Through our partnership with Google, Industrious is bringing Google Beam to select workplaces, opening access to a more personal way to connect across cities.
An important conversation often turns on something small, be it a moment of hesitation before an answer, or a smile that puts someone at ease. These varying micro-espressions tell you whether your feedback, your pitch, your overall intention has landed.
When colleagues, candidates, and clients are in different cities, those details can be harder to read. Video makes it possible to speak regularly across distances. But feeling fully present with another person remains a more demanding task.
At Industrious, that is a workplace question as much as a technology question. The environments we create should support the attention, understanding, and trust that good work requires. That responsibility extends to conversations with people beyond the room.
It is why we are partnering with Google to create the first-ever Google Beam extended network. Launching in October, the network will bring HP Dimension with Google Beam to select Industrious locations in Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco, with priority scheduling for members.
Making room for the details of conversation
Google Beam enables one-on-one conversations through life-sized, true-to-life 3D video and spatial audio. Participants appear at true size, with voices connected to the people speaking. No headsets or complex setup are required.
Those capabilities serve a familiar purpose: helping people read a smile, catch a glance, and recognize the small reactions that give a conversation its meaning. The experience is designed to let participants concentrate on each other.
Consider a manager discussing a difficult decision with a colleague in another city. Hearing the explanation is one part of that exchange. Recognizing uncertainty, knowing when to pause, and giving the other person room to respond are just as important. Technology that helps preserve those cues can support a more attentive, fluid conversation.
Where presence can make a difference
For a candidate meeting a prospective employer, an interview is also an opportunity to understand the people they might work with. A more natural exchange could help both side ask better follow-up questions and develop a fuller sense of one another. Google has already worked with Bain to test HP Dimension with Google Beam in campus recruiting and candidate interviews, exploring how to build those connections across distance without extensive travel.
The same potential matters in relationships that develop over time. A mentor and a colleague may need space for a candid discussion about career development; a client and an adviser may be working through a consequential choice; leaders in different offices may need to establish shared understanding before making a decision. These—and countless others—are moments when the quality of attention people can give each other deserves more consideration.
Google’s early research offers evidence of that potential. In an eight-week internal study, teams using Beam felt 50% more connected to one another and found it 33% easier to ensure their feedback was clearly understood. These findings reflect Google’s internal testing; they offer an encouraging basis for exploring how Beam can support conversations in other workplaces.
In February, members who tried Beam at the WorkLife Office Suites by Industrious at Penn One kept returning to the same idea: presence. One participant said, “The biggest difference was eye contact.” Another described it as “actual presence of another human being with me in the room.” Someone else put it more simply: “It felt more human.” Those reactions get at what matters most about the technology: not the novelty of 3D video, but the feeling that the person on the other side is really there.
Extending access through Industrious
For a lot of businesses, adopting emerging technology means evaluating equipment, finding the right setting, and deciding whether the investment makes sense. But that’s why we’re here. Our partnership creates another way to access that experience.
Through select Industrious workplaces, members and guests will be able to use technology developed for enterprise collaboration. Your growing business can consider it for an important client conversation, or your distributed organization can look to the network for meetings beyond its own offices.
That access is the significance of the extended network: it places the experience within reach of businesses of different sizes, in workplaces built to support their day better than ever.
“The best work happens when people feel genuinely connected,” says Carlos Becil, Chief Product Officer at Industrious. “In a Beam conversation, you can naturally read a smile, catch a glance, pick up on the subtle cues that deepen communication. We’re giving our members access to a fundamentally different way of meeting, where you feel like you’re in the room together. That changes how deals move, how trust gets built, and how teams actually connect across distances.“
The rooms will support one-on-one Beam conversations and can also be used for Google Meet and Zoom group meetings. These are distinct uses of the rooms: the group meeting options gives teams another way to use familiar platforms.
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A workplace that supports understanding
Thoughtful workplace design considers what people need to do and what will help them do it. A quiet setting protects concentration, hospitality removes everyday complications, and the tech in a meeting room should earn its place by supporting the people using it.
For Industrious, Beam is an opportunity to apply that principle to communication across distances! Its value will be found in the conversations it helps people have: feedback that comes through clearly, candidates who can show more of who they are, or long-standing working relationships that are strengthened through closer attention.
The most meaningful outcome is a person leaving the room feeling that they have been heard and have understood someone else a little better.
Explore Google Beam at Industrious and sign up for early access in Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Google Beam FAQ
What is Google Beam?
Google Beam is a 3D video communication technology that brings a greater sense of presence to conversations across distances. Using life-sized video and spatial audio, it helps people recognize the expressions, gestures, and subtle cues that can be harder to capture on a traditional video call.
Who can book Google Beam?
Google Beam is available to Industrious members and on-demand users. Members can use their allotted meeting room hours or book additional time. Nonmembers can also reserve Beam rooms on demand.
Where is Google Beam available?
Google Beam is available at four Industrious locations:
- New York City: Tower 49
- Chicago: Ogilvie
- Atlanta: Ponce City Market
- San Francisco: Financial District
Can more than two people use Google Beam?
The 3D experience is designed for one-on-one conversations. Beam rooms can also support standard group video meetings through Google Meet or Zoom, without the 3D functionality.
Why can only one person sit in front of the display?
Google Beam’s 3D technology is designed around a single participant. If multiple people are detected, the system may switch to a standard video call.
Do both participants need to be in a Google Beam room?
Yes. Both participants must be in separate Beam-enabled rooms to experience a 3D conversation. Joining from a laptop, phone, or another device will result in a standard video call.