When COVID-19 made working from home mandatory, many companies struggled to bring corporate communication tools into remote work environments. Webcams and headsets quickly became the new norm as home-based employees tried to keep noisy kids from disrupting their video conferences.
When CBTS began working from home in March, we started to explore how to collaborate more effectively to enhance the experience of working remotely. We were used to face-to-face communication, so we wanted to recreate that environment at home.
Now, as businesses move from pandemic mode to long-term planning, executives expect higher quality, fewer distractions, and easier integration as they prepare employees for long-term remote productivity. In fact, according to a recent Gartner survey, nearly three-fourths of CFOs plan to move 5% of their on-site workforce to remote positions, and a quarter of them plan to make at least 20% of positions permanently remote post-COVID.
To make this shift successful, businesses must examine and enhance their remote meeting experience by equipping employees with intuitive collaboration tools that turn any home office into a professional conference room.
Even in this age of high-tech communication, many meetings still require face-to-face interaction. When global pandemics or scheduling logistics prevent physical meetings, workers in every industry need reliable tools to collaborate from separate locations.
For example:
As vital as it is to facilitate interaction between remote workers internally, it’s even more critical that companies offer clients and prospects a platform for interaction outside of the conference room. Providing an enhanced collaboration experience can exert credibility and professionalism.
Under pressure to manage costs more tightly, business leaders are realizing that remote collaboration tools can actually save them money. Not only do virtual meetings reduce the need to travel (and the related expenses incurred on business trips), but they also produce significant real estate savings, since physical office space is no longer required for face-to-face communication.
According to the Gartner survey, 22% of businesses have reduced real estate expenses (or plan to) because of remote work. Similarly, 20% of respondents have deferred on-premises technology spending, with many issuing work-from-home equipment instead.
To deliver a secure, streamlined collaboration experience that engages employees and clients, CBTS offers a state-of-the-art solution through the Secure Remote Collaboration portfolio. Custom-designed for the huddle workstyle, The Secure Remote Collaboration portfolio includes robust endpoint options such as the Cisco Webex Room Kit Mini, as well as the Cisco Webex Desk Pro. These all-in-one collaboration tools offer features such as cameras and microphones that can be easily mounted on any monitor.
As entire industries shift toward virtual meetings, the Secure Remote Collaboration portfolio provides four key features that foster enhanced collaboration
The camera’s “best overview” feature automatically detects meeting participants to provide ideal framing. Meanwhile, automatic noise suppression minimizes distractions by reducing background sounds like rustling papers or children yelling in the next room.
“One Button to Push” functionality makes it easy for participants to join scheduled meetings withno more clicking around, trying to find the meeting link. Although the process of joining meetings is simplified, end-to-end security prevents uninvited guests from entering.
Wired and wireless content sharing elevates the virtual experience by allowing groups to view and annotate whiteboard presentations through the Cisco Webex Teams app.
By combining high-definition audio and video, the collaboration portfolio improves interactions with intelligent collaboration tools typical of much larger systems. The camera even counts participants, enabling utilization analytics and insights to guide future resource planning.
With its seamless integration of Cisco Webex software, the portfolio delivers continuous workflow by registering either on-premises or to the cloud. Plus, interoperability with any cloud-based video conferencing provider gives users the flexibility to leverage the same sleek functionality whether they’re joining Webex conferences, Zoom meetings, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or any other platform.
By empowering people to meet instantly and securely via any device in any location, this Cisco Webex solution from CBTS enhances remote collaboration anywhere—helping businesses minimize wasted time and expense while maximizing the remote work experience for customer-facing employees.
Learn more about the Secure Remote Collaboration portfolio’s features that are designed to streamline remote communication.
Contact us today to get your first month’s subscription to Webex FREE when you deploy the Secure Remote Collaboration portfolio for your remote workforce.