The Smart Workplace Summit, hosted at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2025, will bring together experts from the systems integration and audiovisual (AV) industries to discuss technologies and solutions for distributed workforces.
Gary Keene, head of AV for the University of the Arts London, and chair of the summit, addresses some of the key themes he will discuss at the event.
Which artificial intelligence-driven tools do you think will have the greatest impact on workforce efficiency?
AI-powered tools that reduce manual effort, increase speed and accuracy, and provide data-driven insights to optimise operations are likely to have the largest impact in the short-term by delivering scalable marginal gains at little or no cost.
The areas where they will have the most impact include analysing historical and real-time data to forecast future trends, identify risks and optimise operational decisions around staffing and inventory management. Other benefits include using conversational AI to create chatbots and virtual agents that can handle customer service and employee support tasks; automating repetitive, rules-based back-office processes with intelligent process automation; and making information more accessible and actionable for employees with natural language processing.
What challenges do organisations face in securing increasingly connected AV systems and how can they balance their security with their performance?
Many AV systems run embedded operating systems and software with known security flaws, making them vulnerable to threat actors. Connected AV devices often lack strong authentication, authorisation and encryption, which exposes them to exploits related to the internet of things. Other challenges include remote management risks, siloed AV systems that complicate policy enforcement and hidden vulnerabilities in the supply chain.
To address these, organisations should implement a zero-trust architecture and verify all users, devices and connections. A centralised unified endpoint management (UEM) platform enforces security policies across the AV infrastructure. Integration with extended detection and response platforms enables real-time threat detection, while network micro-segmentation isolates AV systems to limit threats. Regular device posture checks ensure compliance with security baselines. Lastly, training users on security best practices is essential for maintaining a strong security posture.
What steps can companies take to evaluate and reduce the environmental impact of their AV solutions?
The first step in creating sustainable AV systems is performing a lifecycle assessment to measure environmental impacts across raw material extraction, energy use, transportation and end-of-life disposal. Organisations should then prioritise energy-efficient AV equipment with features like automatic power management, LED display backlighting and efficient internal components.
Sustainability efforts should include extending hardware lifespans through maintenance and upgrades, securely recycling e-waste and emphasising reuse over disposal. Also, educating users on sustainable practices maximises these efforts. Training should focus on how to use efficient power settings, reduce physical media and travel and adopt paperless workflows. Together, these measures make AV systems more environmentally responsible while maintaining high performance.
As conferencing technology becomes more commodified, concerns about quality and accessibility arise. How is this trend impacting the AV industry and what should organisations consider when choosing cost-effective solutions?
This trend has flooded the enterprise market with low-cost, feature-limited AV solutions, often at the expense of professional quality, performance and support. The technical impacts on the AV industry include increased price pressure, reliability concerns, interoperability challenges, and limited technical support and maintenance with commodity AV solutions often having reduced availability of firmware updates, spare parts and technical support.
As organisations balance budgetary constraints with the need for high-performance, accessible AV capabilities, they should evaluate key technical factors, including long-term total cost of ownership, after maintenance, support and upgrade expenses. They must also prioritise AV solutions that conform to industry standards. In addition, they should ensure that AV hardware and software meet relevant accessibility guidelines, such as captioning and screen-reader compatibility, and choose products that accommodate organisational growth.
What major trends or innovations do you expect will shape the AV industry in future?
AI is transforming AV technology through innovations that enhance collaboration, maintenance, security and sustainability. Intelligent collaboration features like automated camera framing, speaker tracking and personalised AV experiences powered by AI make virtual meetings more fluid and inclusive. Meanwhile, predictive maintenance uses machine learning to optimise system uptime by identifying and addressing issues before they occur.
Security is also advancing, with AI supporting zero-trust architectures that verify users, devices and connections accessing AV systems. UEM integrates with advanced tools to ensure visibility, threat detection and rapid mitigation.
Sustainability is becoming a priority, driving the development of energy-efficient AV hardware with advanced power management and modular designs. Circular economy practices – including refurbishment, reuse and e-waste recycling – are streamlining lifecycle management. Additionally, transitioning AV workloads to virtualised, cloud-based platforms is reducing hardware footprints and energy demands, offering scalable and sustainable solutions for the industry.
Learn more about the Smart Workplace Summit taking place at ISE on the website.
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