The way we work is evolving and with that the office space as we know it is also changing.
Traditional ways of working have been turned on their head in the last few years, 9-5 is no longer the norm as we work in an ever connected world. As we seek to strike a better work life balance, miss that dreaded commute and improve productivity, mobile working is on the rise. Be that from home, the coffee shop or on the train - the ability to work anytime or anywhere is something more of us have come to expect.
Citrix forecast that by 2017, some 50% of businesses will have a mobile working policy, and by 2020 70% of people will work away from the office as often as they worked at a desk.
Although office space will decline due to increases in remote working and the expense of office space it is unlikely that the office will disappear altogether – however the way we use that space and what we want from our offices is changing.
A BBC article published this week discusses the evolution of the office. You can now find everything from slides, smart lighting & heating systems, activity based working, games rooms and flexible working spaces. The theory being that if we are all happy and healthy at work we will be more productive, creative and ultimately not want to leave. All great for businesses' bottom line.
Hot desking, although not a new phenomenon, is still on the rise – again a symptom of the increase in mobile working – recognising that not everyone needs to be in the office all the time. This combined with open plan working is seen as a way to increase collaboration and break down departmental silos.
So these new ways of working are all aimed to give employees flexibility and choice, whether they want to work in the office, which in itself is becoming a more agile space, no fixed desks, or working away from the office in a location of their choice. All fantastic in theory but do you have the right tools and infrastructure in place to make this a reality for employees and truly drive productivity for the business?
Unified communications (UC) is just one example of a solution that will help you and your employees to wrap multiple communication channels into a single system and enable your employees communicate and collaborate anytime, anywhere and from any device.
Here are the top five reasons why you should be utilising unified comms.
1.Support efficient and effective remote working
By bringing voice, email, instant messaging and SMS together, unified communications gives your employees the tools to embrace working from any location through one device.
2.Increase employee productivity
By connecting a range of popular ways of communicating, unified communications make it easier to reach the right person quickly, eliminating failed attempts to reach colleagues
3.Reduce overhead spend
By adopting unified communications your business can save costs on office space and maintenance costs, saving a London business on average £285 per month per desk (The Next Web, 2012), whilst smaller businesses embracing working remotely can eliminate the need for office space altogether.
4.Better collaboration facilities
Unified communications brings audio, video, screen sharing and web conferencing facilities together, as well as instant messaging and presence.
5.Faster response and delivery times
Collaboration that is more efficient enables employees to respond quickly and easily to communications, saving an average of 32 minutes per day, per employee (Microsoft, 2014).
Giving your organisation the ability to make work something they do not somewhere they go is not just a trend it is becoming the norm. Make sure you have the right tools to change the way you work.
A system such as Touch Telephony has the capability to deliver all of these benefits to your business.
