The Hottest Trends in Team Collaboration for 2022 

Team collaboration trends influencing the future of work 

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The Hottest Trends in Team Collaboration for 2022 
CollaborationInsights

Published: December 6, 2022

Rebekah Carter - Writer

Rebekah Carter

Ever since the pandemic transformed the way companies around the world operate, organisations have begun to look differently at the future of work. Concepts like open offices and huddle rooms are being replaced by a new demand for flexible, remote, and hybrid work.  

These new workplace strategies are underpinned by a range of valuable cloud-based tools. In particular, team collaboration solutions have become a crucial component of keeping evolving, distributed teams synchronised and productive. In fact, the market for team collaboration tools is approaching an incredible predicted value of $56.67 billion by 2030 

As the world of work continues to transform, certain trends are contributing to the evolution and implementation of team collaboration solutions. Here are some major trends impacting brands as they plan strategies to empower tomorrow’s teams.  

Hybrid Working 

Perhaps one of the most significant trends to influence the future of work in the last couple of years has been the rapid implementation of hybrid working strategies. Around 76% of employees in one study have said their companies are already embracing a hybrid working model. Other organizations are shifting rapidly to a remote and globalized work strategy.  

The cloud environment and digital transformation have opened the door for a future of anywhere work, where employees can remain productive wherever they are. However, to ensure teams remain synchronised and company culture thrives, brands need the right team collaboration tools. Increasingly, these tools are evolving to focus on bringing different types of teams closer together. 

Modern team collaboration tools come with solutions not just for office workers but also for field-based employees and remote staff. What’s more, they leverage AI tools and innovations to help ensure employees maintain the same degree of “presence” in the workforce, wherever they are. 

Team Collaboration as the Work Hub 

As modern employees become more diverse and distributed, the office is gradually disappearing as the central “hub” for work. Today’s team members need to be able to access all of the knowledge, support, and technology required for productivity in a single digital environment. Team collaboration tools are therefore emerging as the new “workplace”.  

The right team collaboration software supports staff members in sharing ideas and connecting with colleagues through messaging, file sharing, whiteboarding, video and audio. These solutions can also regularly integrate with other essential solutions for the day-to-day workflow of employees. This provides staff with a single pane of glass environment for productivity.  

Within the right collaboration environment, businesses can support their teams with access to crucial resources and knowledgebase documents, communication tools, automation, and bots. There are even solutions for tracking important workplace metrics like engagement. Additionally, many tools are beginning to implement options for “inter-company” collaboration, so guests and contractors from outside of the workplace can still take part in collaborative sessions.  

Staff Wellbeing and Empathy 

One of the major trends to emerge in the workplace throughout the pandemic was a stronger focus on employee well-being and empathy. In the age of the “Great Resignation” talented team members started searching for employers capable of understanding their emotional needs. As such, team collaboration tool vendors have started to focus more heavily on tools for wellness.  

Today’s team collaboration tools come with access to automated polling systems and bots capable of checking in on employees who might not be visiting the traditional office. The right tools can offer integrations with well-being apps designed to offer staff tips on managing stress and anxiety.  

There are even tools built into certain ecosystems which assist employees with managing their day more effectively. For instance, Microsoft Teams allows staff members to set aside blocks of time in their schedule where they might want to avoid meetings with other team members. In-built analytics also allow staff to track common productivity drains and set up strategies for lowering stress. 

Video and Employee Engagement 

Since the pandemic, video has become perhaps the most valuable communication tool in the modern workplace. Around 51% of experts even say video will be more important to the future of work than artificial intelligence. Video helps to engage and align team members in a distributed workforce while preserving human relationships.  

Most collaboration tools today feature solutions for video conferencing, events, and webinars. They can also come with valuable tools to make video meetings more effective. For instance, whiteboarding supports creative drawing and brainstorming sessions. Real-time translation and transcription with captions support better understanding. There are even AI tools to help facilitate better eye contact and interaction between hybrid teams. 

Some innovators are even embedding gamification tools into video conferencing solutions to help make the experience more engaging and immersive for remote and hybrid team members. This can help to boost employee engagement and satisfaction. 

Personalisation of UC Tools 

As we look ahead to the future of work, many companies are recognising the arrival of multiple different kinds of employee “persona” in the workforce. Multiple generations are now working together across different platforms and tools, each with their own specific needs. As such, the personalisation of collaboration tools is growing more crucial.  

Not only do employees want more ways to customise their collaboration dashboards with to-do lists, deadlines, and valuable metrics, but they want more freedom on the integrations and apps available too. Flexible team collaboration solutions give staff members more freedom to use a range of powerful add-ons and integrations to enhance their day-to-day workflow.  

At the same time, team collaboration tools are becoming more flexible for business leaders by allowing them to implement their own UCaaS and business telephony functionality into the mix. Solutions like direct routing and operator connect are allowing for the development of bespoke work hub environments, combining communication and collaboration.  

Augmented and Immersive Technology 

Finally, as the technology we use to communicate and collaborate continues to evolve at an incredible pace, team collaboration tools are beginning to deliver exciting new offerings. In-built AI solutions within team collaboration software can augment meetings and real-time collaborative sessions with feedback, guidance, captions, and insights.  

There are tools available to enhance the quality of video meetings between team members and AI bots can guide staff on the best ways to manage their schedules. There are even opportunities available for companies looking to transform the way staff work together with extended reality. Integrations with VR, AR and MR applications could give employees a new way to connect and share ideas with colleagues from across the globe.  

Augmented and immersive solutions built into Team Collaboration software will pave the way for a new era of creativity, productivity, and efficiency in the workplace of tomorrow.  

 

 

 

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