How Dicker Data is helping partners turn hybrid meeting challenges into real customer wins

Hybrid work is now firmly embedded across Australian organisations, with 60% of professionals and managers usually working from home, according to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA). For partners, this shift has created both pressure and opportunity: customers need better collaboration, but many workplaces simply aren’t equipped for it.

Dicker Data works closely with partners who are navigating this challenge every day: helping customers modernise meeting spaces that were never designed for hybrid work, while keeping deployments simple, scalable and commercially viable.

The reality partners are seeing in the field

AV partners consistently tell us that small and under‑enabled rooms are where most collaboration happens and where most problems arise.

Pro AV Solutions director Ben Daffy sees this across customer environments of all sizes.

“A significant portion of meeting rooms, particularly smaller spaces, remain under-enabled or reliant on ad-hoc setups that struggle to support hybrid collaboration effectively, yet these rooms often host the highest volume of everyday meetings, making their performance critical to employee experience,” he said.

From a partner perspective, these rooms are often the hardest to standardise.

“Barriers include inconsistent user experience across rooms, poor audio quality in typical office acoustics, and frustration with unpredictable connectivity. Technology alone doesn’t solve these issues; the deeper challenge is that many spaces were designed for in-person meetings, not hybrid interaction,” Daffy said.

This is exactly where partners need repeatable, low‑friction solutions, not one‑off designs that are difficult to quote, install or support at scale.

Why expectations are rising and complexity is increasing

Hybrid work has changed what customers expect from meeting rooms. It’s no longer enough for technology to simply “work” it needs to feel consistent, intuitive and flexible, regardless of who is in the room.

Merge Technologies founder and managing director Marty Clark said that for partners, this means designing for experience, not just hardware.

“It’s about experience-led design with scalability and flexibility thoughtfully built-in to systems in a way that doesn't introduce user discomfort, anxiety, and cognitive load,” he said.

However, Clark also noted that many deployments fail because they underestimate what’s required.

“Often installing any old front-of-room conferencing video bar won't cut it, which results in more costly components being required to deliver the desired outcome of an effective meeting room,” he said.

For partners, this creates risk - higher complexity, longer installs and inconsistent customer outcomes.

Dicker Data’s role: turning insight into scalable partner solutions

At Dicker Data, we see these challenges as a partner opportunity, particularly when the right tools and frameworks are in place.

Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) Express Install was designed to address the exact issues partners are facing in small and low‑tech meeting rooms. By standardising what has traditionally been complex, it enables partners to move faster, quote more confidently and deliver consistent outcomes for customers.

As Australia’s leading distributor, Dicker Data supports partners at every stage of delivering MTR Express Install, from solution design through to deployment.

Dicker Data head of AV Andrew Upshon said the value for partners is immediate.

“With MTR Express Install, it’s quicker to design and quote, plus easier to install, meaning less time on-site in each room, bringing efficiency to the process,” he said.

This efficiency is critical when customers want to upgrade multiple rooms, not just one.

Making previously ‘impossible’ rooms possible

One of the biggest advantages partners highlight is the ability to enable spaces that were previously left behind.

“The MTR Express Install bundles are designed for ‘low-tech’ or ‘no-tech’ meeting rooms, where the customer has not implemented a Teams Rooms solution, either due to cost considerations or physical limitations, such as not being able to wall-mount products due to glass walls or heritage listings, for example,” Upshon said.

By offering pre‑configured bundles with flexible mounting and display options, partners can now confidently propose solutions for rooms that were once considered too difficult or too costly.

“The MTR Express Install bundles include MTR systems that are designed for small meeting rooms or huddle spaces and have the advantage of choice of display sizes from 32” to 65” to suit the specific room it is going into,” Upshon explained.

Consistency that benefits partners and customers

For partners, consistency isn’t just a user benefit, it’s a commercial advantage. Standardised deployments reduce support overhead, simplify training and make future rollouts easier to scale.

“The main reason for MTR Express Install solutions is to enable as many meeting spaces in offices that historically didn’t have any room technology, so that you can get the same Teams meeting experience in every space in the office,” Upshon said.

This aligns directly with what partners like Ben Daffy see as the next phase of workplace evolution.

“By deploying intuitive, high-quality technology without complexity or heavy capital investment, organisations can dramatically improve meeting consistency, utilisation, and satisfaction across their entire workplace,” he said.

Future‑ready rooms, backed by Dicker Data

As customers look beyond today’s meetings toward data, analytics and AI‑enabled collaboration, partners need solutions that will go the distance.

“Data and analytics, including intelligent space utilisation and scheduling insights, will increasingly shape how organisations design and optimise their real estate and collaborative spaces,” Daffy said.

Upshon added that Microsoft Teams Rooms provides a strong foundation for what’s coming next.

“The Teams meeting experience is the foundation for getting these rooms ready for the new world of meeting tools in the form of AI Agents, which will sit with Teams Rooms and change the way we have meetings moving forward,” he said.

For partners, that means confidence, knowing that the solutions they deploy today are backed by Dicker Data’s local expertise, vendor relationships and long‑term commitment to the Teams Rooms ecosystem.

View Microsoft Teams Rooms Bundles.

Reach out to the Dicker Data team and find out how we can help run you through the various Express Install bundle options, so you can AI-power all these meeting rooms.