Another year is in the books, but not before it helped to give us an idea of what the future of office teamwork looks like.
Video collaboration has become incredibly important in the modern workplace. Convoluted processes have made information more difficult to obtain, and key personnel continue to spread out geographically due to a variety of reasons. Ultimately though, this is all helping to bring more benefits to organisations than adverse impacts. Here are three trends to keep in mind as we head into 2018:
1. Bringing it all together
Any negative stigma concerning video conferencing is usually technical and can sway employees from using it more. While companies have rushed to integrate the new technologies that can help bridge gaps between different departments, some have forgotten that the solutions themselves need to be just as connected.
This is expected to change moving forward, according to CIO.com. More businesses will incorporate holistic platforms like unified communications that provide a simple user-interface for staff members to access each application. In a sense, we'll see less innovation over the next few years as companies spend more of their focus on integrating fully developed solutions that have invested time into working out all the bugs.
2. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
Screen sharing has been around for some time now, but its usefulness has been overshadowed by its complex technical aspects in office settings. As such, the benefits of being able to do so efficiently and regularly have yet to be fully exploited.
Screen sharing will become a regular part of employees' days.
Unified communications platforms have bridged this gap by making video collaboration as simple as clicking a button - a development that Richard Edwards, service director at Freeform Dynamics, expects to be a game-changer in 2018.
"The most significant [change] looking into 2018 is the ability to switch between exchanging short messages and maybe a few file attachments to being able to join a group conference call and maybe even escalate that and do a bit of screen sharing and bring in third parties much more easily than would be the case today," Edwards told Computer World.
3. Digital meetings
Roughly one in every three Australians works from home regularly, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Video collaboration will become even more vital to sustaining that trend in coming years, as face-to-face conferences will be replaced by webcams.
Having reliable software backing these video conferences will be key to allowing employees more freedom, which should benefit their mental health and wellness over the long run. Contact a Fonality representative today to learn more.
