Collaboration with colleagues was always central to how we traditionally worked 'in real life', and 2020’s COVID-19 crisis has pushed collaboration to the centre stage.
Across this year, we saw the rise of hybrid workplaces where some of us worked from home, others were in a physical office space, while some teams worked on-site. Collaboration technology brings it all together, enabling unified workflows. A Cisco report (opens pdf) found that 98% of meetings are expected to include WFH employees in a post-COVID-19 world, signalling that collaboration technology is here to stay.
Why do people use collaboration tech?
Research suggests that the top reasons are to share files (27%), talk to one another (20%), assign work (17%), and work with external stakeholders (11%). Even prior to the pandemic, collaboration tools had its advantages – employees found it easier to find info (33%), and there was a stronger sense of team-building (25%). As collaboration technology cements itself as a mandatory part of your productivity stack, we were eager to explore what lies ahead in 2021 and beyond.
We spoke to experts from Avaya, Lifesize, PGi, and Workplace from Facebook for exclusive insights on the collaboration tech marketplace right now, and in the future. Avaya is a US-based UC company, Lifesize is known for its VC and meeting room solutions, PGi is the company behind the GlobalMeet suite of products, and Workplace from Facebook is the company’s enterprise-facing social media platform.
Here’s what our experts had to say about the four key issues for the collab industry today.
The Top Customer Trends from 2020
We asked the four industry experts about the top trends they witnessed among their collaboration solution customers this year.
Expectedly, everyone mentioned the pandemic as a determining force for market movements. This led to offshoot trends like fresh demand for video, collaboration to power company culture, and shifts in hardware priorities.
Rob Carmichael, Consulting Sales Engineer at Avaya:
Rob Carmichael from Avaya spoke about the challenges the pandemic had caused.
“Without a doubt, the current health pandemic has placed a huge demand on existing capabilities for remote productivity and communications. Organisations used what they had, even if that wasn’t planned for scale, leading to slow VPNs, overloaded IT teams and frustrated employees,” he said.
Thankfully, most organisations were quick to adapt, changing their purchase habits to meet the needs of the hour. “Organisations switched from buying desktops to laptops, from allowing occasional once a week home working to actively supporting their employees in flexible work locations,” Carmichael added.
He also mentioned the need for VPN-less UC&C, and we would agree. In a software-defined world, organisations must look at smarter alternatives like SD-WAN to enable VPN-less connectivity
David Hsieh, General Manager of Advanced Collaboration at Lifesize:
According to David Hsieh from Lifesize, the pandemic pushed up demand for collaboration tech.
“One of the main drivers we've seen is that collaborative technologies went from being important in certain cases to absolutely mission-critical for all knowledge workers. If an organization had a weak collaboration stack pre-COVID, they could manage, but now they would be out of business,” he said
As Hsieh put it, being able to work across distributed teams is now undeniable every company’s No. 1 priority. This means that collaboration technology is now more consumerized than ever. “Pretty much every organization on the planet from non-profits to Fortune 500 enterprises have moved to online interaction powered by collaborative technology,” noted Hsieh.
An important part of this 'mainstream-isation' is the use of collaboration tools for use cases apart from the usual file sharing and communication – for example, as Hsieh said, remote learning.
Terry Lyons, SVP, Collaboration Business Unit at PGi:
PGi’s Terry Lyons echoed Hsieh’s thoughts: “Collaboration solutions have gone from optional to mandatory. The boundaries between consumer and enterprise solutions are blurring.”
Lyons stressed three trends that dominated this year:
- Work from anywhere - WFH is only part of the conversation
- Erosion of market share - Providers must find competitive new strategies in an increasingly crowded solution marketplace
- The rise of video - Video mimics in-person communication, leading to demand for web cam-enablement, background integration, etc.
Cisco’s report confirmed that hybrid workplaces are here to stay, with 53% of companies already looking at options to reduce office space. These three trends can help collaboration technology providers and buyers to prepare for the road ahead.
