Why Clear Audio and Video Is Important in a Business Environment

By Sponsored Content | Updated: 14 February 2021 19:56 IST

"Can you hear me?", "What did you say?", are just some of the most common things you'll hear during virtual conference calls. As employees get used to spending a large chunk of their working hours remotely, there's a growing need for more virtual calls. The single biggest thing affecting most of these employees is the lack of good quality audio.

To understand the importance of good audio experience for businesses, EPOS conducted a survey to find out how employees feel audio impacts their day-to-day life. EPOS is a pioneer in offering the most advanced audio and collaboration technologies that empower companies to communicate in a highly efficient manner. The report highlights the current state of audio across different working environments across the globe.

Why bad audio is truly bad?

The new workspace isn't limited to a single conference room. Employees are now actively working from different offices, call centres, meeting rooms, and remote locations such as coffee shops and homes. In such a situation, a great audio experience can make all the difference in the world. It can make employees more productive, and enable a much more efficient communication across teams.

95 percent of the survey respondents in EPOS' survey claimed that their concentration and efficiency at work is impacted due to audio issues. For a majority of respondents, loud colleagues disrupted work while a generally loud working environment and interruptions from colleagues were other factors that impacted their productivity.

Intrusive audio isn't just limited to workspaces. Most employees are now working remotely from their homes, the number of conference calls, phone calls, and other modes of teleconferences have also increased. Even these modes of communication require an audio channel that's free of disruption or any kind of noise for employees to work efficiently.

How bad is bad audio? 35 percent of the respondents said they are frustrated, irritated, and annoyed due to bad audio experiences while 48 percent of the respondents claimed they feel disturbed due to a noisy working environment. Bad audio doesn't just harm companies, but also employees who work for such companies.

It's not just bad audio

Audio is just one side of the coin. With remote working, video conferencing has also become an all-important way to collaborate on projects. Video is as close as it gets to a face-to-face interaction while working from home compared to audio-only interactions. 27 percent of the respondents said they feel closer to their teams while 24 percent of the respondents felt they're able to maintain personal relationships while working remotely.

High-end video conferencing technology can enable companies to bring their employees together, helping them become more productive while working remotely. However, 32 percent of decision-makers who took part in the EPOS study claimed technology issues were the biggest obstacle to using video as part of their virtual meetings. 27 percent of the respondents complained about facing app-based issues during video calls.

Some of the most common problems that most decision-makers and end-users complained about, during the survey, including having to repeat themselves (34 percent), excessive background noise (42 percent), asking for information to be repeated (34 percent).

How much does bad audio cost companies?

Terrible audio and video quality experiences aren't just bad for employees, they're worse for employers too. Companies with over 100 employees risk losing as music as $70,000 or more every year due to such bad audio quality experiences. That's not all, decision-makers also reported an array of other problems that stem from such issues, including dissatisfied clients (23 percent), financial loss due to miscommunication (18 percent), losing a deal (18 percent), losing a tender (19 percent), and others.

How companies can fix bad audio and video?

Companies can easily fix or even precent such situations by taking appropriate technology-driven decisions. With efficient audio and video experiences, companies can even restrict expensive business travel. High-quality audio and video collaboration tools are the need of the house, with most companies requiring employees to work from home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With bad audio being the single biggest reason for all the major issues faced by remote employees, a majority of business decision-makers agreed that choosing good audio equipment, such as headphones, speakers, headsets, etc.) can make a difference. 93 percent of decision-makers also said they plan to order new audio equipment over the next year.

These decision-makers also emphasised the need for headsets that are comfortable, offer excellent sound clarity, and are easy-to-use. These demands resonate well with end-users too. Decision-makers and end-users both seem to agree on how good audio experiences can help bring a win-win situation across the board.

One simple way organisations can provide a great audio experience to employees is by using EPOS' Expand SP 30T speakerphone. It is a portable, wireless, Bluetooth-based speakerphone that promises an exceptional audio experience. It supports conferencing for up to 8 people at a time, and is certified for Microsoft Teams.

The compact speakerphone comes with a Bluetooth USB dongle, and can be deployed just about anywhere. Expand SP 30T is easy to set up, and offers a natural conversation experience. It's a great way to replace conventional PC or mobile speakers with exceptional audio performance, making your employees more productive.

EPOS, a pioneer in enterprise audio solutions, believes that by perfecting audio experiences it can help humans go even further, and perform better. The company's premium audio solutions help individuals and global teams achieve their targets, without the noise. To learn more, log on to eposaudio.com

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