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Disruptive communication

By Tamsin Oxford
Johannesburg, 12 Oct 2016
Carly Sutton, Vox Telecom.
Carly Sutton, Vox Telecom.

Collaboration and communication - there are few words as abused and overused as these, especially within the business context. Thrown into HR and business meetings, laid out as key performance indicators and generally used as whips in inter-office political manoeuvres, collaboration and communication are often key, essential and unique. They are also being disrupted.

Technology is having a positive impact on how organisations communicate, collaborate and engage with people. The enterprise dynamic is changing because it has to. Choice has been taken out of the equation, certainly if the enterprise plans on being successful over the long term.

"Mobile offices and hot desks are becoming the new normal, and mobile and cloud solutions make collaboration from anywhere, anytime and on any device more effective and efficient," says Carly Sutton, senior product manager for Cloud: Digital Communications, Vox Telecom. "Enterprises need to deliver a multi-channel strategy both internally and externally as people are looking for more ways to use technology for instant communication and collaboration."

Shifts in how and where people work are allowing for deeper communication and richer collaboration. Tools such as Asana, Podio, Slack, Igloo, Workfront, Google, Skype and Atlassian come with extensive feature sets and capabilities, and enterprises are starting to pay attention.

"The digital landscape, backed by cloud computing, is bringing with it the unique opportunity for organisations to reshape themselves," says Hans Zachar, MD, Technology Strategy, Accenture. "We are seeing a transition towards more collaborative, multi-channel operating models focused on improving organisation efficiencies and enhancing customer service."

Zachar hits on that all-important nerve - people. The disruptive influencers in the communication world are paying attention to the people and what they want: ease of use, anytime and anywhere, on any device, experience and productivity. Some of the leaders in this space are focusing on mobile, video, applications, instant messaging and shared cloud-based documents and folders, all allowing for users to collaborate over distances and time zones.

I'll be watching you

"Video conferencing is also on the rise as its software becomes more user-friendly and available across multiple channels," says Andre Deetlefs, executive: Lines of Business, Jasco Group. "If one side of a video conference is conducted through traditional systems, the other side usually needs the same, but new technologies are emerging that enable interoperability between systems. With mobile communication applications, collaboration is enabled anytime, anywhere. Innovation can occur as quickly as it takes to schedule a Skype video chat, without having to worry about having various resources in place."

By integrating collaboration tools into business processes, communication is being enhanced not only between employees, but also between customers and partners. It is changing the way in which knowledge is turned into action and this is driving productivity and faster turnaround times.

"It does need to be about more than just sharing knowledge and information, though," adds Zachar. "The tools must help shape how work is carried out and how it influences teamwork, ensuring it produces better results, higher productivity and greater innovation."

The combination of rapid technological change, the generational shift and the ongoing globalisation of business has forever changed the face of communication.

Simon Carpenter, SAP Africa

Communication and collaboration solutions and engagements have become more strategic and the introduction of tools such as WhatsApp, Skype and Slack has allowed for information to slip more seamlessly between silos. The very nature and structure of the technology is moulding the silo mentality into a more inclusive mindset, encouraging the sharing of knowledge and information through packaged parcels of insight.

"The differentiation here is that knowledge has already been processed in an understandable and usable way, it is useful and relevant and can be used to make a decision," says Gareth Hawkey, CEO, redPanda Software. "One of the big trends is in trying to get more people involved and ensuring that the right people get the right information at the right time. Peer management is also likely to become more prevalent - with true transparency, objective measurements and goals, teams can manage themselves to a large degree."

Another buzz word for 2016 is 'agile'. Everybody wants an agile organisation. It's nice. It means the business can leap from one challenge, opportunity and innovation to the next with the grace of a bionic gazelle. Few businesses are really there, but the changes in collaborative technology architecture are giving them access to the tools they need to get there. Decision-making and communication are more efficient and that means the enterprise is, by default, quicker off the mark.

"The combination of rapid technological change, the generational shift and the ongoing globalisation of business has forever changed the face of communication," says Simon Carpenter, chief technology officer at SAP Africa. "Facebook and LinkedIn pointed the way to how we can collaborate on global platforms, OTT messaging platforms brought us greater ease-of-use and immediacy than e-mail, and in-app collaboration capabilities are enabling richer dialogues between companies and customers. In an inherently globalised economy, the ability to support asynchronous collaboration can mean the difference between winning and losing."

The statistics of poor communication and bedraggled collaboration

According to research done by Salesforce, 96% of executives believe that a lack of communication and collaboration is the reason why workplaces fail and, perhaps more importantly, they are the reason why employees leave a company. HR Zone found that poor communication and collaboration are the direct cause of up to 30% of employee retention issues. If people can't communicate effectively, and this is particularly true of the millennials, they don't flourish and often opt for careers that may have less pay, but greater engagement.

"Enterprises have traditionally segmented responsibilities into silos, which has led to a methodology-based approach to problem-solving," says Jeremy Potgieter, regional director, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eseye. "The value proposition becomes very difficult to differentiate from competing offerings, leaving two constant casualties, price and a stifled workforce."

The statistics also point to a very clear trend in terms of video and how solutions that can package this neatly for any platform, device or situation are potentially going to lead the way. Forbes pointed out that 93% of communication is driven by non-verbal signals that can impact on how tone is read into content (e-mail, text, messaging), and video calls have a longer attention span (35 minutes) than voice calls (23 minutes). Then add onto this the research from Computer World, which revealed that 87% of desktop video users feel more connected to teams, and the visual becomes the winner.

"Solutions such as Skype for Business have become commonplace and are reducing the need for business travel. It's becoming widely accepted for parties sitting in different locations to join a Skype Conference Call or webinar with screen sharing in order to collaborate," says Craig Gillham, GM: Content and Collaboration, Decision Inc. "On a recent project, we had developers sitting halfway across the world assisting and doing solution resolution using these technologies."

And, if the numbers so far haven't had an impact, perhaps the most interesting of all is one from McKinsey, which found that employees spend around 28 hours a week writing e-mails, hunting for information and dealing with internal requests. FastCompany decided to underscore this with a fat 80% - that's how many e-mails are a waste of time. Yes, only 20% of e-mails are done properly. Who knew?

"The McKinsey Global Institute Study found that high-skill knowledge workers spend 19% of their average work week searching for, and gathering, information," says Tony Rolston, CEO, APMXperts. "That's an incredible amount of productive time lost and something collaborative solutions can address."

This article was first published in the October 2016 edition of ITWeb Brainstorm magazine. To read more, go to the Brainstorm website.

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