As part of CES 2022, Dell Technologies has unveiled Concept Flow, Concept Pari and Concept Stanza – visionary strategies for a seamless work experience.

Glen Robson, CTO, Client Solutions Group, Dell Technologies

Hybrid work is about flexibility and enabling productivity for all, anywhere. We know that seamless transitions between devices and locations will set the foundation for great hybrid work experiences.

As previously shared in our vision for The Future of Work Reimagined, technology plays an even more critical role in our new world. That is why our teams have been working on several concept solutions that could help facilitate better communication, collaboration, and location equality for all. We are excited to share three of our latest concepts today:

Concept Flow

Hybrid work means that team members will be more mobile than ever and that brings new opportunities and considerations for IT managers and facilities teams when thinking about office environments and technology infrastructure. Concept Flow is our vision for a personal, seamless transition to productivity as you move between locations during your day.

Moving between spaces while working can be extremely disruptive: Why do my settings sometimes change when I switch spaces? Why does it take a while for my laptop to get up and running when I dock? Can you hear me? Can you see my screen? How do I connect to this display? How do I start this meeting?

Concept Flow is an adaptable concept solution that could eliminate many of these frustrations and productivity disruptors. Our teams have married devices, industry standard wireless charging technology, intelligent software applications and Wi-Fi 6E docking technology to create a singular, seamless experience. Imagine walking up to an intelligent workspace where your laptop automatically connects to the displays, mouse, keyboard and your trusted network before you’ve sat down. You are ready to pick up exactly where you last left off. Simultaneously, as you place your laptop down, it receives power wirelessly (no more fumbling for cords or awkwardly crawling under desks!). And when you’re ready to move to your next location, Concept Flow’s proximity detection feature disconnects you automatically when you leave. That transition between spaces becomes frictionless.

This vision is more than an idea. Below you’ll see Concept Flow in action – and while we are still learning, fine-tuning, and collaborating with partners, this concept puts us a step closer to what we see as work experiences reimagined.

Concept Pari

When we talk about inclusive environments for all in a hybrid world, we’re really talking about reducing barriers to collaboration and communication between team members. It’s making sure that everyone has equal experiences regardless of where they are working or joining from that day.

Love them or hate them, virtual meetings are here to stay. However, we recognise that engagement fatigue is real – especially over video where you are constantly glancing between participants trying to read body language or social cues, while also maintaining eye-contact and taking notes or presenting slides.

Our designers and engineers have been thinking about camera placement for a while and knew they wanted a solution that could help foster more meaningful human interaction and also allow them to share their offscreen sketches and prototypes easily during calls. They adopted an agile approach with fast iteration, and after countless mockups featuring flashlights, adhesives, suction cups and magnets later, Concept Pari was created.

Concept Pari is a simple, moveable wireless web camera with innovative features to help bring more natural, intuitive experiences to virtual collaboration. It can be placed directly – anywhere – on compatible displays, in a charging dock, on a stand, or even held in the hand. This allows users to make direct eye contact with the people they are speaking with and allows for easy sharing of additional offscreen content and viewpoints. Small and light (30g) yet mighty, this iteration features a microphone and can deliver 1080p video over Wi-Fi. It has useful built-in features like a power indicator, vertical indicator light to help with perfect alignment and great angles every time, plus an integrated USB-C dock for wireless charging. The dock can even cradle and charge a reversed camera for extra peace of mind when it comes to privacy.

What’s more, the small footprint, flexibility and simplicity of Concept Pari means it could appeal to anyone engaging in regular video calls and could easily be a companion accessory that forms part of a “hybrid work” toolkit as people transition between different locations for work.

Concept Stanza

Small technological improvements can have a big impact on our everyday work experiences, so when we thought about new ways of working, we knew there was an opportunity to reconsider one of the most common aspects of working life – note taking.

Almost everyone will agree; extra screen real estate can improve productivity and collaboration. Concept Stanza takes our exploration of multi-screen solutions a step further. It’s a new kind of thin, light, port-less 11” companion device solely designed to make the note-taking process that much easier and smarter.

Such a simple concept at first glance. Yes, we deliberately chose not to include cameras or speakers, for a distraction-free experience. Every element has been thoughtfully crafted so when you use Concept Stanza, there is no learning curve required; it almost feels like you are taking notes with a pen and paper, except you could double tap to convert your handwriting to text instantly. And with additional intelligence, screen extension functionality, and software features, your content could be retrievable, searchable, and shareable across devices, so no more frantically digging through multiple notebooks to find that reminder or note that you vaguely recall. No more having to take a photo of your handwritten notes to email them to yourself or coworkers. Concept Stanza blends the best of analog and digital, and was even developed with a pen and mic for transcribing notes – take a look below.

Reimagining Work Experiences

The promise of hybrid work goes beyond productivity; we believe that the pinnacle of great hybrid work experiences helps achieve balance, and that requires both a culture shift and advancements in technology.

My team continues to dig into collaboration tools, ecosystem solutions, device intelligence and planning for how future technology solutions will be much more aware of context. There are opportunities for us to re-imagine how technology can help us achieve more than ever before, and we’ll continue to explore ways to improve work experiences.