As we think of the top Collaboration trends for the coming year, we should start by taking a look back at 2018.
In 2018, Team collaboration solutions became the norm. More than just an application, it has become the principal interface for engaging with individuals and groups both internal and external. Additionally, One Button To Push (OBTP) has become the de facto requirement for team collaboration. Users are no longer satisfied with memorizing dial-in numbers and entering pin numbers. The expectation is that one button immediately starts your meeting.
I could go on with more retro, but what does 2019 look like? More of the same? More time-consuming meetings getting in the way of productivity and progress? I say “no.” I see 2019 as the year where productivity and collaboration come of age expanding on this unified, one-touch approach; getting directly to the core – working with people, sharing ideas, interacting, and creating with everything instantly available under one virtual roof without having to think about the technology. 2019 will be an era in which the collaboration experience will be consistent regardless of device or location – communicating, sharing and co-creating will be effective regardless of whether users are on their mobile devices or on a large digital white board in the war room.
I predict that 2019 will be the year that genuinely effective collaboration practices come of age.
· Huddle spaces will rapidly evolve to become a vital part of business life.
· AI, Machine Learning will bring tremendous automation in the workspace allowing easier communication while providing deeper insights into the people involved.
· Machine learning will lead the way to better meeting Analytics – automatic generation of meeting data for refining the collaboration process will become more widespread.
· Voice and virtual assistants will move further into the Workplace, enabling technology to slip into the background of meetings and connectedness and collaboration moving to the foreground.
In 2019, companies will start converting more of their open spaces and office conference rooms into smaller, more efficient, huddle spaces. The chief catalyst of this will be the ease and mobility of new meeting technology. When a person can start a meeting – including video and whiteboards – on their smartphone, and then switch effortlessly across to a desktop or smartboard with a single swipe, any location becomes mission control for the meeting of the moment.
Instead of booking formalized boardrooms, people will increasingly focus their attention on huddle spaces, which can be inside an office, coffee shop, or car – or all of these at the same time. And regardless of the location each will offer improved levels of interaction and communication. Creating and editing whiteboards, working on virtual documents, jumping between projects, communicating by word and by body language, can be done by all attendees, wherever they may be in the world.
“I don’t want to just meet. I want to connect.”
The new year will usher in a new level of depth and engagement by allowing meeting attendees not only to see the people they’re talking to onscreen, but to know them, with personalized name labels delivered by facial recognition that reveal professional profile details like career highlights or mutual connections. Imagine: no more roll calls or wondering who’s who on the conference. These will be replaced by greater and deeper human connections. Analytics
We are a culture that is obsessed with measuring everything, including calories, footsteps, traffic conditions and onscreen time. It makes sense to use metrics to seek out ever better ways of doing things, and this applies equally to meetings and collaboration. Automatic generation of meeting data is a powerful new opportunity for refining the collaboration process. Understanding how much time people spend in scheduled meetings versus ad hocmeetings, the accuracy of a calendar, the interaction rates of participants, these are all potent sources of data that will become increasingly valued as people climb toward a more sophisticated level of communication.
The new year will also see another welcome feature gain widespread acceptance: virtual assistants that make joining a meeting as easy as pushing a single button or saying a simple phrase, like “OK, Webex, join my meeting.” No more login codes or hold music – instead, a quick connection using natural voice language interaction. You should be able to join a meeting or message your colleague from your car through connected car play or from any device any where!
My four predictions form the basis of my vision for the new year. But it doesn’t stop there.
2019 will be the year where augmented reality and 3D visualization become more routine, allowing virtual models and renderings to deliver an immersive and thorough experience to participants wherever they may be.
Every company has a renewed opportunity to leverage the best of its human talent base. This new year promises to be one where the technology becomes unified and invisible, bringing the benefits of connectedness and collaboration to the foreground.
Original article can be seen on LinkedIn pulse
By Aruna Ravichandran
