UAE-based Al Zubair Group to roll out its pioneering Hybrid Work Lab concept abroad

Fresh from launching the Middle East’s first-ever Hybrid Work Lab, Al Zubair Group, the UAE-headquartered collaborative and certified business communications solutions specialist, is already looking forward to rolling out its pioneering new facility concept to other regions.

This comes about as the region shrugs off the unparalleled disruption of the traditional workplace caused by the pandemic, and as flexible work – incorporating hybrid, remote, and in-office – becomes the new norm.

Al Zubair Group, in association with Microsoft EMEA, unveiled Hybrid Work Lab at Arenco Tower in Dubai Media City on October 11, 2022. The bespoke 1,000+ sqft facility is equipped with world-class cutting-edge audio and video technology in a pleasing and ergonomically designed quarters overlooking Sheikh Zayed Road and Dubai Media City.

Developed primarily for use by the private sector, the Hybrid Work Lab comprises well-appointed spaces for small conferences, huddle meetings, training sessions, executive work, and work from home functioning, and is customisable depending on specific customer requirements.

With Al Zubair Group being a Microsoft Gold Partner, and Microsoft Global Meeting Room Partner, no stone has been left unturned in the quest to offer customers the best hybrid work option as now offered in the Hybrid Work Lab setting.

In an exclusive interview with MENews247 following the official inauguration of the Hybrid Work Lab, both Annbritt Steen Andersen, EMEA Director, Teams & Teams Devices, Microsoft; and Jose Thadayus, Managing Director, Al Zubair Group, concurred that hybrid work is the need of the hour in the region as both employers and employees seek to enhance day-to-day productivity through digital transformation means, while empowering employees to feel inclusive when online and addressing their desire to feel they are contributing to the organisation they are part of.

According to the Microsoft Work Trend Index 2022 report, 53% of people are likely to consider transitioning to a hybrid work model in the year ahead. In this context, Thadayus said the Hybrid Work Lab is “perfectly positioned” to meet this new requirement – by successfully integrating both in-person and asynchronous collaboration – in what is a win-win for both organisations and their employees.

With hybrid work yet to come off age, and “not knowing exactly how business communications technology will evolve over the next four to five years”, Thadayus indicated the new Hybrid Work Lab is ideal for companies to come to grips with the nuances of implementing hybrid work programmes for their employees, while also being able to use the facility’s state-of-the-art features in a convenient and cost-effective manner.

Al Zubair Group chose to partner with Microsoft for the Hybrid Work Lab as the latter is an acknowledged global leader in the hybrid work vertical – with Microsoft Teams – said Thadayus, while noting that the new Dubai facility also deploys other world-class brands’ audio and video conferencing technology, namely: Poly, Lenovo, Yealink, Neat, Epson, Jupiter, Sennheiser, Q-sys Epos Logitech, and Benne.

Having already received much positive feedback to the opening of the Hybrid Work Lab in Dubai, Thadayus stated within the next “six months” Al Zubair Group aims to incorporate virtual reality technology in the Lab’s operations; to aid UAE-based customers’ own operations while also proving appealing and beneficial to other regions where the Hybrid Work Lab concept will be rolled out.

Andersen, who inaugurated the Hybrid Work Lab in a symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony, said the world is “undergoing a seismic shift from remote to hybrid work”, and by virtue of being able to deploy the right technology for hybrid work Microsoft is actively working with “strong partners, such as Al Zubair Group, who can help us in implementing this digital transformation [hybrid work]”.

She added: “Al Zubair Group is a very attractive partner to us as with the new Hybrid Work Lab as they [Al Zubair Group] can take our entire Teams ecosystem from the home space to the now trending hybrid work space.”

In reply to the query why the time was now right for organisations to migrate overwhelmingly to hybrid work, Andersen said Microsoft “is seeing strong penetration of Microsoft Teams in the Middle East and Africa region”; confirming that the region is on the right path when it comes to flexible working.

With Microsoft having selected Al Zubair Group as its Global Meeting Room Partner after the company met multiple eligibility criteria and demonstrated customer engagement with multi-brand solution skills, Thadayus said as the Hybrid Work Lab is poised to generate and work with a huge amount of digital content, Al Zubair Group has taken all necessary measures to secure and safeguard the content by “verifying the authenticity of the data through software principals, the Microsoft Teams platform itself, and multiple hardware vendors”.

Apart from its headquarters in the UAE, Al Zubair operates sales and customer support offices in Saudi Arabia and India, with a global footprint that extends to: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo, The Democratic Republic of the, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Rwanda, St. Helena, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo, Uganda, UAE, and Yemen.

Last Updated on 10 months by Arnold Pinto