The technological landscape of the office environment has evolved significantly over the past year, especially in terms of technology that fosters inter-office collaboration. What could only be accomplished by sitting down together in the same room can now be done remotely through the use of video conferencing or VoIP technologies.
It’s a true golden age of business technology achievement, and if your business isn’t fully leveraging your collaboration technology, you’ll quickly fall behind.
Don’t Fear New Collaboration Technology
There’s a certain convenience of being able to communicate with the click of a button. While email and conference calling have been office staples for the collaboration environment for some time, there are several new technologies that are capable of making this process vastly easier.
For instance, consider the profound effect that comprehensive solutions like video conferencing and instant messaging have brought to the office. People can communicate in ways which were previously unprecedented, like using a Microsoft Teams instant message for urgent requests rather than sending an email for delayed reactions, or having face-to-face conversations from halfway across the world.
Another great example is SharePoint! SharePoint is a cloud-based file sharing platform that is hosted by Microsoft. It allows anyone and everyone in your organization to set up their own folders by department to share, exchange files, and work in real-time.
In other words, your business shouldn’t be concerned about adopting new solutions. If anything, your company should embrace the power of the latest technology while using the basics to augment your communications strategy. Email is still necessary and telephone lines are still helpful under certain circumstances. Even while some of these solutions might feel like they’re unimportant compared to the latest communications strategies, they are still vital assets.
You Don’t Have to Be an Expert
Even though it helps to have a little technical know-how, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to operate the latest company collaboration technology solutions. Many modern technology solutions are very similar to everyday services that are provided by consumer products. For example, an inter-office IM solution with Microsoft Teams utilizes a similar interface to other instant messaging applications like Facebook Messenger or Google Hangouts. Video conferencing tools are similar to Skype video calls, which means that users will likely be familiar with the general user interface of video chat solutions.
Be Sure to Enforce Boundaries and Usage Protocol
Even if some solutions are easy to use, others will still require a fair amount of training, particularly in terms of ensuring your team handles your new technology solutions in ways which benefit your organization. Basically, you want to make sure that your team isn’t using your new technology solutions to distract others around them, and that your employees use the solutions in a logical manner.
For example, why would you want to use video conferencing technology when there’s a perfectly fine conference room for that express purpose? Another problem is your employees using the in-house communications solutions, like email and instant messaging, for their personal purposes, which is both unprofessional and potentially problematic, should they choose to leave the company or engage in illicit activities.
Your business’s technology solutions should be designed to get the most productivity and efficiency for your buck. For more information, give Vision Computer Solutions a call at 248-349-6115.
