DOCUMENT/DATA MANAGEMENT SO FAR YET SO NEAR
What’s the best technology approach for remote collaboration, asks Luis De Souza, CEO of NFS Technology?
We’ve never seen such a need for remote collaboration as we have in the last couple of months. With homeworking now so essential, you’re probably thinking hard about the tools you need to manage remote collaboration in your organisation.
There are certainly plenty of choices out there – the technology that gets people talking has developed hugely in the last decade. But in pursuit of perfect remote collaboration, there are three big challenges you need to tackle.
The first is selecting the right tools for the job, the second is making sure your staff engage with them easily and the final challenge is ensuring your approach is secure, cost- effective, reliable and sustainable.
So, what are the right tools for the job? That depends on what you need the tools to do. Start by examining where your business activities sit (see table).
How do we begin to tackle those last two challenges - engaging your staff and ensuring your approach is secure, cost effective, reliable and sustainable?
In many ways, these important issues have the same solution, a combination of: good co-ordination of people and technology; clear communication of aims and processes; careful monitoring of outcomes; and robust reporting to inform decision-making.
Workers who are well-trained, and who find their technology easy to use, are more likely to engage with it and use it.
Video conferencing is a good example. Studies have shown that people can be reluctant to set up a video conference
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if it’s a time-consuming or complicated process, but if it takes just a couple of minutes, that obstacle is removed.
On a wider level, monitoring usage plus measuring outcomes and productivity provides a clear view of whether your approach is proving cost-effective, and helps with planning. This is where integrated meeting room scheduling technology enters the picture.
Effective collaboration involves bringing together not just people, but also key elements from a range of technologies. The challenge arises when a collaborative project involves a number of colleagues in different locations and time zones, video or audio conferencing.
As many organisations are finding to their cost during the coronavirus crisis, successful agile working is not just a matter of bunging your staff a laptop each and downloading Skype – that’s just a recipe for chaos.
Homeworking and remote collaboration need to be carefully organised and supported in order to harness efficient, productive, sustainable and healthy ways of working.
Bringing the elements together Effective remote collaboration derives from drawing people and technology together in harmony, even across multiple locations and time zones.
Trying to do this using non-integrated technology can be tricky, as anyone will tell you who has ever had to call five PAs across the world to set up a suitable video conference time.
Even Outlook has its limitations when it comes to adding elements such as food and beverages for a multi-location meeting, or making sure essential equipment is available.
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