Steelcase media:scape – integrated video conferencing

USA: As business collaboration becomes more virtual, the easier it is to get “up close and personal,” the better. It’s important that people can quickly become productive in virtual meetings by allowing all participants to contribute their ideas equally, quickly and seamlessly.

Recognizing the rise of technological advances, including HD video conferencing, and the demands of constant connectivity in today’s workplace, Steelcase - the global leader in office furniture industry in order to meet these collaborative demands has introduced media:scape - an integrated technology and furniture solution designed to enhance collaboration.

This collaborative solution designed by Steelcase will help enhance extremely essential non-verbal cues such as gestures, eye movements, overall body language, tone of voice, etc. which can’t come through in emails or conference calls while collaborations.

media:scape is the result of human-centered design methodology that included behavioral research and ethnographic video to understand the unmet needs of people collaborating at work. Based on its research, Steelcase developed media:scape, a hybrid of innovative furniture design and workplace technology that provides seamless
collaboration via videoconferencing.

The company’s IT team conducted extensive research into high definition video conferencing (HDVC) systems, which became the impetus for much of this product line that is now benefiting Steelcase employees and customers around the world. Thus, media:scape will surprise users with its incredible blend of interactive technology and furniture design to augment collaboration at Indian workplaces.

With collaborative work increasing significantly and now representing over 80 percent of today's activities in the office, Steelcase designed a solution to help workers solve increasingly complex problems with teams who are distributed across the globe.

Having won Edison and NeoCon awards, media:scape creates dynamic settings for distributed teams to view each other and co-create content simultaneously. Most videoconferencing environments are formal meeting spaces, with little emphasis on sharing and developing content. In contrast, media:scape environments encourage engagement, and allow access to and sharing of information by any meeting participant with the touch of a button.