1. Advances in Collaborative Meeting Solutions

2. The Rise of Video in the Workplace

3. Increased Demand for LED Displays 

4. Further Adoption of Flexible Displays at Work

1. Advances in Collaborative Meeting Solutions

Work environments are changing physically, becoming more remote and less traditionally structured. This is causing an increasing need for cohesive and collaborative working practices and technologies. Collaboration technology now forms the highest priority investment area for 2019/2020₁.

There are already many examples of collaboration technology and collaboration solutions integrated into the workplace, some that are used as an essential part of any workforce such as emails and cloud-based application sharing.

“Collaborative solutions can increase productivity in meeting spaces and across the workforce making it easier for remote workers to have full input into meetings no matter how unplanned they may have been.”

- Jenny Hicks, Head of Technology at Midwich

Businesses are increasingly encouraging their staff to work collaboratively, searches for collaboration technology have increased by 57.4% in the past five years₂. Meetings often feature multiple people presenting or collating information simultaneously and in one place. We have also seen a rise in video collaborations, soundbars and cameras in meeting rooms, as well as wireless presentation solutions. 

Many brands have tried to design multifunctioning spaces to keep up with modern meeting spaces, these solutions have been of varying success.

Collaboration solutions are improving greatly, however, a lot of collaboration solutions are easily disrupted, with users switching the wrong button or innocently unplugging a cable and turning off the entire system.

In 2020 we are likely to see more brands release improved versions of their collaborative solutions and more manufacturers enter the collaboration solutions market. Midwich has already seen an increase in demand for these products and our CTS team are ready to visit resellers and end-users to demonstrate these exciting new collaboration technologies.

2. The Rise of Video in the Workplace

Video content is an essential part of every business, from videoconferencing applications to training and internal communications such as demos and advertising, we are beginning to see this technology used in increasingly wider areas of business.

“Professional video will move into the UC space. Pro cameras (especially pan, tilt and zoom dome cameras) were designed for broadcasters, but they have evolved to integrate into everything from a conference room for lecture capture to a video conferencing suite. For interactive meetings, streamed events and presentations and on-demand media, professional video equipment is fast becoming a big part of the workplace.”

- Jenny Hicks, Head of Technology at Midwich.

Live video content and videoconferencing can help reduce travel costs, by streaming anywhere, anytime, on any device. This helps international businesses collaborate without having to take time out of the day travelling to another office. Instead, colleagues can jump in one of the many ‘virtual meeting rooms’ offered by video.

Midwich offers a broad range of videoconferencing solutions from industry-leading brands, as well as experts at our sister company Holdan who can advise on professional video recording equipment for corporate organisations.  

We have begun to see brands join together and offer an all-in-one solution to video. Lumens and iiyama released their meeting room bundle through Midwich. This paired the VC-BIOU-B with iiyama's 03 Series and featured quick access to Microsoft Teams and Zoom. 2020 will likely see more brands collaborating to offer complete video solutions.

3. Increased Demand for LED Displays

LED (light-emitting diode) was invented nearly 60 years ago and has changed in many ways since then. Large Format Display (LFD) units have increased in popularity by 21.63%_3, increasingly LFDs are taking advantage of narrow pixel pitch LED technology. Videowalls are another piece of technology often taking advantage of narrow pixel pitch LED technology, which have increased in popularity, by 16.65%₄.

The versatility of narrow pixel pitch LED video walls allows them to fill any space, they can also be more competitive in cost for their size.

“LED offers seamless display canvases with extended life expectancy and in the case of modular solutions the ability to fill any space regardless of aspect ratio.”

- Jenny Hicks, Head of Technology at Midwich. 

This year we saw the launch of MicroLED, this new upgrade in TV technology promises to be the next big thing. MicroLED allows each pixel to be turned on or off individually or display a completely different colour to the next pixel, resulting in perfect contrast and colour control.

Currently, Samsung have boasted that their first commercially available MicroLED sets will boast 4,000 nits but could go as high as 10,000 nits in the near future.

PSCo, a specialist devision within the Midwich Group have dedicated LED specialists who have witnessed the rise in demand for LED in corporate environments.

“Excellent viewing quality is achieved through LED’s high brightness, high contrast ratio, impressive colour gamut and fast refresh rate.”

- Stuart Holmes, Director, PSCo, a specialist division within the Midwich group. 

4. Further Adoption of Flexible Displays at Work

“Flexible display solutions will be the evolution of LED also.  Aside from the wow factor, these technologies lend themselves to difficult architecture where blending technology has previously been difficult.  Immersive environments are not best achieved with right angles so flexible displays may be the first true challenger to high-end projection where surfaces are not flat.”

- Jenny Hicks, Head of Technology at Midwich.

OLED has changed the future of LED with the technology available for large area, transparent, flexible and low-energy displays. Originally OLED was produced on glass, however, more flexible display solutions have now entered the market.

In the last year, we have seen a 65.44%₃ in demand for OLED TVs. These advances are likely to create an even greater demand, as any surface, flat or curved can display content with OLED technology.

Flexible display solutions have already entered the workplace as curved monitor screens, however, in 2020, we will see more traditional offices call for a refurbish as difficult architecture can now benefit from digital signage.

“Where previously you were restricted to a 16:9 ratio, due to the flexibility of LED’s modular design, we are seeing it being used in more bespoke applications to fit literally any space.”

- Stuart Holmes, Director, PSCo, a specialist division within the Midwich group.

Workplace Technology in 2020

We are excited to see how our top technology workplace trend predictions play out in 2020 and beyond.

For more on The Future of Workplace Technology, watch our panel debate on “The Future of Workplace Technologies”. The panel featured panellists from AV Magazine, Midwich, Google, Bloomberg and SMART.

1 _{According to AV Magazine online research asking AV Magazine readers and industry specialists 'Which AV technologies are a priority investment for you in 2019/2020?'. Published in the August/September 2019 AV Magazine issue, p20.}

2 _{According to data from Google Trends over the past five years, 23-29^th November 2014 experienced an interest rate of 54 and 10-16^th November 2019 experienced an interest rate of 85.}

3 _{Based on Midwich and Square One sales from July 2018 to June 2019 compared to July 2017 to June 2018. Data taken 03.07.2019, exclusions and omissions exempt.}

4 _{Based on Midwich and Square One sales from July 2018 to June 2019 compared to July 2017 to June 2018. Data taken 03.07.2019, exclusions and omissions exempt.}

5 _{Based on Midwich and Square One sales from July 2018 to June 2019 compared to July 2017 to June 2018. Data taken 03.07.2019, exclusions and omissions exempt.}