Updating Office Technology Is a Continual, Ongoing Process

I recently visited Red Thread, a Boston-based integration company in the business of providing customers with office technology. It had been about a year and a half since I’d visited the Boston Waterfront office and at that time it was specifically to learn about its own office renovation.

Back then I was impressed with the “walk the walk” approach Red Thread, which is owned by office furniture maker Steelcase, took.

It wasn’t just talking to integration customers about how to leverage AV in a progressive office environment; Red Thread employees in their open-office space were living and breathing with the same collaboration, conferencing, digital signage and soundmasking solutions they work to prepare for clients. The idea, of course, is not only that Red Thread’s own employees would benefit but they’d learn more about their customers’ needs.

Some of the highlights not typically seen in an integration firm’s office were:

An open-kitchen café and lounging area with floor-to-ceiling views of Boston Harbor competing with a 3×3 video wall showing social media feeds
Well-designed huddle and collaboration spaces catering to “nomad” employees without any dedicated workspace moving about based on their tasks
A 55-inch Microsoft Surface Hub, which Red Thread helped Microsoft launch to the AV market

The office was jaw-dropping impressive. That’s why it was odd to me that when I recently returned John Mitton, VP of Red Thread’s AV group and CTO, wanted to talk about all that had changed.

Truth be told, not all that much had changed — reconfigured huddle space here and new one-person conferencing room there — but the subtle shifts were significant.

“We use ourselves as guinea pigs,” Mitton says. “We go back. We look at what we did. We learn.”

Watch the video (by sister site Commercial Integrator) to take the original virtual tour of Red Thread’s Boston office

Red Thread Experience Center from EH Media on Vimeo

Updating Office Technology Isn’t Black-and-White

This goes back to the whole “walk the walk” thing. It’s important for an integration firm such as Red Thread to demonstrate the type of ongoing evaluation that their customers ought to be doing.

Easy for me to say, right? For a company that feels like it just drained its budget — a budget that they fought for — the idea that the solution may not end up being a perfect cultural fit or simply that more investment is needed in the not-too-distance future can be a tough pill to swallow.

It’s reality though. Workplaces are in the midst of cultural shifts. Meetings are changing. Employees collaborate differently. Technology and space needs to adapt, but that doesn’t mean every new AV implementation is going to be a home run.

It’s important to plan for constant reevaluating:

Are the new solutions improving efficiencies?
Are they truly being utilized?
Are employees happy?
What could we have done better?

Red Thread planned for flexibility. “We built on a raised floor, so we’re able to reconfigure very quickly,” Mitton says. “We used demountable walls, so we’re able to readjust walls really quickly.”

The integrator also took the critical step of reflecting on its AV implementation, looking at what it did right, what it did wrong and creating a plan to address changes. “It’s workplace transformation,” Mitton says.

That’s different and more dramatic than simply buying some products. It’s a big enough deal that it ought to be continually evaluated. It’s up to technology purchasing professionals to set that expectation.

In the end, your employees will be happier and your workplace transformation will be more successful.

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