In the past year, we’ve witnessed important changes in the collaboration market. We’ve seen it in the numerous mergers and acquisitions in both the web conferencing and the unified communications and collaboration (UCC) space, including our own LogMeIn & GoTo merger in 2017, and the recent acquisition of Jive Communications, one of the most modern and delightful /unified-communications/ucaas platforms on the market. Additionally, beyond traditional UCC companies, we’ve also seen investments by Google and Microsoft and proliferation of solutions by newcomers like Slack and Amazon adding collaboration features that are shaping the market.
So, what’s driving these dynamics? Given our own research and industry experts, we believe this shift is due to a change in the demographics and mindset of the modern workforce. This is a workforce that significantly relies on Instant Messaging/Chat applications for collaborating at work and often prefers text over talk. It’s also a group that is comfortable being on video, thanks to Facetime or Skype. Moreover, it’s a workforce that is increasingly remote. What that means is that it’s no longer just about giving your employees the tools to do their job adequately from 9 to 5 in the office, but about providing your employees with the technology and experiences that enable them to work how, where and when they want. That means enabling frictionless work across an increasing number of devices, spaces and contexts.
Even with all these changes to the workforce, we firmly believe that meetings are at the centre of business. It’s where work gets done, decisions are made, relationships are built, and business results are delivered. Meetings are integral to businesses, and we’ve been squarely focused on offering our customers the best possible meeting experience for over 15 years. However, we are thinking more broadly and expanding the interactions before, during, and after meetings.
As a leader in this dynamic space, we are committed to driving innovation in this changing landscape. Beginning today, you will see that change in the way we think about enabling you to seamlessly connect with those both inside and outside of your organisation. It’s an evolution that we will continue to lead in the future, removing friction to make the collaboration experience flawless.
So, What’s Next for GoToMeeting?
Our teams from around the globe have worked to understand what today’s workers need to be effective and drive outcomes in their organisations. We didn’t just want to add new features but create experiences that will drive business momentum for our users. These new features come as a direct result from both the trends we are seeing in the market as well as feedback from thousands of customers and hundreds of group and one-on-one interviews. The announcement of these capabilities will set the stage for the next phase of GoToMeeting and allow us to continuously unlock the potential of the modern workforce.
We’ve recently launched a series of advancements in our product to improve collaboration before, during and after the meetings:
