Collaboration Tools for Successful Workplace Transformation

Look at any company, anywhere in the world and you would have to agree the workforce is undergoing a massive transformation. The workplace is changing – telecommuting, remote, co-work space, on-premises, and hybrid arrangements are everywhere. Each organization has to create the “workplace” it feels will benefit it most.

While the pandemic certainly hastened many changes in the “workplace”, the transformation has been in the works for years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2018 eight million U.S. workers or 53% of workers, worked at home. Quantum Workplace found in June 2021 as much as 35% of American workers were remote employees, 30% hybrid, and 36% returned to on-premises workplaces.

The remote/hybrid workplace trend appears to be here to stay. This transformation can pose a significant challenge, but there are tools, processes, and technology to make the transition successful.

Futurum Research conducted a survey in the first quarter of 2019 and targeted individuals actively involved in the ongoing management of business or technology systems. Several of those surveyed were part of the C-suite.

In the survey, the target pool revealed issues successful companies must address in the workplace transformation.^[1]Futurum Research conducted the DXC Workplace Transformation Study during the first quarter of 2019, consisting of a multi-part questionnaire comprised of 21 core questions plus additional … Continue reading Keeping workplace transformation fluid but with direction and purpose, fostering collaboration through simplification and agility will culminate in reduced operating expenses, improved productivity, and greater profitability for any size organization.

Several recommendations emerged from the survey:

• Link organizational and employee efficiency.
• Digital support should be tailored to specific needs. One size does not fit all.
• Application management is key. Modernization, scalability, and remote upgradability are the new table stakes for an ever-increasing mobile workforce.
• Collaboration tools must be simplified and focused.
• The impact of Gig Economy is real. As employers and employees rethink the traditional employment model, challenges of workplace, retention, and satisfaction must be addressed. Anticipate needs in considering automation and refocusing talent.
• Automation is here to stay. Automating repetitive tasks can reduce costs, increase accuracy and auditability and allow organizations to refocus human talent on higher-level tasks.
• Longer-term balance of in-office environmental enhancements and technology deployment will benefit the whole organization.
• Balancing the needs of remote and on-premises employees is important yet often overlooked. Imbalance can cause friction and have propensity to diminish retention and morale.
• Workplace transformation investment should be strategic as a means to maintain an organization’s competitive advantage.

Seventy-five percent of survey respondents cited improved efficiency and cost optimization as their expected outcome. Surveyors observed that employee productivity was least cited at 46% and that these two elements should be more closely aligned. Organizations need a balance between human resource and technology investment or the result will likely be poor morale and mitigated success.

Another survey by research and advisory consultants, Gartner, Inc. released in August 2021^[2]The Gartner 2021 Digital Worker Experience Survey was conducted from November through December 2020 among 10,080 full-time employees at organizations with 100 or more employees in the U.S., Europe … Continue reading showed 80% of workers were using collaboration tools for work in 2021, up from just over half in 2019 and a 44% increase since the pandemic began. Storage and sharing and real-time mobile messaging tools increased, 74% and 80% respectively. In addition, in 2019 63% of meetings were conducted in-person and decreased by 33% in 2021.

Teamwork and collaboration play a crucial role in the success of any endeavor

Finances Online reported the many benefits of collaboration tools in 42 Essential Online Collaboration Statistics 2020/2021. Percentages of growth segment among collaboration tools presented:

• Teamwork apps represented 60%
• Communication PaaS
• represented 30%
• Video-as-a-service 30%
• Unified communication-as-a-service 24%
• Contact center-as-a-service 18%

Employees surveyed said preferred tools were collaborative document editing (57%), team collaboration platforms/apps (52%), and online video conferencing (19%).

Finances Online predicts global online collaboration market will increase from $12.4 billion in 2019 to $13.5 billion in 2024. May 2020 saw a 176% increase in collaboration apps installation on enterprise devices.

Why this tremendous growth? Because collaborations can drive a 10% productivity improvement and employees can save as much as 5-10% of their time, 2-4 hours in a 40-hour week according to a study by Forrester 2020 and reported by Finances Online.

Collaboration tools are not just important to organizations. Employees demand them as well 

The Harvard Business Review reported in 2020 that communication tools (74%), remote work tools (74%), and collaboration tools (67%) are most likely to be cited as important prerequisites for employees to be efficient. 

Wrike, a Citrix company, stated in 2019 that 85% of employees with access to collaborative management tools are more likely to perceive themselves as happy in the workplace. And the consulting firm, Deloitte, said in 2020 that CEOs, on average, expect 36% of their employees to work remotely in 2022. 

Futurum Research’s DXC Technology: Workplace and Digital Transformation study showed the top five communication software as used by US remote workers for collaboration in 2020 were Zoom (36%), Microsoft Teams (19%), Skype (17%), Google Meet/Hangouts (9%), and Slack (7%). 

As early as August 2017, a Computerworld article touted the benefits of collaboration for productivity improvement. It increased transparency, can provide employee incentives, facilitates effective crisis planning and drills, provides for faster, more effective problem-solving, allows almost anyone to start a company, allows organizations to maximize the field of talent by bringing in flash teams for projects, and allows employees and freelancers to learn new skills that are currently beyond their talents. 

Let’s look at those top five communication tools found in the Futurum study: 

Zoom. This communication platform allows organizations to host HD video and audio meetings, video webinars, enterprise cloud phone system, chat ability to connect teams and streamline communications, and much more. 

Microsoft Teams, part of the Microsoft 365 family of products, offers workspace chat and videoconferencing, file storage, and application integration. 

Skype is a proprietary telecommunications application that specializes in providing VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. 

Google Meet is a video-communication service developed by Google. Along with Google Chat, these two apps replace Google Hangouts. 

Slack, developed by Slack Technologies and now owned by Salesforce, offers many IRC-style features, including chat rooms organized by topic, private groups, and direct messaging. 

There are so many tools available it’s difficult to encompass them all but others to mention include Microsoft SharePoint. This cloud-based service helps organizations share and manage information, knowledge and applications to empower teamwork, quickly find information, and seamlessly collaborate across the organization. 

It is fair to say that collaboration is not just today’s trend but also the wave of the future. Any organization that declines to implement some sort of collaboration tools will do so at the cost of their competitive advantage. Ramsey Consulting Services can be your organization’s partner to move with current and future trends most efficiently, and effectively maintain or strengthen your competitive advantage. Contact us today to see how we can help.