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Ricoh acquires Presentation Products, Inc.

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We’re proud to announce that Presentation Products, Inc. (PPI) is now part of Ricoh USA, Inc.! This marks an exciting new chapter for our team and clients as we combine our 30+ years of expertise in AV integration, engineering, and design with Ricoh’s global digital services capabilities.

Joining Ricoh alongside Cenero, Ricoh’s managed AV services provider, means we can deliver even greater scale, resources, and innovation to help organizations create connected, collaborative, and intelligent workplaces.

We’re thrilled to be joining a customer-centric company committed to exceptional service and strong client relationships and are excited about the opportunities this brings for our team and the enhanced solutions we can offer to our clients.

Learn more about this milestone here.

 

 

Are Your High-Impact Spaces Helping You Close Deals? 

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Ah, the power of a well-crafted room.  A visual testament to an organization’s capabilities and achievements. Whether in legal or finance, showcasing high-impact environments can act as an innovative tool for securing deals, cementing partnerships and retaining clients.  

How can high-impact spaces meet these high expectations?  

The Perceptual Significance of AV  

In the elite worlds of finance and law, the optics of flagship spaces are a leading indicator to prospects and customers. High visibility meeting rooms’ AV technology should also reflect a firm’s values, and indicate the overall experience that clients can expect to receive.  

Intelligent Audio and Q-SYS: Elevating Remote Meetings  

Q-SYS Intelligent Audio, a part of Q-SYS VisionSuite, is a valuable tool in creating that unforgettable impression for remote prospects and customers. By adding preset audio zones within a conference space, the remote caller will enjoy a much more immersive conversation. When a meeting attendee in an audio zone begins speaking, the room cameras are triggered by the ceiling microphone and frame the speaker for the remote attendee to see clearly. What was once a room with barely visible faces is now a personal experience with a trusted team.  

Intelligent Video: Enhancing Dynamic Presentations 

As part of Q-SYS VisionSuite, Intelligent Video takes it a step further by offering AI-driven presenter tracking, which uses eighteen telemetry points to ensure the camera follows the speaker’s dynamic movements. This means that now, the far end not only feels the flow of the conversation with Intelligent Audio, but also experiences the main speaker as though there were a camera operator behind the scenes. This kind of precision is a silent communicator of a firm’s efficiency and attention to detail.  

Audio Matters: The Backbone of Communication 

Don’t underestimate the power of audio. Shure Ceiling Microphones integrated with Q-SYS’ audio processing ensure clear voice reinforcement and distribution. These components work together to capture every word, and work with Q-SYS Intelligent Audio to deliver the previously mentioned enhanced far-end experience. Effective communication is key in any deal, and superior audio quality ensures that every nuance is heard. 

Zoom Room App: Seamless Integration 

Over 75% of our customers prefer Zoom for their hybrid meetings, which means AV solutions need to work effortlessly within Zoom Rooms. Q-SYS Control for Zoom Rooms lets users control everything in the room on one device, from room settings to Zoom meeting preferences.  Zoom Room users can also bring more sophistication to hybrid calls by enabling spatial audio. Now, natural listening and conversation flow are enhanced by making it easier to identify who is talking on the far end while also adding echo cancellation for stereo far-end audio users.   

Meeting Equity and Long-Term Partnerships 

The true key to success lies in fostering long-term partnerships no matter where people are located. High-impact AV spaces create environments where everyone feels comfortable and connected, whether it’s a large hybrid meeting or an intimate one-on-one. These technologies guarantee prospects and clients feel engaged and support the team in building lasting relationships. 

Your Deal-Closing Arsenal 

Effective spaces do more than just look impressive; they function seamlessly. With tools like Q-SYS VisionSuite, Shure Ceiling Mics, and the Q-SYS Control for Zoom Rooms, firms are equipped with a powerful AV system that embodies their values. These flagship spaces are more than just rooms. They represent a firm’s success, competence, and anticipation of customer needs. Ask yourself: Are your high-impact spaces helping you close the deal? 

