Business Info - issue 141

Office Design ROOM TO THINK New to the European market, ROOM supplies ventilated, soundproof phone booths to more than 2,000 companies in the US, including NASA, Google, Uber, Amazon, Nike, JP Morgan, Apple and Samsung. The booths, each made from more than 1,000 recycled plastic bottles, provide quiet areas in open plan offices where staff can concentrate, be creative or make private phone calls. Since it was set up in May 2018, ROOM has grown by 20% every month, putting it on target to exceed $40 million in revenue by the end of 2019. ROOM booths are supplied flat-packed and can be assembled by two people in just one hour. They can be bought online for £3,295, with free delivery and free returns. www.room.com Networks MAKING THE LIGHT CONNECTION Hamburg football club HSV Fußball AG has become the first football club to connect to the internet using light waves, after installing a Trulifi system from Signify in its Volkspark stadium press centre. Eight out of 84 energy- efficient LED recessed luminaires in the press centre ceiling have integrated Trulifi 6002 transceivers that modulate infrared light waves to provide an Internet connection of up to 150 megabits per second (Mbps). A USB Access Key plugged into journalists’ laptops picks up the LiFi signal and transmits data back to the luminaire. The LiFi system is immune to interference from other devices and more secure as transmissions are encrypted and light waves cannot pass through walls.With a capacity of 57,000, Volkspark is one of 10 stadiums being used at Euro 2024. www.signify.com MobileWorking PRIVATE SPACES FOR PUBLIC PLACES MyWork Booth is a rentable, soundproof room within a public space where users can work, take phone calls, charge their portable devices and hold face-to-face meetings/ interviews or video calls. The concept was developed by Neil Jenkins, who has over two decades of experience in the furniture industry. He said: “I was spending all my time between appointments in cafés, looking for the nearest power point. Making professional calls was impossible with all the loud music and chatter. I saw a gap in the market for a rentable quiet space where you could get some proper work done.” MyWork Booths can be booked via a dedicated app, with prices starting at £12 for fifteen minutes. Find out more at www.myworkbooth.co.uk Training LEARNING FLEXIBILITY FROM THE PROFESSIONALS Is lack of flexibility damaging your business? A new report from RADA Business, the commercial subsidiary of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, suggests that it might be. In a survey of 1,000 workplaces for its Thinking on your feet report, 91% of respondents said they regularly experience situations in which employees fail to communicate flexibly and apply common sense to a problem. An inability to think ‘in the moment’ and improvise a creative solution often manifests itself in impatience with customers (cited by 46%), unhelpfulness (45%), poor communication (38%) and rudeness (37%). Almost nine out of 10 respondents (88%) said such behaviour tarnishes their impression of the entire organisation. Professionals in the healthcare sector are thought to have the greatest ability to improvise and work well under pressure (40%), followed by counter staff in banks (23%) and admin staff in the NHS (23%). The least flexible are estate agents (9%), staff at utility companies (10%) and public transport workers (15%). RADA Business delivers training and coaching to help improve employees’ communication skills and increase their ability to react to situations in a flexible way. radabusiness.com BULLETIN 01732 759725 magazine 07 Mobile Comms THINGS ARE LOOKING UP Is this the stage set of the future? On the basis that almost all smartphone users engage with their devices vertically, Samsung chose to mark the opening of the 22,000sq ft Samsung KX multi-sensory experience centre in King’s Cross with the world’s first ‘vertical stage’ gig. Performed by Mabel, it featured a three- storey, 9.1 metre-high stage designed to make it easy for audience members to capture, view and share every element of the performance instantly on their smartphone. www.samsung.com/uk/kx BULLETIN Marketing THIS YEAR’S TOP 10 CONSUMER BRANDS 1 NHS 2 Spotify 3 Netflix 4 PlayStation 5 Apple 6 LEGO 7 Fitbit 8 Lush 9 Samsung 10 Google For a copy of Prophet’s fourth annual Brand Relevance Index report on the Top 50 consumer brands, including analysis of its findings, visit www.prophet.com/ relevantbrands-2019/united-kingdom/