2020 was a year of great change in many ways. We mostly met remotely and virtually. What are the trends for 2021? What should the working environment look like when we gradually return to offices?
Changes in the way of work thanks to the individual waves of the Covid-19 pandemic have been much faster than we could have imagined. The new reality of remote, virtual and hybrid collaboration from anywhere has found its place in the new normal. But what will happen next?
Can remote, virtual and hybrid meetings be improved? Will we work together in a virtual environment as virtual avatars? Will artificial intelligence automatically record the most important meeting notes? How futuristic or realistic are these questions?
Read more about real-time hybrid meetings: ClickShare research
The latest study has shown that after months in quarantine, employees are ready to return to the office, most of them are even looking forward to their return. The lack of social life, which they mention as a priority, is closely related to how long they want to spend time in the home office environment. On average, this is 2 days a week. Therefore, it is necessary to think about what offices will look like in 2021.
A hybrid way of meeting from anywhere?
Part of the employees work in the office, part from a home office environment and part from anywhere (wherever it is most convenient for them). A hybrid way of meeting will require a completely different selection of technologies and tools for communication and collaboration. Thanks to the ClickShare solution and communication platforms (Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, Zoom, Google Hangout…), your work/collaboration will be much safer, more flexible and easier to use from anywhere, any time and from any device.
Try ClickShare CX-30 and contact our sales consultants. We are happy to lend you the ClickShare CX-30 for hands-on testing in your natural environment.
User experience and hybrid meetings
A research focusing on the hybrid way of meeting has shown that employees expect a completely new experience from the work performed. They emphasize the following needs: they do not want to waste time, they are looking for higher productivity and clarity from remote/hybrid meetings. They expect software applications and communication platforms that allow them to join a video conference with one click. Meeting rooms must be equipped with AV technologies for easy sharing of image, sound and digital content.
Experience gained and hybrid meetings
Employees expect new experience that would help them gain greater engagement and facilitate seamless collaboration with colleagues. The sharing of content inside and outside the meeting room needs to be facilitated preferably with one click. An interactive whiteboard with options for scribbling and annotations in shared documents, moderation, voting, dividing into groups… these are scenarios that will be used in any meeting room. Meetings will be much more productive, as will human connections between physical, virtual and hybrid participants.
The year 2020 has taught us that remote collaboration with colleagues, clients and other participants does not come naturally. It requires constantly new skills. It is not difficult to find a solution for a remote, virtual or hybrid form of working/collaboration. The prerequisite for achieving this is the selection of technologies in meeting rooms that are used to match the needs and wishes of employees/users. Thanks to this, new hybrid work scenarios will be simple, intuitive, smart and wireless.
Face-to-face interaction will continue to be important, but we need to find the right balance between physical contact and virtual/hybrid collaboration from anywhere in the new work normal. If companies understand these new changes, they can simultaneously choose the right technologies and help employees adapt. It is necessary to prepare for the future and deal with new challenges that we will continue to face, says Jiří Plátek, Workplace Design Specialist, AV MEDIA SYSTEMS.