When it comes to remote work, the cat is out of the bag. The once “radical” work arrangement became the new normal in a matter of hours. The list of businesses choosing to make remote work permanent is growing. Companies such as Nationwide, Twitter, Facebook, Barclay’s, CrunchBase, proving that we cannot put the proverbial cat back in the bag.
And would we really want to?
YouGov, a public opinion and data company hosted a survey in partnership with USA Today and LinkedIn, they subsequently reported that 54% of workers ages 18-74 have found a positive impact on their productivity when they work from home. Of those, 71% attributed the rise in productivity to reduced commute, 61% reported fewer distractions from co-workers and 39% cited fewer meetings.
USA Today reported that prior to this global health crisis that let the cat of remote work out of the bag, businesses were already dipping their toe in the water, with 3% of full-time workers reportedly working from home in 2017. And why wouldn’t they? When LinkedIn Editor, Caroline Fairchild, posed the question, “Now that working from home is the new normal, what must change to turn your WFH setup from a test run into a long-term reality,” a few responses stood out. One of those was from user Patrick Morton, who said: “This pandemic has, or at least should have, opened the eyes of many to re-explore some of the limitations that they believed they once had. Some companies/managers took the position as if working from home was not possible and counter-productive. As we move forward through understanding what our new normal will be, employers everywhere will be forced to at least entertain the idea of working from home in some capacity. The excuse of it not being possible or it not being a productive approach is out of the window at this point.”
Building the Office of the Future with Unified Communications
Unified Communications solutions grew upwards of 29% over the last few years according to Synergy Research as reported by UC Today. This is no surprise when you take into account the all-in-one platform features and flexibility of the technology. UC Today also reported the following statistics:
- Over 75% of UCaaS users were more productive
- 80% of respondents in a Frost and Sullivan whitepaper reported increased uptime as a major benefit to UCaaS
- 74% of business CFOs say that the cloud will have the most measurable impact on their company’s transformation
- 41% of respondents said UCaaS solutions could help them overcome specific challenges
Key Pieces of The Office of the Future
It goes without saying that communications are crucial to the success of any business. Whether those communications are with internal colleagues or external clients and business partners. If you’ve been exploring UC Today’s information, then you know of the benefits of deploying a unified communications (even UCaaS) solution. But what are the key things to look for when evaluating a solution?
Check out these 7 pieces that will make the office of the future work:
API (CPaaS) - Communications-Platform-as-a-Service, or CPaaS, enables businesses to connect real-time communications tools, analytics, and other essentials into your already chosen platform. The technology is enabled through the use of APIs (application programming interface) or SDKs (software developer kits) allowing businesses to further enhance their communications solution.
Web Conferencing and Video Collaborations - Especially given today’s global health crisis, having access to a web conferencing and video collaborations tool is essential. Web conferencing and video collaborations differ in one major way - web conferencing allows you to share your screen as well as your video stream, where video collaborations are just your video.
