Microsoft Teams Rooms vs. BYOD: the differences at a glance

We see organisations looking for ways to improve the effectiveness of hybrid meetings. At AVEX, we help them take the next step.

Many of our customers started hybrid working with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): connecting a laptop to a screen and, if required, a USB camera or speaker. That works, especially at the beginning. But once hybrid meetings become structural, organisations often run into limitations.

In this article, our colleague Patrique Petit, Microsoft 365 specialist at AVEX, explains when BYOD is sufficient and when Microsoft Teams Rooms is the better choice.

“We see that many organisations are looking for ways to improve the effectiveness of hybrid meetings.” Patrique Petit Microsoft Office 365 Specialist

In this article, you will read:

• What BYOD is and what its advantages and limitations are
• When BYOD is no longer sufficient
• What Microsoft Teams Rooms is
• What works better with a native Microsoft Teams Room compared to BYOD
• When to choose which option

After reading, you will have a better understanding of the differences between BYOD and Microsoft Teams Rooms, which option fits which situation and how Microsoft Teams Rooms can take hybrid meetings to the next level.

What is meant by BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)?

With BYOD, a user starts the meeting from their own laptop. The laptop is connected to the screen, camera and audio equipment in the room. The laptop functions as the heart of the meeting.

Advantages of BYOD:

• Low investment
• Flexible and quick to deploy
• Suitable for small rooms or occasional use

But in practice, we also see limitations:

❌ Every meeting starts differently

❌ More dependent on the user’s knowledge and preparation

❌ Greater chance of technical problems

❌ Different settings

❌ Varying audio and video quality

❌ Security levels differ

❌ Limited management capabilities

BYOD is therefore primarily an entry-level solution that works perfectly well for some rooms.

When BYOD is no longer sufficient

As soon as meeting rooms are used more intensively, the need changes*. Think of daily hybrid meetings, meetings with multiple locations, project and management meetings, and customer and partner meetings.

In these situations, reliability and consistency are more important than flexibility. Users no longer want to think about cables, settings or devices. The meeting should simply start. And run professionally.

*The Work Trend Index from Microsoft shows that workload and the number of meetings remain high: in recent years, weekly meeting time for the average Teams user has increased significantly, and AI is being widely adopted to save time and collaborate more effectively. At the same time, we see that hybrid working is structural: since the pandemic, the volume of online and hybrid meetings has increased significantly; earlier Work Trend Index measurements already showed total meeting time increasing by hundreds of per cent, a trend that has since appeared to have become the new normal. This underlines the need for stable, standardised meeting rooms.

How does Microsoft Teams Rooms work?

Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) is a dedicated meeting solution, specifically designed for physical meeting rooms. The room has its own Teams account and works with certified audio and video equipment.

A meeting starts with one press of a button on the touch panel in the room. A laptop is not required. This provides a fixed, recognisable way of working and enables centralised management.

Why this matters: Teams Rooms is not “just another device”, but a standard way of working for every room. From this standard, it logically follows what works better: ease of use, audio/video quality, AI/Copilot results, speaker recognition and management/standardisation.

We will go through these five points in a little more detail below.

Below is an overview of the comparison across the five areas.

BYOD vs Microsoft Teams Rooms – comparison across 5 areas:

Let’s take a slightly closer look.

What works more smoothly with a native Microsoft Teams Room compared to BYOD?

When should you choose which?

Looking at different types of rooms, we roughly see the following division:

Conclusion

BYOD remains a perfectly good solution for simple or occasional meeting rooms. But for organisations that want to improve hybrid working structurally, Microsoft Teams Rooms is the logical next step for many meeting rooms. It provides greater ease of use, better hybrid collaboration and higher meeting quality.

AVEX is a certified Microsoft Teams Rooms partner

At AVEX, we help organisations make the right choices in the enormous jungle of possibilities.

AVEX is a certified Microsoft Teams Rooms partner. This means we do more than just supply and install the hardware. We advise on the right configuration for each room, integrate MTR into the existing IT environment and ensure that everything works together.

We work with various Microsoft-certified manufacturers such as Cisco, Crestron, HP Poly, Jabra, Lenovo, Logitech, Shure and Yealink. Our experience as a Microsoft specialist means we have in-depth knowledge of Teams integrations.