The Future of the Hands-Free Workplace with Michael Wilson and Greg Gustafson

On this episode of ClearTalk, a CTSI podcast, CTSI Director of Engineering Michael Wilson and Audiovisual Engineering Manager Greg Gustafson joined host Tyler Kern to touch on a hot topic in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the accelerated adoption of Hands-Free workplace technology. With social distancing measures and other safety initiatives likely to continue as operations around the globe attempt to get back to business as usual, the conversation around touchless collaboration and technology solutions that can facilitate a hands-free workplace has accelerated. “One of the things that CTSI, specifically, is doing in this post-COVID time is having what we call our ‘Clear Innovation Workshops,’” Wilson said. “It’s like a roundtable discussion where a lot of the thought-leaders within CTSI … join the conversation with our customers.” These discussions have centered on a variety of topics, but hands-free collaboration, digital signage, people counting, and occupancy management have been points of emphasis related to customers’ desire to reduce touchpoints and help enforce social distancing. CTSI helps those customers find solutions that make adoption and integration simpler, bringing end users the benefits of hands-free workplaces without adding undue stress and implementation challenges. Hands-free workplaces are driven by a wide range of solutions, including automatic doors, reduced touchpoints in elevators, controlled lighting and HVAC, AV collaboration and communication solutions that leverage bring-your-own-device capability, and more. While this touch-free movement will certainly boost safety and reduce operational touchpoints, it’s also going to require navigation of significant challenges related to the lack of tactile options for end users and how to provide adequate feedback without it, delivering holistic solutions, matching those solutions to how end users already interact with their devices, and other key considerations.