What Does a UC-Enabled Workplace Look Like?
Employees returning to the office expect the same flexibility and convenience they had working from home
While employees are returning to New York, NY, offices in greater numbers, they’re not ready to come back to the workplace as it once was. Many office employees have now spent a year or longer working from home — and they’ve gotten accustomed to the flexibility, convenience, and greater technology use that remote work offers.
Now, businesses are rethinking office design to accommodate a hybrid workforce that connects not only in physical spaces but in virtual spaces too. Cloud-delivered unified communications as a service (UCaaS) tools and platforms are instrumental in redesigning offices for greater flexibility, connectivity, interactivity, and collaboration. Keep reading to explore the features that a modern, UC-enabled workplace has to offer.
SEE ALSO: How Hybrid Workforces Benefits from Unified Communications Platforms
A “Work from Anywhere” Infrastructure
The foundation of unified communications as a service is a platform that supports employees working from anywhere, anytime. UC platforms bring together all the tools employees need to communicate and collaborate with team members — private and group chats, cloud-based telephony, audio video conferencing, file sharing, and more. Because employees can access the tools they need from any browser-based interface like a laptop or tablet, they have more freedom to work remotely while still coordinating with colleagues. Simply put, UC platforms move productivity and collaborative work from the physical office to a virtual one.
Flexible Office Spaces
Today’s employees don’t want to be confined to a cubicle and a desktop computer. Instead, unified communications solutions allow employees to connect on whatever device they feel comfortable using, like smartphones, tablets, or laptops. Now, office design is undergoing a shift to match newfound technology flexibility.
Modern offices are utilizing less formal meeting spaces like huddle rooms and meeting nooks with more casual designs (think a circle of comfortable couches instead of conference room chairs). Another crucial design component is enabling plug-and-play BYOD (bring your own device). Teams want to enter meeting spaces, connect their personal computers, and collaborate, screen share, and share content within minutes.
Video Conferencing
Video conferencing is well on its way to replacing traditional conference calling in the workplace. Integrating AV conferencing software like Zoom and Microsoft Teams into meeting room hardware makes it easy for in-office employees to walk into any meeting space and start a video call with partners, vendors, or remote colleagues within minutes. All-in-one UC platforms also bring in calendar integration to coordinate video meetings for multiple team members and avoid scheduling conflicts.
With video conferencing as the new norm for business meetings, training sessions, and even interviews, businesses need to make sure their conference room equipment is up to par. That includes large displays and high-performance audio systems to ensure good sound and visuals for all participants.
Interactive Technology
One unified communications tool rising in popularity is interactive whiteboarding that allows multiple people to write, draw, edit, and annotate on shared documents. Zoom and Microsoft Teams both have digital whiteboarding features for collaboration between remote and in-person colleagues. Additionally, many businesses are integrating touchscreen displays into meeting room systems for interactive collaboration, brainstorming, and storyboarding in the office. Whiteboarding solutions allow participants to save and share the final document for future reference.
Alliance Telecommunications is a Zoom Rooms, Teams Rooms, and Crestron integrator serving businesses in New York, NY and surrounding areas. Let us help you install the technology systems you need to meet the demands of a hybrid workforce. Call us or fill out an online contact form to connect with our experts.
