January 4, 2021
Today's businesses are in the middle of the greatest work-from-home experiment since the beginning of the Internet. We've fundamentally shifted what it means to be a workplace, and for many of us, our communication practices are still playing catchup. It's widely accepted that workplaces are more effective when there is open, consistent communication among employees.
This reality goes beyond employees who occupy the same department and see each other every day. It also speaks to the communication that needs to occur between departments—across all levels of an organization—in order to support a thriving business. But if we know effective communication is the answer to increasing productivity, why isn’t it happening?
Partly, because it hasn't been easy enough to achieve.
Making Communication & Collaboration Easy
Saying how important it is to collaborate across an organization, and showing facts and figures to prove it, will likely not inspire everyone to change their current processes. It’s equally important to provide the necessary tools, enabling your workforce with the collaboration technologies to keep them connected in ways that feel natural. So, what is collaboration technology? It’s technology that removes the obstacles to sharing, communicating and innovating.
Take Advantage Of These Collaboration Tools For Business
Enabling collaboration through technology looks different depending on your industry and workplace infrastructure. Below, I’ve listed some popular collaboration technologies businesses are relying on to keep everyone connected as they work from home—or anywhere!
Video Conferencing
Video conferencing has easily become one of the stars of 2020. As a collaboration tool, video conferencing allows people to “meet” face-to-face, share their projects and stay connected regardless of their location.
Some of the most popular video conferencing platforms for small businesses include:
Video conferencing systems facilitate instant connection and simple office and mobile connectivity.
Instant Messaging
When you want to connect instantly with coworkers, chat tools are extremely helpful. Some of the leading chat tools for businesses to use internally are:
Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM) combines the features and abilities from common instant messaging systems, such as instant connectivity and multi-platform support, with the security your business environment requires. EIM programs offer a corporate identity, an audit trail to track messaging and administrative controls to block inappropriate content.
Audio Video Rooms
For the businesses who have employees working both in and out of the office, audio video rooms can be an excellent collaboration tool. From weekly meetings and hosting guest speakers to high-pressure presentations, a well-outfitted audio video room can make all the difference in terms of experience and retention.
Audio video rooms enable businesses and organizations to create a collaboration solution specific to their needs. From multi-function event spaces, to board rooms and courtrooms, we’ve outfitted many areas of industry with customized audio video setups.
Business Collaboration For Your Organization
Enabling your workforce with the right collaboration tools empowers your employees to do better business, regardless of where they work. Collaboration tools support productivity by keeping staff in constant communication with each other. They help control costs by supporting remote workers and helping projects move at a faster pace.
Business collaboration increases employee engagement by removing the obstacles to easy, effective communication, and it lays a foundation for your organization to support innovation and growth. Learn more about how collaboration technologies can benefit your organization by speaking with a Marco Specialist.
