Welcome to Our Smart Home Technology Blog

Almost everyone we know is grumbling about Daylight Savings Time and for good reason. It seems that the brief time period in which we enjoy sunlight has dwindled into a few hours, and many of us are feeling more sluggish as a result. Now that Texas has finally started showing signs of winter, your employees might feel a little cabin fever within your office walls, which interferes with brainstorming and creativity.

You can enjoy more of the illumination you and your employees need just by adding motorized shades to your Irving, TX, space, and you can even save money in the process. Keep reading to see how one solution can do both.

SEE MORE: How Lighting Control Makes Your Conference Room Smarter

Harvest Sunlight

We’ve all experienced the dreaded 3 p.m. lag, which often coincides with the time that we need to be the most productive. Liven up the post-lunch conference room meeting by brightening your surroundings! Human rhythms depend on bright daylight illumination to power us through the morning and afternoon. Motorized shades with photo sensors “read” the amount of daylight outside and automatically raise the blinds to optimize light intake. We can program your shades to rise and fall at preset times, based on circadian rhythm patterns.

...And Heat

Did you know that some of  that light coming through your office’s windows converts to energy? According to an Energy.gov study, up to 40% of a building's heating energy is lost through windows during heating seasons. Motorized shades effectively decrease your heating bills in two ways - by allowing more of the sunlight to come in and heat the house and by trapping cold air outside. Let’s look closer.

When you’re planning a conference room and considering all the commercial audio video details, you’ll likely first think about the most noticeable elements you need -- like your display and speaker technology.

In our many years of experience installing automated boardrooms, we have found that often, the smaller, less flashy components make or break the meetings. Keep reading to better understand what we mean, and which three factors you should no longer ignore!

SEE ALSO: Boost Sales and Work Harder With Digital Signage

Room Scheduling Software

Many hiccups can arise during a meeting scheduling process. It’s not uncommon, for example, for someone to set up a video conference but forgets to send the link to your calendar. A software glitch can allow a room to get double-booked.

Designating a place and time for a simple meeting should never be painstaking. Crestron’s Fusion room scheduling software connects everyone in your office to an easy-to-use scheduling platform. Employees can see which rooms are available on touch screens throughout the office, and press a few buttons to book a meeting, set a space and invite attendees. For your convenience, Fusion syncs with standard email tools, like Outlook and Google.

If you’ve been in the business world for a while, we’re sure you’ve experienced the wonders of video conferencing firsthand. Remote employees depend on it for a connection to in-office teams, and clients and prospects rely on webcams when doing business with you.

Are you using the platform and technology that fulfills your attendees’ various needs? In this article, we’ll explore some key differentiators between two of the most popular systems, Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Plus, we’ll show you how you can take full advantage of Crestron Flex – the next generation of boardroom technology products from the business automation leader. Curious to see what we might recommend for you? Read on to which one you need to start using in your Dallas, TX, office.

SEE ALSO: 3 Commercial Audio-Video Trends That Hospitality Business Owners Should Know

Microsoft Teams

If you’re a devout Microsoft user, we think you’ll enjoy the flawless integration with programs like Outlook that will let you find and share emails and group chats in lightning speed. You can start a discussion, via chat or video, right from the Teams platform, or host a meeting that takes only seconds to create. Users enjoy the platform’s intelligence, which allows them to find resources -- from transcriptions of recorded texts to relevant, searchable chats and files -- to bring to any discussion.

Microsoft Teams is free to download, with partial functionality and no commitments. For a more robust experience, Teams is available as part of Office 365 Business Premium for $12.50 per user, per month, or Office 365 Enterprise E3 for $20 per user, per month, which unlocks the full range of features.