Nazir Ul-Ghani, Head of Workplace from Facebook, EMEA:
Facebook’s Nazir Ul-Ghani pinpointed how the pandemic upturned traditional communication models and made transparency absolutely critical. “Transparent communication has been key, with businesses taking to new and innovative ways to connect with staff and deliver critical information quickly,” he said. This meant:
- Regular two-way conversations
- Feedback and questionnaires
- Live video communication
- Remote collaboration for culture building
Ghani told us how Workplace customer, Moneypenny banked on collaboration tech to maintain their corporate culture during this unprecedented crisis.
“Moneypenny, an outsourced communications company, are well known nationally for their people-focused culture. Looking after employee health and wellbeing over this period has become mission-critical to the company, and the staff at Moneypenny have used Workplace to support their colleagues both personally and professionally,” he said.
Challenges on the Road Ahead in 2021
Given this 2020 context, we next moved on to potential roadblocks and pitfalls for the next 12 months. The biggest challenge, our experts agreed, would be stabilising in the new normal and adapting solution delivery. An increasing number of companies will have to face the challenges of reopening physical workplaces, even as some of the workforce continues to WFH.
Rob Carmichael, Consulting Sales Engineer at Avaya:
In 2021, Carmichael said, companies will struggle to “determine the new normal.”
We would expect organisations to be under pressure to boost productivity, at least returning to pre-pandemic days, if not aim for growth. There are two ways to address this – the first is to offer manager training so that they are equipped to lead dispersed teams. Second, organisations also need a smartly designed collaboration tech stack.
“This ensures your people are able to leverage their colleagues to be just as effective on their remote days as the in-office ones,” Carmichael explained.
A lot of these challenges will spill over to the solution provider’s side.
David Hsieh, General Manager of Advanced Collaboration at Lifesize:
David Hsieh from Lifesize expressed his concerns about the definition of the future of work.
As companies enter the next stage of response, solution providers will struggle to figure out the customer’s vision for the future of work. “We went from a phase where people in the office embraced varying degrees of remote work, to now, where there’s a mix of people returning to the physical workplace (with obvious limitations) and companies turning to permanent remote work,” he traced the journey succinctly.
Therefore, solution providers will invest in understanding how a customer company maintains productivity through new technologies, even as it navigates the waves of the pandemic.
“This will form a foundation for establishing operations in 2021,” Hsieh believes.
Terry Lyons, SVP, Collaboration Business Unit at PGi:
PGi’s Terry Lyons picked up another critical challenge for collab providers: user experience.
“UX is key. With the growth in video usage, there are signs of video fatigue. Solutions will have to continue to enhance their user experience, adding functionalities that keep users engaged to maintain that growth,” he said
He also shared 5 interesting predictions and recommendations:
- “Expect to see more interaction enablers on video such as enhanced layouts and backgrounds to support larger or longer meetings and events”
- “Training and conferences are now online. Solutions need to adapt to support these use cases. Expect to see a rise in gamification to also address them”
- “IT departments will have to support a distributed workforce forever. Keeping control over what applications employees use will be key”
- “Security requirements will drive conversations with vendors.”
- “Carriers must find new competitive strategies to grow revenues as OTT providers enter the communications space”
Nazir Ul-Ghani, Head of Workplace from Facebook, EMEA:
Sustaining a dispersed workforce through 2021 will be a major challenge, suggested Facebook’s Nazir Ul-Ghani.
He discussed a recent report from Workplace that revealed how fragmented communication really is – something that companies can’t afford right now. “56% of UK head office leaders acknowledge that the pandemic has highlighted how 'office-biased' their communication approach is. HQ leaders told us they relied on company email (84%), compared to only 29% of frontline managers, who preferred calling and texting on personal devices,”
“The reality is that if HQ and frontline aren’t communicating in the same place, they aren’t communicating at all,” added Ghani.
As companies work towards business reunification, a singular platform will be key. “Whether they’re office-based or on the frontline, bringing everyone in a company together on one communication platform will ensure everyone has a voice and there is a seamless flow of critical information around the business,” he said.