 

 

 

Meeting Equity: It’s About More Than Technology

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There has been a steady climb in virtual meetings ever since 2020, and 38% of those are hybrid sessions that connect remote attendees with people in the room. For those larger gatherings, where it’s easy to get lost in the crowd, meeting equity should be top of mind when designing conference and collaboration spaces. 

Despite the prevalence of video meetings in our daily calendar, remote participants still feel left out. And worse, even in-room participants sometimes can’t get camera or microphone time because of where they’re sitting. This leaves everyone straining to see and hear what’s going on.

How can we use AV technology to better represent everyone in a meeting, regardless of where they are physically located?

Plenty of technology solutions promise to fix the audiovisual awkwardness between in-room participants and those on the far end of a call. But there’s more to the equation than just cameras and microphones. 

We need to consider how the entire room design contributes to meeting equity. Furniture layouts, room shape and size, wall coverings, windows, glass walls and other background materials affect not only the visual elements of a meeting, but also the acoustics and overall comfort and accessibility of a meeting space. 

To address the whole room and the whole meeting experience, PPI works closely with architects, interior designers and other trades to provide the best setup for connection and collaboration. Then, on top of these physical and architectural considerations, we add a layer of technology that further improves the hybrid meeting experience. 

We’re using a growing range of AI-driven hardware and software combinations that act as an automated production assistant for meetings. Tools such as Zoom’s Intelligent Director, Cisco’s Camera Intelligence, Poly Studio, Huddly Director, Q-Sys Intelligent Audio and Logitech’s Hybrid Meeting Equity Solutions can detect who is speaking and track the movement of participants, so no moment is lost. The software then crops and zooms in real-time to maintain the momentum of a conversation. 

New options are constantly evolving to provide a more comfortable hybrid meeting experience. PPI can help you look at the whole picture and envision a way to enhance physical spaces with smarter ways to virtually connect.

Law Firms Impress Clients and Attract Talent with Better AV and Collaboration Tech

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Commercial real estate may be in flux across many industries, but in the legal field, there is an uptick in commitment to expansion. In 2024, 12% more firms reported that they planned to add space compared to the previous year. 

It’s not just about adding more square footage though. Law firms, like nearly every enterprise, are also focused on using space more efficiently. Many are creating flexible offices that can easily be reconfigured for different uses. Now a partner’s office might also double as a collaboration room.

At PPI, we’ve seen both trends evolving in tandem. Some of our Am Law 100 clients are expanding real estate and providing technology experiences that deliver a bold impression to clients and potential team members. Law firms need secure, reliable AV not just to get work done, but also to prove they’re future-ready contenders in an evolving marketplace.

Major clients, especially those in the technology and financial services industries,  expect to see AV systems on par with their own sophisticated workplace collaboration tools. And when it comes to growth and retention, the legal field is not immune to the pressure of competing with big-tech firms for talent. So it’s best to keep team members happy with communications and collaboration technology that is easy to use.

To help achieve these external and internal goals, PPI starts from a user experience angle. We work with clients to establish conferencing standards that are easy to use and consistent, regardless of location, room size or layout. We can also design systems to support firms that are setting “stretch” goals of creating a self-service collaboration culture, which is a big shift in an industry typically defined by white-glove, concierge AV support. 

From full-service to self-service, we can provide options on every level. The AV systems we deploy and support for law firms around the world, using our 24/7 Vantage platform, are built to provide flexibility and efficiency. 

In large-scale boardrooms and conference spaces, we provide meeting equity with AI-driven video meeting tools that ensure everyone is seen and heard. We’re also adding full collaboration suites to partner offices, so focused work happens in one area and team meetings are easily accommodated in another. 

As we continue to work with law firms on office renovation projects, we provide a customized approach to collaboration technology. We conduct technology pilots to validate proposed designs, and work with our clients to ensure they deploy solutions that meet technology goals. 

Whether your law firm is expanding or looking to optimize existing space, contact PPI to explore which conferencing and collaboration systems are the best fit for enhancing efficiency and communication between partners, team members and clients.

The Ultimate Teams Room is Not What You Might Expect 

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Your Microsoft Teams Rooms are getting smarter — and not just because of AI. An evolving partnership with Cisco is adding more capabilities on both the front-end and back-end of Teams Rooms integrations.

