{"id":551,"date":"2018-06-25T16:21:37","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T15:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/industry\/2018\/06\/25\/drive-collaboration-in-your-modern-workplace\/"},"modified":"2018-11-14T14:55:44","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T14:55:44","slug":"drive-collaboration-in-your-modern-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/cross-industry\/2018\/06\/25\/drive-collaboration-in-your-modern-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Drive collaboration in your modern workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"
The amount of time employees spend engaged in collaborative work\u2013such as meetings, phone calls, or answering emails-has increased about 50 percent in the last two decades<\/a>, taking a huge chunk out of employees time \u2013 80% to be precise.<\/p>\n With a mix of generations in the workforce, along comes a set of different expectations and ways of collaborating. Generation Z, for example, are more likely to reach out quickly via chat, over email or phone.<\/p>\n We did a survey<\/a> on preferred forms of communication and found that whatever the generation, when it comes down to it, everyone greatly prefers in-person meetings over any other form of communication.<\/p>\n As companies grow to be multilocational, teams are becoming cross-functional and with the advent of remote and flexible working, it can be harder logistically, cost-wise, or time-wise to have those much needed in-person meetings to foster collaboration.<\/p>\n Therefore, the tools we use to drive collaboration are becoming more and more vital. Of course, meetings have been happening over the phone via conference lines for many years, but these can be clunky and unproductive \u2013 especially as you must collaborate straight after again on any teamwork that comes out of it.<\/p>\n Thankfully, with digital transformation, our traditional tools are being pushed into the modern workplace and are purposely created to easily increase collaboration, while staying productive and engaged. This includes using tools such as Skype for Business<\/a> which allows teams to stay in touch, wherever they are.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have two and a half thousand employees across the region and we needed to find a better way of working in order to enable collaboration,\u201d says Daniel Hudson, Application Support Consultant at Wessex Water<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wessex Water uses Skype for Business<\/a> alongside Surface Hubs<\/a> to increase their productivity and reduce expenses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a team of developers that are based in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and some of those people are helping us to develop power apps on the Office 365 platform,\u201d says Hudson. \u201cWe\u2019ve been using the whiteboard extensively to collaborate on ideas, design the apps in person, and also to share the workflows between the teams. Obviously, it\u2019s not the kind of meeting where we can fly someone over every day. So, without this I think that the team may not have worked so well together.\u201d<\/p>\n Sarah Coombs, Head of Business Services agrees. \u201cMany of our employees are based from offices, sites, depos, and treatment works that are nowhere near our operation centre in Bath. So, travelling to and from meetings has a significant cost to us as a company,\u201d she says. \u201cWe also have the health and wellbeing of our staff to consider. The Surface Hubs give them the same meeting experience as if they were in the same room.\u201d<\/p>\n They wanted to achieve a full return on their investment within three years. They believe they are well ahead of their target and are already seeing savings through reduced expenses, increased productivity, and even an environmental benefit through a reduction in travel.<\/p>\n Three<\/a> also use Skype for Business<\/a> along with other collaborative tools, such as Microsoft Teams<\/a>. Since introducing these tools into their business, video calls have increased on average from 2800 to 3800 a month.<\/p>\n \u201cThe real advantage of Microsoft Teams is that you\u2019re more productive because you don\u2019t have to constantly switch between productivity apps,\u201d says Gary Walker, Head of People Digital Tools at Three. \u201cWith Microsoft Teams, it\u2019s contextually evident when to use the different Office 365 services\u2014Skype for Business Online to start a meeting, OneNote to organise meeting minutes, and SharePoint Online or Microsoft OneDrive for Business to save your documents.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only can these tools let teams from all over the UK and the world connect, it can offer the ability for teams to meet up and work on results quickly and efficiently.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can now Skype our ground crews during an incident so that the management team can see exactly what’s going on in real time. This provides them with the right information at the right time, which is key in an emergency,\u201d says Coombs.<\/p>\n For Three, it\u2019s not only more efficient, but it also lets remote workers feel more included and therefore more empowered to contribute more to the company.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s critical that our remote employees join the conversation, so nothing slows us down,\u201d says Gary Walker, Head of People Digital Tools at Three.<\/p>\n Discover how to drive creativity in a modern workplace<\/a><\/p>\n Find out how to empower your organisation through teamwork and collaboration<\/a><\/p>\nA modern workforce<\/h2>\n
Real-time results<\/h2>\n
Find out more<\/h2>\n