As of April, 66 percent of U.S. employees were working remotely at least part-time during the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic. And that number has likely only increased since then.
As we are forced to keep our distance from each other, staying connected through communication has not only never been more important but also more challenging.
The importance of staying connected
COVID-19 changed life for you and your clients.
Take a moment and consider all the face-to-face communication that takes place in your office throughout the course of a normal day. When you have a question to ask or an idea to discuss, you can walk over to the office of your co-worker and talk it out. When you’re in a meeting, you can pull out the dry erase marker and brainstorm on a whiteboard visually as a group.
But, what happens when we are all working from our homes behind our laptops? This communication is still important, but the way it happens has to change. And thanks to unified communications, it can.
When things are not business as usual, it can be easy to drop the ball on a big project or experience miscommunication with your client. And this could be detrimental to your bottom line.
How to use unified communications to stay connected
During these unprecedented times, people have been forced to learn how to effectively and efficiently use unified communications to solve problems, collaborate, and, ultimately, do business.
Thanks to unified communication tools, businesses are able to video conference with a large group and talk as though they were in the same room. They are able to use screen sharing capability to walk someone through an online process or to share a presentation. Instant messaging allows for questions to be asked or comments to be made during a video call without interrupting the speaker, and is incredibly efficient when hosting a large meeting. This aspect of unified communications can also be used for file sharing, the same way you would bring a printed handout to a meeting when you don’t want to share your screen with everyone to show them the content.
One unified communication tool that is easily accessible, easy to navigate for most, and offers these capabilities is Microsoft Teams. Teams include individual and group personal messaging, peer-to-peer voice, and video calling of which you can share your screen, conferencing, it is every form of communication you need at your fingertips. If your team is already using the Microsoft suite, then Microsoft Teams will automatically integrate with your Outlook calendar.
Plus, you can even make work a little fun with things such as the ability to change your background.
Using unified communication tools during COVID-19 is a great way not only to make sure business is still getting taken care of but also to show your clients you are flexible, innovative, and dedicated to serving them and their business.
This change might not be so temporary
Experts say that the changes the coronavirus has had on the workplace now might continue into the future, with more companies choosing to allow employees to work remotely. Recently, social media giant Twitter announced it would allow employees who are able to go remote indefinitely after the pandemic. The company said their offices would open, however, and employees would have the option to continue to work from home.
What this means is that the spike in the utilization of unified communications and its importance will also continue in the future.
The reality of it is, even if your company isn’t working from home in the future, there might be partners or customers who will be that you will still need to collaborate with using unified communication tools.
Will your company be ready? Contact Entech today and be equipped with top of the line unified communication tools.
