The Covid pandemic focused light on technology as businesses grappled with stay-at-home orders and the reality of remote workers. During these trying times, cloud and video conferencing adoption, for example, exploded!
As we emerge from the pandemic, more businesses are adopting hybrid work models to accommodate workers in the office and at home. Communication tools have become crucial for keeping collaboration flowing. Message-based polling, video calling, and high-quality audio, for example, help remote collaboration and boost productivity.
Here is a list of 10 must-have communication and collaboration features for your business:
- High-quality Audio – A recent survey found that high-quality audio and video top most organizations’ must-have lists.
- Video Conferencing – Globally, video use has soared as organizations implemented work-from-home policies to deal with the pandemic. Around 82% of companies use video for all or most meetings.
- Ease of Use – This feature tops the list of must-have meeting features. End users want intuitive, easy-to-use technology, especially newcomers to remote work.
- Meeting Transcriptions – Many organizations are moving toward real-time meeting transcription, eliminating the need for participants to take notes. A leading-edge feature today, translation will be mainstream a year from now.
- Screen Sharing – Screen sharing is an older feature that is still useful. Today, screen sharing is a must-have feature for remote teams needing to collaborate.
- Messaging and Chat – Messaging has transformed. Today it is more dynamic and easy to integrate.
- Mobile Apps – Organizations and teams need to be able to connect to meetings from any device, anywhere, regardless of OS.
- Virtual Backgrounds and Video Layout – They might seem gimmicky, but virtual backgrounds let users have some fun with the technology. A small but welcome respite for workers stuck at home.
- Noise Suppression and Muting – We’ve all been video conferencing and heard the kids screaming, or someone’s dog barking. Luckily, newer systems have some form of built-in background noise suppression. Vendors have taken different approaches, but it is often embedded into the platform.
- Language Translation – Close captioning and language translation are features that are emerging as platforms mature. This is a particularly useful feature for global companies with team members spread around the globe.
For many organizations, communication and collaboration technologies have become fully-formed work hubs that are pushing us forward into the post-pandemic reality!
About United Business Systems
United Business Systems specializes in simplifying the complexity and management of office technology solutions for over 7,800 organizations nationwide. Services include Managed Print, Document Management and IT Services. Products include MFPs, Copiers, Printers and Wide Format Printers. UBS’s headquarters is in Fairfield, NJ with branch offices in Moorestown, NJ, Manasquan, NJ and New York.
For the latest industry trends and technology insights visit UBS’ main Blog page.
