It’s been a tough transition to the remote world, for all of us. Over the past year of COVID-19, we’ve all been guilty, at some point or another, of speaking on mute, lecturing our kids while not on mute, or sneaking a meal during an important work meeting while accidentally leaving the webcam on. And unfortunately, one year later, remote work hasn’t gotten much easier. Just last week, a professor in Singapore gave a 2-hour lecture – you guessed it, all on mute.

A recent survey by Freeform Dynamics found that 98% of the US workforce reports frequent frustrations with video meetings at home – whether it be poor audio quality, laptop fatigue, or concerns about background appearance. And it seems that streamlined connectivity solutions need to be implemented both at home and in the office, as a hybrid work model is the likely outcome of COVID-19. From the same survey, 58% of the workforce expects to be working from home at least 8 days a month.

The coming months, therefore, will see incredible opportunity for solutions that can streamline the new hybrid reality we’re living in. These will be products that can allow workers flexibility while maintaining high standards of quality and performance.

Take, for example, the rise of the docking station, which allows workers at home to connect through the USB-C port on their laptops to high-resolution cameras, faster wired internet, multiple monitors, power, and much more. Over a single long-reach cable using HDBaseT technology, workers will be able to set up a station in the living room and connect to their TVs and remote cameras for video conferences.

Not just a tool to streamline work from home, docking stations are the true representation of the new hybrid future, turning any office into a huddle room. To show you, we revamped my own office using an enhanced docking station that includes an HDBaseT port. We basically connected my laptop to the TV across the office, with only a single Cat cable crossing the room, enabling high-resolution video, audio, power, ethernet, and USB.

These types of docking stations have so many use cases in the COVID and post-COVID world. From upgrading office spaces to transforming the classroom experience, technology will become an integral component in reaching the new hybrid normal. And as leaders in the HDBaseT world, we’re happy to facilitate this.

We may not be able to stop you from speaking on mute, but you can sure count on us to solve your A/V connectivity issues.