Video use in the workplace grows
Video communication is becoming the central element in collaboration. Cloud-based collaboration solutions are driving the trend, especially since security concerns are hardly an issue.
Companies are increasingly turning to video technologies to enable their employees to communicate more effectively. This is confirmed by a study conducted by the network and IT service provider BT together with Cisco has commissioned. In combination with cloud computing and mobile technologies, the use of video communication helps to avoid a "digital disconnection" ("digital dislocation") of employees from their company, as Cisco writes.
72% want more video features on smartphone
According to the study, technologies such as video, cloud computing and mobile applications are becoming crucial platforms for communication within large corporations - from management to employees: 85% of respondents describe video use in the workplace as very helpful, and almost three-quarters (72%) of IT decision-makers would like to see video functions on the company smartphone or tablet. Just over a quarter of respondents (27%) said employees at their company use YouTube for professional purposes. This means that this proportion has almost doubled compared to 2013.
The results of the study also suggest that more needs to be done to counteract the "digital disconnect". Two-thirds of IT decision-makers (60%) complain that trying to contact colleagues takes too much time. And three-quarters of respondents want easier ways to share information with others.
The results show how much the modern workplace has changed in recent years. Initiatives such as bring your own device (BYOD) and flexible working hours require innovative technologies for communication and collaboration. In the last three years alone, the percentage of professionals who want to use their own devices for work has increased by 31%. According to the study, more than half of employees (52%) now work "flexibly" - for example, on the road, at a customer site or from home. 61% of respondents think it should be easier to contact and collaborate with colleagues when traveling for work.
Safety aspects are not an obstacle
More than three-quarters (78%) of respondents believe that modern collaboration tools would improve communication. With the help of effective collaboration tools, employees can share information and make faster and better decisions.
To make it easier to use the new technologies, many IT managers are turning to cloud services because they can replace outdated legacy systems and save on their budgets. According to the study, companies that have adopted a cloud application have been able to reduce their operating costs by an average of 25%. At the same time, employee satisfaction had increased by 30% after implementing the cloud-based collaboration solution. At the same time, fewer and fewer IT decision-makers see security aspects as an obstacle to the use of cloud-based collaboration: currently, the figure is 52%, compared with 68% three years ago.
Says BT's Andrew Small: "As companies gain more experience with cloud services, their confidence in the security of these offerings increases."
