Collaboration: the key to workplace efficiency

Rogers Business

Collaboration - Feb. 1, 2017

Collaboration: the key to workplace efficiency

With today’s technology, your employees can work nearly anywhere.

Did you know that fixed workspaces are now used less than 50 percent of the time? Seventy percent of workers are mobile at some point, whether working off-site, from home or in the field^[1].

At the same time, employees’ work is also more collaborative. Management studies show that the time spent in meetings, on the phone and responding to emails has ballooned by 50 percent or more over the past two decades. And even when employees are in the office, they’re often connecting with a network of external contractors, partners or colleagues working in different regions and satellite offices.

It’s clear that the nature of work is shifting, and the stakes are high. Companies that recognize this shift and make it easy for collaboration to happen anywhere, anytime will see higher staff morale, greater productivity and, by extension, a better bottom line. In short, collaboration defines how your corporate mind collectively thinks — a foundational component of its ability to innovate and compete.

To be a leader in your industry, whether you’re a large or small operation, you need to ask: How can we enable our increasingly mobile and geographically fragmented workforce to collaborate better?

"To be a leader in your industry, whether you’re a large or small operation, you need to ask: How can we enable our increasingly mobile and geographically fragmented workforce to collaborate better?" - Matthew Leppanen, Rogers Director of Product Management, UCC

A New Class of Tools

It’s no secret that meetings and bloated email inboxes can drain your productivity. But new types of communication tools are making a splash, streamlining some aspects of workplace collaboration, especially remote groups of employees and ad hoc project teams. Standalone collaboration platforms like Slack have been joined by larger market entrants such as Microsoft Teams among others in an increasingly crowded market.

These services and platforms promise new ways to communicate that go far beyond just instant messages and chat functions. Individuals, project teams and larger groups can also keep in touch via voice and video calling, file sharing, screen sharing and Web conferencing. Some services intend to integrate collaboration features into broader Unified Communications (UC) suites as well.

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The new technologies are an exciting development in the area of team interaction. By providing a centralized hub for day-to-day communication, collaboration tools offer employees a faster, more flexible means of working together. For example, five automotive engineers located in different cities who are engaged in an ongoing group conversation around development of a new car part can collectively make decisions quicker than if they had to get in the same room, or try to keep up with a long email thread in their inboxes. As a result, these engineers can propel faster product development and beat competitors to the punch.

Of course, that’s just one example. But collaboration tools accelerate information sharing while helping people focus on what’s most important.

The end of in-person meetings?

A recent global survey found that a stunning 51 percent of respondents believe better technologies will make face-to-face meetings redundant within the next five years.

"A recent global survey found that a stunning 51 percent of respondents believe better technologies will make face-to-face meetings redundant within the next five years."

Organizations should prepare a thoughtful response to this cultural shift. How do you support remote collaboration when it offers advantages, while in other circumstances encouraging the benefits of in-person meetings?

There’s no question we’re in a period of transition. Personally, I am still a big believer in employees getting away from their desks and meeting at a whiteboard or project table to solve a real problem together in person. In some situations, that is simply the best way to work. As social animals, people inside your company will form stronger ties that will ultimately help them collaborate remotely as well.

Clearly, you need to strike the right balance for your company. But don’t overlook this interesting twist: technology can actually play a part in facilitating more in-person team collaboration as well.

Mobile devices are a perfect example. Their purpose should be to untether your employees from their desks, encouraging them to go work wherever they will be most effective. In some cases, that could very well mean working at a satellite office for a day so they can connect with the rest of the team in person, while still being fully reachable. Or it could simply allow an employee to contribute to a spontaneous discussion with a co-worker instead of lingering by their desk for a call.

With the right mix of mobile, UC and collaboration tools, employees can choose the most frictionless form of teamwork for the task at hand.

Four questions to get started with Business Collaboration

As you think about your organization’s UC and mobile roadmaps, you need to consider how collaboration tools will fit in, with a view to their impact on productivity and your ability to compete.

Here are four questions that can help define your approach:

1. What types of collaboration contribute most to my business? You ultimately want to encourage and maximize high-value interactions, while streamlining everything else. This will help guide your thinking about the utility of specific communication tools.
2. What employee types need collaboration tools? Does every team need an environment? Consider project management groups, new product development or creative teams like Marketing as fertile test beds for pilot projects.
3. Do collaboration tools need to integrate with a broader UC environment? It will be important for you to understand how features are complementary and where you will need to separate out the different technologies.
4. What problem are you trying to solve? Some technology platforms are better equipped to address certain kinds of collaboration challenges than others. It can be hard to separate processes from communication preferences, and how teams collaborate also reflects the workplace culture. New tools can provide a forum for more open sharing of ideas, but consider the personalities and leadership styles of personnel.
With so many new services and platforms now becoming available, 2017 is a good time to explore what works for your organization. Ultimately, introducing the right form of Business Collaboration technology into your organization will help ensure you are positioned to be a market leader and not a follower.
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