VIEWPOINT The power of datadriven collaboration New collaboration technologies are empowering organisations with the data they need to optimise office real estate and lower costs, while also improving employee engagement, productivity and wellbeing The Covid pandemic caused the greatest disruption to our workplaces since the First Industrial Revolution, and its heaviest impact was on how we collaborate. Within a few months, the phrase “stop by my desk” was replaced with “Teams me” in many companies. Yet regardless of how or where it happens, collaboration remains essential for organisations to innovate, build relationships and serve customers, patients or students. According to Vyopta’s research, over 100 million meetings occur every day with organisations spending over $3 trillion per year for their employees to meet and collaborate. With such large investments of time and capital on the line, it is critical for organisations to optimise the way their employees communicate with one another. Fortunately, organisations have embraced new collaboration technologies over the past three years to support both remote and hybrid work. The adoption of these technologies provides unprecedented data around how individuals, teams and organisations interact with each other, none of which was available when meetings were primarily conducted in person. Leveraging this new-found data can accelerate workplace transformation and enhance collaboration to improve employee productivity, engagement and well-being. As organisations continue to iterate their technologies, workspaces and policies in a new era of hybrid work, these databased insights can be an important tool for making decisions around how to balance in-office and remote work, optimise real estate and find the right best-of-breed technology solutions. For example, many organisations are re-evaluating their real estate footprints to improve efficiency, save costs and create an environment that encourages people to return to the office. Data that tracks the utilisation of collaborative spaces can assist these organisations in designing spaces which have the optimal technologies and footprints. From a cost savings standpoint, if an organisation discovers that a 12-seat conference room is routinely used only for one-on-one meetings, it has an opportunity to reconfigure its office footprint. Real estate is the second biggest cost driver for many businesses and right-sizing office space can save up to tens of millions of dollars. Similarly, data can also be critical when selecting or migrating to a new technology, for example when migrating from SIP endpoints to Microsoft Teams Rooms. Companies can use collaboration data to establish benchmarks and track them throughout a migration process so that technology transitions are as smooth as possible. Research by Vyopta shows that information workers spend up to 90 per cent of their day on digital devices. Therefore, improving an employee’s digital experience is critical to ensuring productivity, engagement, wellness and retention. Notably, in up to 20 per cent of JONATHAN SASS: VYOPTA 92 “ New collaboration data empowers organisations to optimise workspaces and employee experiences”
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