Everyone knows that the easier and more user-friendly technology becomes, the more likely people will use it. This becomes imperative in today’s world where more and more companies are relying on hybrid or remote workforces. Employees working from home or other off-site locations must have reliable, intuitive communication and collaboration tools in order to stay productive. Offering Real Time Audio and Video (RTAV) that’s embedded into a desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) solution is one way to ensure a superior user experience.
What is RTAV?
Real Time Audio and Video is a capability that allows employees to connect with one another by both audio and video means in real-time. This means that individuals working in different geographical locations and time zones can meet virtually as if they were essentially in the same conference room. When RTAV is used as part of a collaboration and communications package, it rounds out the hybrid or remote workplace nicely, facilitating greater participation and productivity for all employees.
For example, Microsoft teams direct routing provides a public switched telephone network (PSTN) connection to Microsoft Teams users. This allows employees to make and receive external phone calls on any device using Teams.
When looking at both audio and video together, the RTAV technology itself does not utilize a USB connection to facilitate these connections. Instead, both the audio and images are encoded from the client and sent to the end user device, which plays the audio and video from a virtual webcam and microphone. This system maximizes bandwidth usage, allowing RTAV to scale more easily and effectively.
How to optimize Microsoft Teams video for better performance
One popular RTAV solution is embedded in Microsoft Teams. By using media optimization for Microsoft Teams, you can provide a seamless experience from the client to the virtual session. This feature successfully redirects both audio and video calls as well as allows desktop sharing without network overload or negatively affecting the virtual infrastructure.
Employees using this tool can easily start a video call, either scheduled or unscheduled, at any time. In order to optimize Teams video to improve its performance, users can try to reduce resource requirements during the meeting with the following actions:
- Close unused browsers or applications during the meeting.
- Turn off incoming video or even your own camera when not needed.
- Disable GPU hardware acceleration.
- If you’re working on a laptop and have a video port, connect your monitor directly.
- Restart Teams.
- Change your screen resolution to 1920 x 1080.
- Instead of using USB-C, try using DVI or HDMI to connect your monitor.
- Disable full-screen mode during the meeting.
- Be sure you’re using the latest Teams update.
How real time audio video improves the user experience
Video communication has been growing in popularity for years, but its usage exploded during the 2020-21 COVID pandemic when shelter-in-place orders kept the vast majority of individuals isolated in their homes. Just about everyone learned how to use video-based communications for professional and personal reasons during this time.
Today, as remote and hybrid workforces become more permanently part of the workplace landscape, RTAV is a necessary tool that can bring employees together into productive teams and businesses. It has become the next-generation, virtual equivalent of team members walking around to co-workers’ cubicles to call an impromptu meeting. However, the integrated technology means that presentation slides, action item lists, business files, and communication threads are located in the same space, making it easier to follow-up and execute against virtual meetings.
Selecting an integrated Microsoft DaaS solution
It should be clear that RTAV must have an integral role in a company’s DaaS solution to maximize employee productivity, communication, and collaboration.
DaaS solutions themselves help companies centralize the governance and management of all operating systems, applications, and software, either to an internal data center or a cloud-based one. Any virtual device, either owned by the business or the employees themselves, can then access the company’s data, applications, and tools with proper provisioning.
Benefits to DaaS systems abound by increasing productivity, supporting remote and hybrid workers, improving security, and allowing easy scaling of employees to accommodate peak or slower seasons. Since DaaS providers are experts in this space, they are likely to stay on top of advanced developments and technologies, which can then be passed on to their customers. When this solution is integrated seamlessly with industry-leading solutions such as Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, and Zoom, it becomes a powerhouse of collaboration and communication for any organization.
If you’re ready to find a third-party DaaS solution provider, you’ll want to find one that provides a comprehensive cloud-based solution that integrates industry-leading tools such as Microsoft Teams to maximize your return on investment.
To learn more about how to select the right DaaS solution for your business, reach out to Evolve IP today. We have years of experience in helping companies like yours select and implement comprehensive, cloud-based DaaS solutions for their hybrid and remote workforces.
