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:

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.

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…

The COVID-19 pandemic has made sure that the year 2020 will go into the history books for a number of reasons. For one, the way people work has changed. But while some of us are fortunate enough to have the option to work from home, this has not been the case for everyone, especially for those who have been designated as essential workers. These individuals continue to show up for work during periods of local community restrictions or shelter-in-place orders.

Whether working remotely or on-site, safety is a big concern for all of us right now. According to Price Waterhouse Cooper’s November 2020 Workforce Pulse Survey of 1,000 American workers (both remote and essential), 48 percent say they feel strongly or somewhat agree that they are forced to sacrifice personal safety to remain employed. Many employees are concerned about their safety — as they should be. I’m thankful that my employer, CDW, has taken coworkers’ concerns about safety very seriously.

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.

While a COVID-19 vaccine is encouraging, companies are still facing a tremendous challenge to keep the wheels turning while teams work remotely. IT and Finance teams are under huge pressure to optimize IT spend in the short term while looking at the long-term effects of their decisions.