The Growing Need for Modern Workplace Collaboration

The days where everyone always reports to an in-person physical workplace, such as a company headquarters or office, seem to be behind us. The typical nine-to-five schedules have become a rarity. Most companies nowadays do not actually shut down at a designated time each day. The modern workplace has transitioned to partially or fully remote in many cases. This trend has been building up momentum for years and the pandemic has turned it mainstream with no end in sight. 

Nomadic team members work all over the country and world and sometimes only see their colleagues in-person once in a blue moon, if ever. Real-time work is now defined on how people tend to collaborate in this environment. Business communication has become a boundary-less environment with collaboration and productivity occurring any day and any time of the week. The desire to integrate unified communication and collaboration solutions (UCC) has become a necessity. 

The changes being made provide enhanced levels of productivity, along with presenting unique challenges. In the modern work environment, the desire for ever-present communication and collaboration has required companies to invest in tools that allow people to work effectively together even when they are not physically together. 

Employees have come to expect top-notch user experiences for software or hardware they’re using to get their work done remotely or in the office. Businesses must deliver flexible, simple ways for people to connect with the rest of their team and/or channel. A failure to adapt to the modern work environment could lead to trouble acquiring and retaining talent in your company. Luckily, Microsoft can prove to be an asset with their plethora of offerings. 

Microsoft examined the collaboration changes currently occurring in order to determine what route to take in providing businesses and companies the tools they need to be successful and productive in our evolving world. One of the highlights of their findings was that collaboration spans organizational boundaries, meaning an increasing number of groups consist of people from inside and outside of the organization.

Teams will now be more and more globally distributed resulting in a need for different ways to connect across locations and time zones to suit their own workstyles. The workforce is also increasingly diverse, which presents itself in our organizations in many ways, including lifestyle, culture, and demographics. Lastly, collaboration is essential for any enterprise success which allows for people to build on the work of others. The focus is increasingly on workspace inside of the typical workplace. 

The above findings that Microsoft discovered were fundamental in creating and perfecting many of the tools Microsoft currently offers to keep the new boundaryless workplaces productive. Microsoft Teams is the hub for teamwork where groups that actively engage and work on core projects can connect and collaborate seamlessly anytime. SharePoint and OneDrive provide a center for files, news, and page sharing within the team while also providing the ability to share information outside of the team.

Outlook and Exchange Online help people to communicate in familiar ways while taking advantage of modern distribution lists with groups on Outlook. Microsoft has replaced classic disconnected distribution lists to get the calendar, group file management, and other capabilities in Planner. Yammer is an exciting platform for people to connect across their company while sharing ideas on common topics of interest in a more informal and fun setting which can foster team camaraderie. Finally, Office Apps enable co-authoring in recognizable apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. 

 Microsoft’s offerings work in tandem to provide us with unified environment for collaboration and teamwork. Services are managed under the same framework along with identity management solutions. Data is protected by first-class security and encryption standards to give your business peace of mind. The collaboration landscape hosted in the cloud has become increasingly centralized and more unified than it ever was on-premises. With files and tools based in Microsoft 365, sharing with people inside or outside of the company, wherever they are, is a breeze.  

 The response to these particular challenges and needs in the modern workplace has more and more companies turning to unified communication and collaboration solutions. Using the tools provided by Microsoft, teams get access to holistic solutions using a single team membership spanning apps and services. The most unique thing about Microsoft 365 is that all of the applications are built on the same intelligent fabric that utilizes the capabilities and strengths of each individual application to support and supplement the other applications. Approximately 76 percent of IT leaders said they plan to increase their spending on UCC solutions according to Ovum Research. Has your company implemented modern collaboration tools yet? 

ACP CreativIT has a dedicated department for helping your company transition to the modern workplace. Contact us to talk to one of our Microsoft experts today or visit our modern workplace page here. Check out our calendar of events to sign up for an upcoming Microsoft Teams Basics Training Webinar here.