Humly, a workplace experience company with more than a decade of innovation for modernizing business environments, kicks off the new year with fresh accessories and features for its twice-award-winning Humly Booking Device), a premium hardware booking solution introduced last February at ISE 2023. Humly will unveil its latest Booking Device innovations at ISE 2024 later this month, including a new network-enabled accessory that improves powering and control functionalities for desk integrations. Humly exhibits at Stand 2W500 in the Fira de Barcelona from January 30-February 3.

Now shipping and available worldwide, Humly’s Booking Device is a slim, small, and infinitely flexible device for mounting on and underneath a variety of surfaces where people work, gather, and collaborate. Its architecture houses a small, high-resolution LCD display (3.46 inches) with a capacitive touchscreen surrounded by a thin bezel that alerts people whether rooms are available or occupied (green lighting and red lighting, respectively). Integrators and AV/IT technology managers can easily mount the device on drywall, glass, shelves, desks, and private phone booths, and centralize management and monitoring functionalities for many Booking Devices through the Humly Control Panel. Humly will also introduce new data collection and analysis features for the control panel at ISE.

Networked Hardware Accessories

New for ISE this year, Humly’s PoE and Desk Control features for the Booking Device are enabled through a separate, ultra-compact accessory. The accessory includes an ethernet port for PoE powering and a separate cabling connection to control desk positions, and these features can be turned on separately or together. The accessory is small enough to fit inside walls or mount underneath desks for cleaner installations that conceal accessories from direct sightlines.

“The desk control feature is especially powerful in the modern workplace, as each worker’s desk height preferences can be saved within the system,” said Anders Karlsson, CEO, Humly. “Desks automatically adjust to the user’s preferred seating position upon booking, and our system will recall that user’s precise desired position for every desk on the network. Staff can also manually adjust desk heights for other seated and standing positions should needs change.” The latter is enabled through two arrows that appear on the Booking Device’s touchscreen when the accessory is connected.

Humly will also introduce a second external accessory to detect human presence inside a phone booth style personal meeting space. The External Sensor immediately notifies the local Booking Device when someone has entered the booth, which switches to “booked” mode and changes the touchscreen’s bezel lighting to red. “This is a very useful feature for the manager or worker that needs to take an important phone call and quickly duck into a private space,” said Karlsson. “The accessory is essentially an affordable occupancy sensor that will prove especially valuable when applied within fast-paced corporate and shared office environments.”

Flexible Decision-making

Introduced at InfoComm in June and new to ISE audiences, users can now book, extend or conclude meetings directly on the Booking Device, providing staff with greater flexibility to create new bookings and make adjustments on the spot. Additionally, integrators and tech managers with access to Humly Control Panel can now collect data and statistics tied to room and desk usage. Karlsson notes that the latter is made even more powerful when combined with the built-in presence detection of the Booking Device or the new External Sensor.

“The Humly Control Panel has always provided the ability for contractors and technicians to monitor the health and status of an entire network of our Booking Device and Room Display premium hardware devices,” he said. “Now, we have enhanced its data collection capabilities so that the same users can learn about which rooms and desks are most active and when, and which spaces are underutilized. This can help managers make smarter decisions about new technology investments inside these spaces, and better inform staff about patterns in space availability that they may not be fully aware of. When used with the built-in or external sensor, the overall system provides a very clear picture as to office space is being used throughout the facility.”