As the aftereffects of the pandemic settle down and we embrace the new normal, one technology-related trend has become readily apparent: Videoconferencing is here to stay. While it was OK in the early days of the pandemic for folks to struggle with videoconferencing, those days are over. Especially for businesses and government agencies, a (relatively) modest investment can go a long way.

Think about it: Just a couple of years ago, we were happy with just being able to have meetings without having to go into the office. So someone’s head got distorted, or you couldn’t quite hear all the folks on the call; we made do. Heck, at the onset of the pandemic, if you didn’t have a webcam on your computer, you had to wait weeks if not months to get one.

Nowadays, however, most contemporary laptops, regardless of the operating system, are good enough for individuals. Many desktops now being sold include conferencing add-ons such as cams, speakers and microphones that make them more than adequate for single users joining a videoconference. Even if they’re not included, adding such peripherals can be done on the cheap.

At an organizational level, however, poor videoconferencing is increasingly unacceptable, especially for those who have gone hybrid or completely back to the office. A common scenario has staff in the office, carrying on a remote meeting with others joining remotely, either individually or in groups. Having a bunch of folks huddled around a single computer with a webcam is just not effective for this type of meeting.

So, what do you need for your conference room? The easiest piece is a big-screen TV. It doesn’t need to be particularly high-quality, and without sounding too elitist, such units are basically disposable nowadays and can be acquired for less than the cost of a nice steak dinner for two … OK, maybe three, with drinks, of course.

Actual conferencing gear is where the cost really comes into play. The most effective part of a room-based solution are cameras that can focus in on who’s talking. Starting at the high end, the Neat Bar set of products checks in at mid-four figures. When all is said and done, closer to five figures than three, but it works well, is well supported and is great for larger rooms. It’s an all-in-one appliance (save for the TV) controlled by a tablet. It is marketed as being easy to install, and we’d have to agree that to get it basically working, you really don’t need an IT expert.

Being totally frank, though, the attraction to the Neat products is their Hollywood cachet. The downside to the Neat products is that while they support two of the most popular conference systems, Zoom and Teams, switching between the two is a bit of a pain.

Venerable computer peripheral manufacturer Logitech has a set of videoconferencing products under its Rally banner. On the high end, Logitech room solutions are price-competitive with Neat and great for large rooms. Logitech seems to sell more on its reputation than slickness, but the products are attractive if just a bit more utilitarian in appearance. The Logitech products are also a bit more difficult to set up and have similar limitations in supporting different conferencing systems.

Where Logitech gets more attractive is on its lower end. Its MeetUp product, going for high three figures, is an appliance marketed at smaller rooms and is good up to about a 20-by-20-foot space. MeetUp requires a separate PC to get it going.

These are just a couple of vendors in a not-yet-so-crowded marketplace. As alluded to above, one of the biggest challenges is supporting multiple conferencing systems, Teams versus Zooms versus Google Meet. If you are the driver of the meetings, this is less of an issue, but if you find yourself as an attendee, this could be more problematic.

John Agsalud is an IT expert with more than 25 years of information technology experience in Hawaii and around the world. He can be reached at jagsalud@live.com.