World’s first hybrid work experience centre opens in Dubai

Jabra, Microsoft, Lenovo, Sharp/NEC, and DUTCO Tennant launch the world’s first hybrid work experience centre together with six other partners in Dubai Design District (d3)

The world’s first true hybrid work experience center (HWEC) recently opened its doors to the public in Dubai Design District (d3). Initiated by Jabra, the HWEC is an initiative that brings together the best-of-breed technology and workplace partners in a 10-vendor collaboration experience centre at the Bene showroom in Dubai. Visitors will be able to get the real touch and feel of how the office of the future will look and how it will serve hybrid and flexible working models. Merging modern interior design and innovative furniture with the latest technology, the HWEC accommodates various areas – from secluded and semi-secluded workspaces in open offices, to meeting spaces and conference rooms for in-person and hybrid meetings, each dedicated to modern work use case scenarios.

The future is hybrid

In the past three years, switching from office to remote, to hybrid work, employees have been able to experience the advantages of having access to multiple kinds of workspaces. And because of this, employees – when given the choice – are very likely to prefer a hybrid working model as their normal working arrangement. In fact, according to Jabra’s latest research on this topic, 68 per cent of employees see their ideal work week as a combination of working remotely and in the office. With a hybrid model, they know they’ll be able to access spaces that are conducive to socialisation, collaboration, and focus, while also having the ability to balance work and life in a way that makes the most sense to them.

Meet, inspire, and design

So, when (re-)designing and equipping office spaces with technology, it is essential to keep in mind why and for what employees are coming to the office. In the second step, companies need to figure out how to connect the employees in the office with the virtual workspace of their remote working colleagues. This includes providing the right technological equipment and work environment in the office as well as in the home office and rethinking the physical meeting room set-up and equipment, making sure that in hybrid meetings everyone has an equal share of presence and voice, no matter where they’re joining from. Everyone should be equitably represented in both the virtual and physical meeting environment. Intelligent audio- and video conferencing solutions, collaboration platforms, displays, software, and the interior design need to all play perfectly together to create the perfect 'new normal' office catering to the needs of a hybrid workforce.

The HWEC gives decision makers, end-users, system integrators, and consultants the unique opportunity to get first-hand inspiration, meet with the experts of partners for advice on which solutions are best for their specific requirements, and actually start planning and designing their own new office spaces.

Technology showcased

Bene Workplace Furniture

Bene provides flexible workspace solutions for the office and home, in which hybrid teams can collaborate while enjoying the freedom of working remotely.

With NOOXS, Bene offers flexible and modular partitioning to create functional spaces in an open office. NOOXS THINK TANKS are freestanding, completely closed, and have an integrated ventilation and lighting system. They offer staff a quiet place for calls alone or in teams. PIXEL Project Spaces are created in no time for agile work in hybrid teams and are flexible to change according to the team’s requirements. PORTS Storage divides open and private spaces semi-transparently and can be equipped with a pinboard, shelf, whiteboard, or screen. DOCKLANDS Dock in Lounges provide semi-secluded, temporary places for individual work. With Bene for Home, one can create the ideal home office set up with a height-adjustable Level Lift desk and U-Turns, or the STUDIO Swing table, multi-functional PIXEL, and comfortable desk chairs such as the Bay Chair and Piuro.

Microsoft Teams Room System

Microsoft Teams Rooms video conferencing solutions offers the flexibility of purpose and even flexibility of movement throughout a space that traditional meeting rooms do not. Users can enhance their collaboration with a digital whiteboard, and intelligent people-tracking cameras make sure every local participant can be seen no matter where they are in the room. Any type of space and any type of meeting can be optimised with Teams Rooms devices or Teams Rooms solutions. With the new front row layout, Microsoft teams room creates a round table meeting experience in a hybrid working environment

Jabra PanaCast Video Conferencing Solutions

The PanaCast 50 is the first new-normal-ready intelligent video bar. Built with three 13-megapixel cameras, mounted in a high-precision, multi-camera array, cover every part of the room. The patented real-time video stitching technology intelligently decides exactly the right point to live-stitch the three feeds together, creating a smooth, 180° view in high-definition Panoramic-4K, thus providing a new outcome in the video conferencing technology. Jabra PanaCast 50 puts inclusive meetings back on the table, safely.

Lenovo Thinksmart core+ Controller

Adding smarter collaboration technology to video conferencing rooms of all sizes with Lenovo ThinkSmart Core + Controller kit for Microsoft Teams Rooms—ideal. Kit includes ThinkSmart Core, a computing device built on the Intel vPro platform and certified for Microsoft Teams, a Controller display, Premier Support, and our ThinkSmart Manager Premium software, for remote manageability, deployment, and more

ScreenBeam wireless collaboration and content-sharing platform

ScreenBeam Conference wirelessly connects user devices to displays and room peripherals for flexible collaboration and content sharing in a video conferencing room.

DT has been serving clients in the Middle East and GCC region for over four decades. Subsidiary under the wings of the multi-billion conglomerate Dutco Group, DT is focused on distribution business with 12 separate business verticals operating in seven countries across the GCC and Middle East region. DT has been focused on providing a neutral yet exemplary experience for the channel partners to showcase their solutions and is well pleased in having realised the goal with HWEC in d3 with the collaboration of industry-leading vendors.