The human factor of visual collaboration
What are the deciding factors for people to massively adopt technological developments, such as video collaboration?
Over twenty years ago, the contours of the future market was led by a Norwegian company. In current times, these services are part of the core ICT solutions of any global corporate and it is a multi-billion market. The technological development of the market is far from over and there are some hurdles still to take, regarding interoperability and easiness of use. And the leading vendors and their challengers show innovation and creativity, to seduce their customers with fresh designs and cutting edge new features.
The business case for remote collaboration, at least for the obvious reasons can be done easily. But if we zoom in on a deeper level, there still is a lot of potential to be gained by the salesforces of the video service providers. I am aiming at the growth of the level of adoption by the workforces of our customers throughout the world.
There has always been a certain tension between the development of high tech solutions and the level of adoption by employees. This is logical in a sense. People sometimes need to get certain incentives in order to change their behavior on using new tools at work.
Which factors are influencing the employers?
The company culture in general, level of technology adaptation, travel habits/- advantages/- restrictions, easiness of use, network performance, look and feel of equipment, integration possibilities in core applications, interoperability of video services, to name some of the essential ones.
What is the way, to integrate video collaboration integrated successfully, into the core processes of the business? Which bowling pin is going to generate the most spin-offs? It is not about having a silent (re)launch, a service description and quick reference manual on the intranet. Video collaboration takes a little more effort (and creativity) from companies to integrate it at optimum level of the business activities. Try to make video collaboration a part of the company DNA.
That requires a clear strategy on this topic. You cannot just let the technology do the dirty work for you. A subtle communication campaign combined with the constant measurement of the video environment. Having a video miles incentive program, or a non-flying zone at the work floor, are some ideas in the right direction. People need to be inspired and shown the way forward.
And analyzing which customer interactions can be made more intimate by adding video call to the possibilities. Such as a video enabled customer service or having a discussion with your insurance advisor from the seat of your home, at the time of your choice.
At Elisa Videra we have video collaboration in our DNA; it is a necessity to help us reach our goals, to be one of the leading video services providers. Our CEO Pasi Mäenpää leads the way, by hosting the monthly updates of our team, via a complete video enabled environment, where we all can interact, from all over the world, with just one click away.
My first experience with Elisa Videra was also through video, 3 out of 4 job interviews were done by video. That is walking your own (video) talk!
In the next couple of months I will address above with some examples out of my daily life and experiences, and am looking forward to discuss these to work towards an inspiring way of working; The Video Way!
I am looking forward to exchange thoughts and opinion on this topic!
Kind regards,
Ben Sonnemans
Elisa Videra