The trends, the challenges, and the opportunities of the post-covid era
Global provider of AV collaboration services, Kinly, become the first European partner to join the Sharp/NEC Global Partner Program in 2021 - the culmination of many years of close cooperation between the two companies. The global partnership continues to bring together the competence and expertise demanded by organisations as they strive to enable their employees in the new hybrid workspace.
In this blog, Bent Reno Hansen, senior collaboration advisor for Kinly, and Gunnar Kyvik, business segment lead for meeting and collaboration solutions at Sharp/NEC, talk about the trends, the challenges, and the opportunities of the post-covid era where hybrid working practices prevail.
The Sharp/NEC Global Customer Program safeguards the highest quality and performance standards. Find out more about how the Program benefits multinational enterprises as they strive for global standardisation.
Bent Reno Hansen
Senior Collaboration Advisor & Architect
Kinly
Gunnar Kyvik
Business Segment Lead for Meeting & Collaboration
Sharp NEC Display Solutions Europe GmbH
Best practice is achieved through predictability and standardisation.
Overwhelmingly today, there is universal unease regarding the geopolitical environment within which we all live and work. Bent Reno Hansen acknowledges that conflict and uncertainly on the international stage puts security high on the agenda for Kinly’s clients: “for us, and our partners, safeguarding digital data has always been of primary importance so we can confidently reassure our clients that they are in safe hands.”
Against this backdrop, the world is quickly moving forward from the covid-era, but it is clear to see that the pre-covid and post-covid world have a very different landscape. This change creates a very challenging environment for businesses. Best practice is achieved through predictability and standardisation, yet change can also be viewed as an opportunity.
Kinly and Sharp/NEC’s partnership is helping businesses to navigate this journey. Every organisation and every user are unique, with different values, different needs, different ways of working . . . through their global partnership, Kinly and Sharp/NEC are prioritising people and matching the processes and technology which will help people to work and live better.
Find out more about Kinly and Sharp/NEC’s global partnership.
Go to partnership announcement
Stefanie Corinth, Senior VP at Sharp/NEC, and Jean-Paul Lemmens, Global Procurement Director at Kinly, agree a global partnership.
Inclusivity is the overriding necessity.
As the working world reinvents itself, businesses have an opportunity to improve the work / life experience of its employees, recognising that everyone is different.
“Technology is our bread and butter at Sharp/NEC, but we know that not everyone feels so comfortable using equipment. That’s why we are constantly innovating to create the best possible user experience,” says Gunnar Kyvik.
Ease of use, simple connectivity, and tools which are so intuitive they don’t require any training is an absolute priority to ensure there are no barriers to using technology. Technology must help, not hinder.
Working together on the global stage, Sharp/NEC and Kinly are well placed to support their mutual clients over the long-term. Sharp/NEC technology is helping international organisations to implement a hybrid working structure which balances flexibility with standardisation. Hybrid workers enjoy familiar technology usage and businesses benefit from efficient, streamlined processes.
The office becomes a destination, a place for social interactions.
People are a business’s greatest asset. People’s behaviour and interactions shape a company’s culture. People represent a company’s values as they interact with the outside world where people buy from people.
These human interactions are absolutely critical for business success. Video conferencing offers an excellent alternative means of communication, but it must be seen as complementing, not replacing face to face communications, with all its subtleties and nuances which make up human interaction. Each has its place of course, depending on the purpose of the communication or meeting, but getting people together, in real life, remains a priority for businesses today.
With this in mind, Bent Reno Hansen explains: “we work with our clients to make the office an appealing place to be, with social spaces, plentiful appropriately equipped workspaces, and the means to ensure all this is readily and safely available when it is needed.”
Compassionate corporate culture
Insisting that workers return to the office may be the approach of some organisations, but finding ways to make workers want to return to the office is most definitely a more favourable long-term strategy. Nurturing a more benevolent working culture will make happy people and a happy workplace.
Technology can also play a part in enticing workers back to the office. “At home, people have become accustomed to working in small spaces, with one-on-one interactions supported by excellent quality audio and visual experiences. Replicating this in the corporate office with huddle spaces, focus rooms and meeting pods, equipped with high quality video enablement and soundscapes, will ensure workers can still perform the working practices they have come to enjoy,” explains Gunnar Kyvik.
Meanwhile, back in the office, workers are able to chat over the water cooler and share news in the staff canteen – all the wonderful humanness that develops relationships, nurtures spontaneous exchanges, and shapes a corporate culture.
Attracting and retaining talent through flexible working practices
Workplace culture is organic, it develops with each new hire, so attracting and retaining people who offer the skills, competences and values which are favourable to the company direction is important. Again, technology plays its part here. A quality workforce demands quality, fit for purpose tools which will support them however, and wherever they live and work.
By partnering with Sharp/NEC, Kinly can access the full range of visual technologies which are proven compatible with other vendors’ equipment and software to guarantee the best possible, high quality user experience.
“We work with our clients to fully understand their needs,” says Bent Reno Hansen. “This includes the needs of the user, the IT support staff, and the procurement team to ensure we can provide a solution which fully meets their requirements today and into the future. As a Sharp/NEC Global partner, we can access the same range of high-quality products and solutions, at the same price, with the same support and service excellence, across all locations.”
“It’s a partnership built on trust, and again, on people. We value Sharp/NEC’s transparency and integrity which means we can offer the same high level of customer service to our clients.”
Sustainability can no longer be considered a trend; it is an imperative.
“We all have a responsibility for the future of the planet and as a manufacturer of energy-consuming devices, we feel our responsibility strongly,” says Gunnar, talking about Sharp/NEC’s sustainable approach.
One of the foundations of Sharp/NEC’s sustainable management is through the long-life reliability of its products. The longer the life cycle the less we consume. The life cycle is further extended through repair and refurbishment programs, and ultimately, recycling. NEC large format displays are 97.4% recyclable which is remarkable, shipping is optimised, and packaging is fully recyclable.
“Unlike our competitors, we predominantly use metal housings and components for our large format displays and LED modules, which is 100% recyclable, feeding the circular economy. Metal also supports the robust durability of our products, protecting them from heat and making them safe for use in public spaces,” confirms Gunnar Kyvik.
Bent Reno Hansen adds that, “even the smallest reduction in energy use makes a significant saving across large estates of electronic equipment so we appreciate the energy saving features of Sharp/NEC’s products which can help our clients to quantify and reduce their carbon footprint and also reduce their energy bills.”
In the current energy crisis, another consequence of geopolitics, reducing operating costs in this way becomes even more important for businesses.
Find out more about Sharp/NEC’s sustainable management.
Go to Green Signage & Sustainability
Find tools and tips to help you reduce the energy usage associated with Sharp/NEC visual technology.
Go to tools and tips to reduce your energy useage