Over the past year, many organizations scrambled to roll out new collaboration technologies and end-user devices to enable their employees to remain productive while they worked remotely. These efforts were necessary, and they bridged a gap to keep businesses up and running during an unprecedented period. However, they often resulted in one-size-fits-all solutions that did not adequately account for the differences in how business units and individual employees use collaboration tools.

As we head into the “next normal” — a period when many people will return to offices even as hybrid and flexible work schedules remain common — it will be important to optimize collaboration environments. One way to do this is by understanding and developing end-user personas.

During the past year, collaboration technologies have had their own moment in the sun. In response to the new remote work needs spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations across industries have raced to roll out collaboration suites that keep their workers connected and productive from the safety of home. Largely, these tools have had their intended effect, with many businesses reporting that worker productivity has stayed level or even improved slightly. However, many organizations have found that their collaboration environments are now as rambling, disorganized and inefficient as their mobile environments were a few years ago.

Like mobile solutions, collaboration is here to stay. Organizations that bring a UEM approach to their collaboration environments are the ones that will see the greatest success with these solutions going forward.

Not surprisingly, many organizations in 2020 were concerned about maintaining communication between their team members and customers (and continue to be). I’ve had to change how I interact with my customers entirely and am now finding great value in using Cisco’s Webex Desk Pro to work with them. Discover how CDW services and solutions can…

Collaboration huddle spaces were growing in popularity before the coronavirus pandemic hit, and they’re likely to see continued adoption as employees return to work throughout the current year. But huddle spaces in 2021 are likely to look a bit different than they did in 2019.

The video collaboration landscape has changed dramatically over the past year — due to the pandemic and because of new products and features from vendors. Here are seven huddle space trends to watch out for this year:

Before spring 2020, many organizations didn’t let people work from home for one reason: security.

Sure, business leaders also may have had concerns about potential issues with productivity and collaboration if people weren’t in an office. But perhaps more than anything, there was concern about the heightened possibility of critical data breaches.

The coronavirus pandemic, of course, left many companies with few, if any, other options. In March, managers were forced to send employees home to comply with regional lockdowns and protect the safety of their workers. For the most part, organizations have been pleasantly surprised with the ability of their employees to work productively outside the office. And, with a few exceptions, organizations are also largely finding that their technology tools are up to the task of keeping their environments secure.

In particular, Cisco Systems has gone to great lengths to make enterprise security a key component of the popular collaboration platform Webex. Here are some important features to be aware of that are helping keep organizations safe.

If you haven’t moved some portion of your collaboration needs to the cloud yet, you are likely thinking about it. While on-premises communications platforms had been popular for the past several decades, “the times they are a-changin.” Almost every customer I talk to is planning a move to the cloud for at least some portion of their communications strategy. Most are doing it to get out of the server management business, while others are more focused on the continued advancements that cloud brings.

Luckily, I have had the opportunity to focus on the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market for the past couple years and have witnessed the growth of some of our closest partners here at CDW. Over the past couple months, I’ve worked to get our Avaya Cloud Office (ACO) services off the ground, and I thought I would share some of what I learned through that process, as much of what I saw will be compelling to many of our customers.