Despite most businesses worldwide holding on to in-office workplans, the concept of a hybrid workspace has gained significant traction in recent years and the balances are starting to shift, with Gartner revealing that as many as 82% of company leaders intend to let their employees go either hybrid or fully remote in the future. This change is happening because companies are realizing that combining remote work and an in-office presence doesn't just offer employees the flexibility to do their jobs from different locations whilst maintaining a great work environment. Hybrid work is the best of both worlds in the way that it gives businesses a tool to attract and retain an increasingly demanding workforce whilst also giving them the opportunity to boost employee experience, focus, productivity and motivation - everybody wins.
But even though it is the way of the future, setting up a hybrid working environment is not without its challenges. After all, working in an office and working from home are two extremely different things from a practical and technical standpoint. As a Service Provider you have to be able to deliver solutions that cater for both equally and ultimately there are two key elements you should be focusing on to ensure a successful hybrid solution:
- Effective communication, collaboration and flexibility
- Maintaining security and compliance
Communication, collaboration and the hybrid work model
It's official - Remote working has been proven to be one of the best ways to reduce burnout, and giving employees more freedom on how, where or even when they work promotes flexibility, mental well-being and increases how productive they are. But a lot of businesses still need to learn how to adapt their hybrid practices as we blur the line between work and home.
Collaboration in a hybrid work environment
It may not seem obvious, but remote collaboration quietly eliminates one of the biggest time killers that the modern workplace has to offer - in-office distractions. With nearly 90% of workers in the U.S. being distracted at least once daily, and 1 in 4 being interrupted over six times per day, businesses are losing almost 340 hours of productivity per team-member, per year. Over half of those interviewed in a separate UK survey said that reducing distractions was one of the biggest upsides to remote work.
But remote work isn't just about silo-ing off Team-members so they can't be distracted by each other, in fact the goal is quite the opposite. Businesses can now have access to everything they need in the cloud, and thanks to the likes of Microsoft, Webex and Zoom it has never been easier to internally collaborate outside of the office. But with so much software out there that enables hybrid working one main concern that businesses have is bogging their workforce down with a pile of open tabs and windows. Wherever possible businesses want their solutions to be in one place, or better yet, they want them to become a part of the solution that they're already using. This is why it is crucial that wherever possible you need to offer a single pane of glass, or even a solution that natively fits in to an existing UCaaS.
Communication in a hybrid work environment
Depending on how reliant a business is on fixed, in-office hardware, upgrading to a hybrid work environment could mean some fairly monumental changes, but as various industries move to being more and more flexible, these changes are becoming more and more necessary.
When it comes to communication, it's been possible for businesses to integrate their existing hardware into the cloud for a while, and as the number of PSTN enabled Teams users surpasses the 20 million mark its clear to see that the world is coming round to the idea of integrated voice services. And why not? A cloud-based communication solution allows for reduced costs, scalability and futureproofing.
It's well established that the ability to work from home is widely sought after by the modern workforce, but is it the pinnacle of flexibility? Perhaps not. As Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Work From Anywhere (WFA) capabilities become increasingly popular, companies are now taking things one step further and allowing their users to take their PBX with them wherever they go. After all, being able to work on anywhere on practically any device gives staff the ultimate level of freedom.
Keeping the hybrid workplace secure and compliant
Since the dawn of equipment that wasn't fully hardwired into a business' network, IT admins, HR reps, middle management and exec teams alike have been collectively getting increasingly nervous every time an employee sets foot outside the office with so much as a thumb drive. With the global average cost of a data breach being around $4.45 million (an increase of 15% over the past 3 years) its understandable that businesses across the globe are trying to make sure that they are secure and compliant as possible when their employees are working from multiple places with multiple pieces of equipment across multiple networks.
Before they deploy standard cybersecurity measures and employee training methods, businesses are first and foremost looking at the solutions they are using and seeing how they line up with their security and compliance needs. This goes double for organizations that are in regulated industries, making airtight solutions a non-negotiable for many decision makers. Focusing in again on communications, being able to have full monitoring and auditing capabilities is simply a must have, regardless of if a user is on a desktop, laptop or mobile.
And so, if you're looking to provide any kind of product that fits into a hybrid work environment, if nothing else you should be asking yourself a few questions:
- Does our solution work effectively in both an office and remote environment?
- Does it fit in with a business' communication and collaboration plans?
- Does it provide enough flexibility?
- Can we assure businesses that our solution will fit in with their high levels of expectation when it comes to compliance and security?
If the answer to any of these questions is anything apart from an absolute yes, get in touch with us to see how we can help you build the perfect hybrid work solution.
