Audio quality has become a new priority for global businesses, according to new research published by EPOS. The audio brand's latest report, 'Quality Audio: A Sound Investment' shares insights from 2,000 decision-makers across 7 global markets and sectors including IT, Finance, Business Services, Healthcare and Media.
The report found that 83 per cent of global business leaders say that audio equipment has become more important compared with two years ago. They now see audio as key to maintaining client, employee, and partner communication, and this has been exponentially increased as workforces continue to work remotely. Within this shift in prioritisation, sound quality has emerged as a non-negotiable enabler of business continuity, client and partnership management and internal communications.
Key findings:
Paying for quality makes business sense – of the global decision-makers surveyed, 56% say that high-quality audio equipment is essential to their business, and a further 34% think it is desirable. 66% of those working in Healthcare and 64% in IT and Digital sectors say that high-quality audio equipment is indispensable to their performance.
Large organisations take the lead - 95% of those surveyed will be continuing to periodically invest in new audio equipment for individual use with 50% citing they will be doing this every two to three years moving forward.
Spend on audio is already earmarked for greater investment - 57% of business leaders expect investments in audio equipment to increase over the next two years, and organisations based in APAC, UK, US and Germany are set to take the lead with planned increases in spending. When it comes to the highest spending sectors for future audio investment, Telecoms and Utilities lead the way (73%) followed by Hospitality (68%) Finance (68%) and IT/ Digital (67%).
Future-proofing for the future workforce - The current health landscape has accelerated the speed of response needed for organisations to avoid impact on business operations, and a surge in virtual meetings and calls replacing face-to-face interaction has been central to that. However, business leaders must also look beyond the pandemic toward future securing talent as Generation Z enters the workforce - remote or otherwise.
Jeppe Dalberg-Larsen, President at EPOS said, "younger users do have a greater awareness of communication endpoints. It is a good idea to involve your employees by providing them with the right tools that fit their way of working, acknowledging that everyone has different needs and there will be a different solution them. Getting the right audio equipment for the individual user and task is key to getting better results from your employees. Business leaders need to respond in line with this by harnessing new technologies to empower their workforces today, and importantly, to attract and retain future talent still to come.
"In our latest research, half [49%] of the business leaders we surveyed said that an increase in hybrid working has elevated the importance of audio equipment and technology for their business. These decision-makers are beginning to understand that a one size fits all approach will not cut it. They need to map out how they see their organisation working and the different communication endpoints their employees will need, back in the office or, more likely, as part of a new hybrid model. Quality audio equipment and technology solutions will have a significant influence on defining and enabling what business success looks like today and ten years down the line."