Are your meeting rooms equipped for modern collaboration? Today’s business moves at a faster pace than ever before. Beyond the basics like Wi-Fi and high-speed internet connectivity, today’s workers use software tools like Slack, Zoom Trello, Asana, and many others to manage work both across the organization and with external suppliers and partners. On top of this, they want to use their devices of choice too, be they smartphones, tablets, laptops, from different platforms. Your collaboration tools need to keep up with what modern teams are using.

Instead of traveling to meetings – whether across town or the country – video conference systems are increasingly being used to communicate faster, share information, and move projects, products, and services along quicker. If you want to keep your Austin, TX business up-to-date, keep reading to learn about video conferencing upgrades that will boost your organization’s productivity.

SEE ALSO: Why Your Company Needs an Upgraded Video Conference System

High Definition Video and Audio

Your meeting spaces should have high definition video capability at a minimum, and for future-proofing, the ability to display 4K as well. Large flat-panel displays provide an easy way for meeting attendees to share presentations and other information. Projectors have always been a staple in conference rooms, and today’s models have better brightness, contrast, and 4K resolution, as well as being better able to perform in more brightly lit rooms.

A variety of video cameras from many vendors, offering up to 4K resolution, can be employed with many of the popular videoconferencing platforms like Zoom and Skype. Some cameras have remote control capability for panning and zooming to change the view if needed.

There’s no denying lighting control is entertaining. By connecting your lighting fixtures to a smart home system, you’ll be able to turn on every light from your tablet or smartphone. Watch your entire house light up in one touch of a button or use a voice-activated speaker to command your lights with just a phrase.

But home lighting control offers more than just a fun party trick. Smart lighting connected to a system like Savant or Control4 can provide unique benefits to each area of your home. Continue reading to see where and why you should be using lighting control in your West Lake Hills, TX, home.

SEE ALSO: Why You Should Hire a Home Automation Installer

Outdoors

Your home’s landscape lighting is much more impressive and useful when you go beyond an on/off switch. Through your Control4 or Savant app, you can create scenes specific for each time of day and schedule when they will activate. At twilight, the pathway lights will turn on at your entrance, and by sundown, all exterior lights will flick on and illuminate your outside areas. Then by the time you go to sleep, lights will conveniently turn off to save energy, or some can stay on till sunrise for security. If you incorporate color tuning in your lighting system, you can also play with colors, basking your walls in bright whites, blues, greens, reds, and more for festive fun.

Living Room

The way you light your living room should depend on the time of day and what activities you’re enjoying. A tunable lighting system allows us to adjust the brightness and temperature of lightbulbs. So, during the daytime, schedule your lights for a cool, bright appearance that will energize your mind and feel more comfortable than dim, warm lights. In the evening, your lamps and overhead lights can shift to warmer hues for a softer, cozier atmosphere. You can also create scenes to set the mood, whether it’s movie time or a reading session. Select the scene and watch each light dim, turn off, or adjust its color. 

If you’d like to automate your home’s lights, security, audio, and more into one system, you may be wondering—can I install this myself? As smart home technology grows in popularity, we’ve seen more plug-and-play products pop up in stores. But will you be able to achieve the functionality and seamless integration you desire on your own?

You may be quite handy, but there are several things to consider before attempting DIY home automation. To see if you could benefit from working with a home automation installer in your Austin, TX house, consider the points below.

SEE ALSO: The Latest Smart Tech for Your Home Entertainment System

Wiring & Safety

If you’re only planning to use a single, stand-alone device like a Nest thermostat, you can probably install that yourself. However, it’s much more complex when integrating multiple smart home systems like smart lights, alarms, multi-room audio, etc. For a clean aesthetic, you’ll want a professional to wire your system so that it functions reliably. Unless you’re qualified, it isn’t safe to wire a system yourself, so be sure to partner with an installer for help.

Home Security

Smart security is one of the most useful features of home automation. From automatic locks to surveillance cameras and alarms, you can protect your home even when you’re away. If you’re fitting a door entry system, this is not an area for cost-cutting. You won’t want to accidentally have a fatal flaw in a security system, and a professional will know how to avoid that.

We spend a lot of our time indoors. Many of us work in front of computer screens under fluorescent lights, only to return home to our living rooms and TVs. But exposure to fresh air and nature has been proven to lower stress, reduce inflammation, and lessen fatigue. Enjoying time outdoors has also proven to lower anxiety and supplement treatments of depression.

While you may want to spend more time in the sun, that doesn’t mean you need to skip watching a Longhorns game or cancel dinner plans to go on a hike. Now that central Texas weather is finally cooler than 90 degrees, why not take your entertainment outdoors?

Outdoor audio video solutions allow you to share music and watch your favorite shows with weatherproof technology. If you’d like to swap your living room for the patio in your Tarrytown house, continue reading to learn how below.  

SEE ALSO: Is It Time to Upgrade Your Outdoor Entertainment System?

Adding Outdoor Speakers  

Just like with an indoor multi-room audio system, your outdoor speakers can synchronize to play the same music across your yard, and even connect to the music playing indoors. You’ll need a receiver or distribution amplifier to power speakers and connect them to your audio sources. Stereo setups sometime don’t sound great in a large property because speakers may be spaced too widely, so you may want speakers that play both left and right channels in one. Use stereo-input speakers with both left and right connections, or amps that combine both to send mono signals to standard speakers. Cables to your outdoor devices can be buried below-ground for a clean landscape appearance but are best run through a hard-plastic conduit to protect from animals and accidental damage from garden tools.