Have you seen this amazing 50-year anniversary rendition of the classic rock anthem “The Weight,” which features musicians performing virtually together across five continents? It’s truly an example of harmonious collaboration at its finest.
On the other hand, the Global Citizen One World: #TogetherAtHome virtual concert last month, in which the artists and presenters collaborated from their homes to create the benefit concert, was a little more discordant. If you tuned in, it was obvious which virtual acts collaborated seamlessly and which struggled. Since these were all top-notch performers, the difference between success and disharmony in this case was in the technology.
This echoes what a lot of businesses are finding right now: as hard as it is to work together in person, it’s a lot more difficult to collaborate virtually, especially if you don’t have the right technology for the job.
Remote Work Now and in the Future
Over the past several years, remote work opportunities started appearing in a variety of industries. Then, when COVID-19 struck, businesses, nonprofits and government agencies all transitioned to remote-work arrangements at the same time, almost overnight. For many organizations, the transition was achieved through a patchwork of free apps, trial licenses and repurposing existing systems.
It got the job done but, for most businesses, it was neither easy nor painless. Now, as many states and localities are reopening, surveys indicate that many workers overall – and more than 85% of millennials in particular – prefer to work from home. Moreover, some of the most skilled and desirable workers will even seek new employment if their current employer doesn’t offer a remote work opportunity post-COVID-19. This means that work from home (WFH) and the technology that enables it has changed the way we do business forever.
Essential Collaboration Tools
As the Global Citizen virtual concert demonstrated on national television, having the right technology and plenty of bandwidth is the key to successful collaboration. So, how can you use collaboration tools to improve team communication? Microsoft Outlook is a great example.
Not only does Outlook sync email, calendar appointments and tasks across all your employees’ devices, but, as part of Microsoft 365, it also eases collaboration between team members within Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other core Microsoft apps. Teams can share documents, make edits, schedule appointments and connect those documents and communications to the meetings they are associated with.
Unified Communications Turns the Tools into a Suite
A unified communications system is the key to creating effective remote collaboration. It integrates solid individual productivity tools like Outlook, Salesforce and Constant Contact into a seamless collaboration suite.
As a reliable, neutral partner, Gregg Communications works with all the best communications platforms to help our clients select the one that’s right for their needs. One of those is Mitel. We partner with them to bring you an excellent team collaboration solution.
Mitel is a top-tier communications technology developer with more than 4.7 million business phone solution users. Their platform offerings are especially noteworthy for integrating popular third-party applications into one simple, user-friendly interface.
For example, with a Mitel collaboration solution, your employees can simply click the “Conference” button to access a variety of communications tools within one uncomplicated platform. The employee can transform a calendar appointment into a collaborative work session that involves teleconferencing, screen sharing and live document editing. Additionally, your external participants, including vendors and clients, won’t need to download other apps or plugins in order to collaborate.
Build a Symphonic Collaboration Suite
Much like small and medium businesses that responded to the COVID-19 shutdown, the Global Citizen virtual concert admirably pulled together a diverse team of collaborators quickly with the technology on hand. The results were good, but far from brilliant.
With the right technology, expert guidance from a trusted communications partner and a little strategic planning, collaboration across your virtually dispersed employees can become seamless and more productive than ever before.
The days of talking over each other and long pregnant pauses on patchwork teleconferencing calls are in the past. Give us a call (630-706-8222) or send an email and we’ll set you up with technology that will have your team communicating harmoniously.