Our appetite for increased connectedness is driving innovators to create new ways to bring us closer together, and these new technologies, such as social business, mobility and cloud-delivered services are the driving forces behind a whole new paradigm for communication centered on the power of video collaboration. Today, it’s not just about video conferences in office environments; it’s about delivering the ability to meet face-to-face in any environment.
This transformation is due in large part to the integration of video collaboration into day-to-day mission-critical business operations such as mobile inspection on the factory floor, crisis response centers in government or video-enabled kiosks in banking. Companies globally are now seeing the value of video collaboration beyond simple travel savings, to include reducing time-to-market, increasing customer service, improving crisis management, and streamlining decision making.
Research has shown that video collaboration in enterprises can help reduce time-to-market and sales-related costs by as much as 24% and recruitment times by 19%. At the same time, the generation entering the workforce today, combined with technology advancements are driving a visual mobile society. The proliferation of tablets and smartphones are driving new trends such as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). In fact, in 2012, Polycom conducted a survey of 400 business decision makers throughout Europe and found that companies with flexible work programs powered by visual collaboration solutions report that participating employees are an average of 39% more productive than others.
Trends such as BYOD and flexible working demonstrate a shift that is seeing more and more people demand the same standards of reliability and usability on their personal devices, as they would on their traditional work-related hardware and software-based applications, and the expectation that they can use devices of their choosing on the company network. The opportunities to take video collaboration beyond the boardroom or traditional work environment by establishing a mobile and more flexible work culture have now multiplied, given the wider choice in devices and platforms and more significantly, a rising need for more flexible working arrangements for a workforce on the move and to accommodate newer workplace structures, such as a surge in freelance and contract workers, and ‘hot-desking’. IDC Research predicts the global mobile worker population is set to reach 1.3 billion by 2015, representing 37.2% of the workforce; in Asia Pacific, this is expected to rise to 40% – representing nearly 830 million employees.
This staggering number, plus the ongoing investments in broadband infrastructure across the Asia Pacific region, presents enormous potential for governments, private sector organizations and the SMB sector in the region to explore the growing trends and cater to an ever-growing generation of digital nomads.
Flexible ways of working are becoming increasingly adopted in workplaces, with far reaching benefits which include retaining a better talent pool, more productive and efficient workers through the improvement of employee work-life balance, reduced real estate and operating costs for organizations, an improved continuity of operations and a reduced carbon footprint.
Mobility solutions incorporating enterprise-grade video has meant that the face-to-face meeting experience that takes place within a boardroom or office, is not compromised when on the move or in a home office.
Mobility can also be seen as key to bringing about improvements to existing businesses processes in various industries. In HR functions, for example, the deployment of enterprise mobility solutions can make the hiring and training process more efficient, reducing time and cost by conducting interviews over video. Mobile video applications available on smartphones and tablets have made this not just an easily adopted method, but also more accessible outside of an office environment. In manufacturing, stronger collaborations in R&D can significantly reduce time to market, while video could be used even on a production floor for remote inspections and repairs, all resulting in reduced downtime.
The government, education and healthcare sectors can also benefit from adopting enterprise mobility solutions for emergency response for increased public safety, distance-learning for extended reach, and tele-medicine for improved patient care. In addition to productivity, the research by Regus shows that a flexible working structure has also been credited for spurring greater revenue generation and as a driver of economic growth. Mobility solutions easily allow remote workers to be fully participating members of any team collaborations without location ever being a deterrent.
Smarter working practices in APAC
Organizations worldwide are currently reaping the benefits of flexible working arrangements, and in Asia Pacific, an increasing number of governments and employers are adopting practices for what can be considered as the next generation of the smart workplace.
The South Korean government is well-recognized for its progressive efforts in readily adopting technology to promote flexible working practices in organizations across the country. In June 2012, the country’s Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS) selected video collaboration solutions for its SmartWork Center Building Project. The Ministry expects that if each remote worker utilizes their local SmartWork center, as opposed to traveling to the central government facilities in Seoul for between 1-2 days per week, it will be able to reduce emission and transportation costs by approximately US $310 per one remote worker per year, and reduce commute time by up to 90 minutes per day. South Korean conglomerate CJ Group is also driving a smart, efficient, and flexible work culture by implementing a mobility strategy to enhance the company’s collaboration capabilities among group subsidiaries’ branch offices in Korea and abroad.
According to research by Regus, 35% of workers in Hong Kong are choosing to work from locations of their choice. In larger markets such as India, 79% of companies reported that their productivity increased as a result of flexible working practices. Recruitment specialists in the country have also acknowledged that flexible working has become a way of life in India, as the demand for temporary and contract workers continues to rise.
Adopting a mobility strategy
Adopting mobility and flexible working in an organization can now be considered a critical requirement in staying ahead of workplace trends, and indeed the competition. In the modern workplace, mobility and flexibility can be seen as key drivers in retaining talent, and benefiting the organization overall from resulting boosts in motivation, staff morale, customer service and productivity. Add to this, the savings in real-estate and capital investment by instilling a ‘hot-desking’ policy for employees who prefer to choose where they work from.
In Hong Kong for instance, Regus rightly points out that if more local businesses were to adopt flexible working practices for their staff, they would see improvements in health and morale, thereby benefiting the company overall.
As competition increases and resources shrink, more businesses can reap the benefits and values of a mobile workforce. Enterprise mobility is therefore becoming increasingly important as companies can leverage advancements in technology for more productive business. With more workers on the move than before, mobility and flexible working solutions ca n transform the way people work.
Nick Hawkins is Director, Technology Consulting Group, Polycom Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.