The Future Of Collaboration

It’s 2024, and most enterprises have firmly accepted remote and hybrid cultures. According to a Morning Consult survey commissioned by Zoom, 71% of leaders see improved employee happiness and satisfaction due to hybrid and remote work options. And why not? Employees can save the time they used to spend travelling to the workplace and focus more on their work. They have also been able to maintain a work-life balance.

Collaboration tools and technologies have further enabled employees to connect more from anywhere, anytime.

In recent years, modern workplaces have seen an uptick in the use of collaboration tools and technologies. These tools help enterprises improve employee productivity, increase engagement, and stay connected with others across different geographies. They also promote real-time communication and help team members make quick decisions.

Here are some collaboration trends that modern workplaces are witnessing or will likely witness in the future:

• Immersive technologies: Immersive technologies like Microsoft Teams’ Immersive Spaces and Meta’s mixed reality hardware reshape how teams collaborate. They allow enterprises to align teams across different locations for meetings and build relationships between employees in a virtual space. It solves one of the major problems of isolation and silos way of working that’s common in remote and hybrid teams.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI): According to the Morning Consult survey, 75% of employees can collaborate and make better decisions using AI. AI tools help teams summarize meetings, organize information, receive input from different team members, and make informed decisions.
• Modular layouts: Modern workplaces are replacing fixed assets like rigid cubicles and walls with movable ones, acoustic dividers, and multi-functional furniture and furnishings. The objective is to reconfigure spaces to aid collaboration and cater to various work styles.
• Bring your own device (BYOD): Enterprises are encouraging BYOD and mobile-first arrangements. This allows teams to join meetings from anywhere using a single meeting link or corporate numbers.
• Internet of Things (IoT): Integrating IoT and connected devices helps enterprises incorporate features like smart lighting, video conferencing systems, and occupancy sensors to improve collaboration and productivity.

There are various collaboration tools that help enterprises improve communication among teams, but the most common one is Microsoft Teams Rooms. More than 70% of Fortune 500 companies rely on Teams Rooms. They use it not only for in-person meetings but also for hosting hybrid meetings for in-person and remote employees.

Let’s learn how Microsoft Teams Rooms can make a difference in workplace collaboration.

How Microsoft Team Rooms Can Improve Workplace Collaboration

1. Allows inclusiveness and interactivity

Microsoft Teams’ collaboration tools can elevate hybrid meetings by combining high-quality audio-visual (AV) elements and making them interactive and inclusive. Here’s how it can make every participant feel seen and heard:

• Enterprises can use intelligent speakers with noise suppression and cameras in Teams Rooms to improve audio-visual clarity and make everyone feel like they are in the same room.
• Inclusive video layouts and spotlights can make remote participants feel included in the meeting.
• Microsoft Copilot with Teams Rooms can help participants detect every voice, summarize meetings, and provide subtitles and transcripts. This makes it easy for remote participants to keep track of the meeting’s developments.

2. Facilitates seamless content sharing

Enterprises can use features like PowerPoint Live and Excel Live to give presenters and audiences the power to present ideas and interact with each other in real time without using cables or wires. The content can also be translated into native languages to help everybody keep pace with the meeting. Besides that, participants can share screens, co-edit documents, and use digital whiteboards to collaborate. This will help remote participants feel more included in the meetings and foster productivity.

3. Creates immersive experience

Microsoft Teams Rooms has made virtual meetings engaging and enhanced collaboration by allowing employees to create immersive 3D spaces. Participants can now create their avatars and enjoy spatial interactions that mimic real-life interactions. They can also have side conversations and customize the environments to make meetings more engaging and productive. The objective is to bridge the gap between physical and digital interactions and transform the virtual meeting experience to make it less lonely for remote participants.

4. Encourages BYOD

As more employees use their devices for work, enterprises must make arrangements to support them. Microsoft Teams Rooms encourages them to use their preferred devices without making IT management complex. It also offers features like shared display mode, auto-discovery for devices, and seamless integration with audio-visual equipment that make it easier for employees to connect their devices with in-room technology. The familiarity and flexibility of using your own device elevate the meeting experience and improve employee productivity and engagement.

5. Easy to use

Microsoft Teams Rooms are known for accessibility and ease of use. It enables everyone to participate in meetings regardless of their location. From joining a meeting with one touch to finding and joining nearby Team Rooms meetings using personal devices, Microsoft Teams Rooms has made it easy for employees to join discussions and engage with others. Features like the Surface Hub touchboard that provides advanced collaboration capabilities, AI-powered audio and video, and booking a room from Microsoft Teams wall panel, further help enterprises to provide consistent and friction-free meeting experience to employees.

6. Offers flexible options for offices of all sizes

Microsoft Teams Rooms allow enterprises of all sizes to hold hybrid meetings successfully. Depending on their needs, employees can use it in a small huddle room or a large auditorium. They can choose from compact touch screens to full-fledged boardroom setups to create the perfect Teams Rooms experience. More importantly, Microsoft Teams Rooms is compatible with different devices, operating systems, and video conferencing systems. For example, it allows employees using legacy video conferencing systems to join meetings without hassles. These flexible work arrangements help global teams to connect and collaborate seamlessly.

7. Easy deployment and management

Microsoft Teams Rooms allow easy deployment and management using AI-powered tools. Admins can use features like Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal to centralize control and leverage AI-powered insights to manage devices across the enterprise. This helps the admins deploy and manage the meeting spaces and use built-in security features to protect devices and data across different meeting room settings.

Conclusion

Microsoft Team Rooms is successfully bridging the gap between remote and in-office team members and creating an environment of collaboration despite the distance. It is a user-friendly, flexible, and secure solution that can work with various devices and for offices of all sizes.

Using Microsoft Team Rooms, enterprises can save 6,000 hours of commuting time annually, 60 hours of IT admin time per week, 37 hours per week through easy content sharing, and reduce meeting issues by 30%. It has the potential ROI apart from enhancing collaboration.

At Resurgent, we provide a Microsoft Team Rooms solution that helps enterprises improve collaboration between remote and in-office team members and deepen employee engagement regardless of location.

For more information on implementing Microsoft Team Rooms in your enterprise, contact us.