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.

Cisco recently made it a requirement that any customer purchasing Webex Contact Center must also have a partner to handle their tier 1 and tier 2 (non-platform related) issues. To meet this need, CDW is excited to offer a Webex Calling/Webex Contact Center-focused Managed Collaboration Anywhere service as part of our extensive services catalog.

We created three service packages that will work for any customer: basic, essential or premium. Also available are add-on options, such as our call experience testing or managing the network that the Webex services utilize.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been called the world’s largest forced proof of concept for collaboration technologies. Last spring, organizations across industries scrambled to deploy collaboration suites and get workers up and running from their homes. Already, these technologies are beginning to transform company cultures and workflows.

Many frontline healthcare workers, of course, have bravely donned their personal protective equipment and stayed in the field to deliver care. But collaboration technologies have revolutionized the work of a large number of clinicians and other healthcare workers, and we expect these solutions to have a lasting impact.

Here are five predictions we feel confident making about the future of collaboration in healthcare:

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.

According to the Gartner Global Telephony and Messaging Forecast 2016–2023, 2020 marks the first time in history that spending on cloud-based telephony and messaging surpassed spending on on-premises solutions. While this is clearly a benefit to Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) providers, there are also misconceptions around these offerings. Organizations need to tread carefully and deliberately as they consider moving collaboration to the cloud.

This past year has been one of the busiest of my professional life.

In previous years, leaders at some organizations that purchased new collaboration tools thought they couldn’t afford to include adoption services as well. But now, with employees largely working from home, many organizations are discovering that they can’t afford not to invest in an initiative that helps users leverage new solutions in ways that will enable them to overcome fragmented communications and work together effectively — no matter where in the world they happen to be.

Here’s why 2020 was the year when many business and IT leaders discovered just how essential adoption services are — and why these services will continue to be in demand in 2021 and beyond.