There’s no question Teams is gaining ground in enterprise applications – as of last year, when the Cisco partnership was announced, Microsoft counted more than half a million Teams Rooms in use. So it makes sense that Cisco is connecting more of its hybrid-meeting enhancements and IT-friendly device management tools to Teams users. 

From the start of the brands’ partnership, Cisco’s Teams-certified products provided all the NVIDIA-boosted intelligence in Cisco’s camera, audio and video technologies. But now, after a year of learning what customers needed in full-scale integrations, Cisco has opened up a few more features.

On the IT admin side, customers can dual-register Cisco Devices for Teams Admin and also Cisco Webex Control Hub, which adds usage, occupancy and environmental sensor insights. It also enhances UI and opens up the API to actively use Cisco sensor data to improve Teams meetings.

From a user experience standpoint, there are few extra improvements. A new Cisco RoomOS version from last fall has added Signage capability to Microsoft Teams Rooms. That’s the most outward-facing update. But inside the rooms, Cisco RoomOS also adds AI-enabled analysis to improve the human factors of a hybrid meeting. Using sensor data, Cisco hardware adjusts to how people are using spaces, measuring room size and occupancy to calibrate microphones and cameras so everyone is heard and seen.

Cisco started its collaboration with NVIDIA on AI-enabled meeting room technology almost ten years ago, so RoomOS is pretty smart. Its Cinematic Meetings experience setup allows Cisco devices to follow presenters around the room, intelligently listen for audio cues and switch between multiple cameras. Then the sound and video is processed for framing, zoning and multiple streams to create a better meeting. 

There are still more updates coming, and PPI is tracking all the layers where Cisco has opened up its APIs for more customized integrations. It’s a long list of new options, and it all adds up to collaboration rooms that are easier to use and smarter to manage and maintain. 

Ream more about the new collaboration between Cisco and Microsoft here.

Get in touch with PPI to find out how these new Cisco offerings can improve the Teams Rooms experience in your collaboration spaces.

How Are You Tracking Your Room Checks?

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PPI’s Vantage Services platform can clarify networked AV data

If meeting reminders are the most consistent notification on any screen in your office, then you probably define presentation and conference room technology as mission-critical. 

Your AV systems need to work right away, the first time. Multiply that requirement by every collaborative space across a global organization, and you are managing serious demand. 

For many PPI clients, the number of daily and weekly room checks required to keep AV systems operational worldwide can be in the thousands. As our service team has evolved to support our growing client base, two truths emerged:

  • The cost of a failed meeting increases exponentially when countless billable hours are on the line
  • AV is starting to look a lot like IT, and room systems should be managed, monitored and measured the same way as a network

It’s true, today’s AV deployments are comprised of components that are all essentially network devices. So it would seem to follow that remote management would be a breeze over the network. But the fact remains that most of the tools for managing AV technologies are either proprietary and only help with manufacturer specific devices, or are too burdensome to deploy quickly or cheaply. 

With so many separate dashboards, room checks can feel like wading through a massive sea of data, making it almost impossible to quickly identify trouble spots and keep track of what’s being fixed, or worse, what’s totally offline.  

To help our clients get a clearer picture of all their networked AV systems, PPI developed our own suite of tools and services called Vantage. It’s manufacturer-agnostic, easy to use and nearly effortless to deploy. 

One of the key features of Vantage is the Room Checks module, which is a powerful data aggregation tool that combines device-level data with cloud API integrations from UC platforms to provide a complete view of everything happening in a room.

The Vantage Room Checks tool provides a clear snapshot of operational status across AV and UC systems enterprise-wide. The interface was designed for collaboration between our dedicated Vantage service team and clients’ in-house AV support professionals. Now everyone has a better view of what’s working, what’s been found and fixed and any other incidents. 

After all, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. So let PPI’s Vantage platform help you keep track of all the details, and we can remove the AV-tech-related stress from those constant meeting reminders. 

Why Should I Pay Monthly for Technology?

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In the 1960s, Gordon Moore made a prediction that said computing would increase in power at an exponential pace, and at the same time the relative cost would go down. Cell phones are one of the best examples of this because most of us have seen it evolve over our lifetimes. In 1984, the first […]

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