Since the pandemic, work has undergone a profound transformation. After two years of virtually everybody working remotely, hybrid working was inevitable, especially as 12% of people were already in some form of hybrid work before 2020. 

Most organisations have hybrid or flexible working practices in place now, but many are still struggling to strike the right balance. You only have to look at social media to notice the confusion and rumination hybrid is causing.  

It’s hard to imagine, but even conventions like the 40-hour work week took decades to settle into the collective consciousness. Any change on this scale won’t happen overnight. 

Let’s look at what you can do to ease hybrid working within your organisation and ensure your people and productivity thrives. 

Technology for the hybrid workplace

Understanding what hybrid workers need is crucial to keeping everything on an even keel. How do they want to move forwards? What are the resources and technology they need?

To minimise wasted time and tears, clarity and a system that allows for flexibility while also implementing policies are essential. 

Without the right technology in place, the transition to hybrid working can become messy. For every individual that switched seamlessly, another faced the daunting task of balancing work, childcare and adapting to new tech all in one go.

These difficulties can be mitigated by communicating and empowering people. With the right technology, hybrid work can reach its lofty goals of creating a new rulebook for how people engage with the office.

People make hybrid work

Employees have more power in the workplace than ever before. While this has been an overall benefit to people’s mental health, personal wellbeing, family setup and childcare time, it has also meant that employers have had to adapt to the new power balance. 

The primary basis of hybrid working should be keeping in touch with your employees. This can also mean significant changes to the office itself, with more of a focus on collaboration and socialising. 

You can find out more about how your office can become better suited to a hybrid arrangement with our blog covers an in-depth take on the subject: How to get started with Hybrid Office Design.

So, how should organisations approach hybrid working? 

Ultimately, you need to focus on creating the best working experience – this is a task for all areas of the organisation, from Facilities Managers to HR departments to business leaders.

But don’t expect to find a quick and easy solution. Take each day as it comes, gain regular feedback from them and see every obstacle as an opportunity for improvement. 

The different moving parts of the company require a different approach to ease their transition into hybrid work, and whether you are in facilities, HR or general management, using the right tools for the job will be vital. 

Facilities management

Facilities Managers have always been focused on the efficient and effective delivery of support services for the organisation they serve. In the current circumstances, this has never been more important.

In the face of new challenges, Facilities Management teams within businesses must navigate the practical elements and implementation of safety, efficiency and continuity in the workplace and beyond. They need to ensure that people feel safe and understood.

HR teams

During hybrid working, it’s key that the right support networks are in place to enable your people to work flexibly. 

This isn’t just about listening and providing assistance where needed; it’s about proactively showing that your people are at the forefront of every business decision. This will help reassure them they are very much part of any workplace changes.

Business leaders

Suppose business leaders make people rigidly follow hybrid working policies. In that case, they could fail. Instead, business leaders need to learn and test new ways of working.  They must work with people individually to ensure hybrid working success.

Businesses that are willing to engage in innovation and take advantage of the tools available are going to have the easiest time getting the best out of their employees and building a relationship that is collaborative and cohesive.  

This could mean the implementation of cloud technologies, the latest collaboration tools and any necessary hardware for each individual. And if you’re at the start of your journey, why not read our blog on building a business case for hybrid working.

Let’s co-create your hybrid workplace

Do you need help identifying exactly what your business needs to empower your staff in the hybrid workplace? A people-first partner like Ricoh can help you build the perfect package for your organisation.

We can assist you in identifying where your company needs to improve and what is presently working well, find out about our people-focused solutions and innovations here. 

The post How to optimise Hybrid Working appeared first on Insights - Empowering Digital Workplaces.

Organisations that understand hybrid working and hybrid office design, understand that it’s not just about giving people the freedom to work from home. 

Hybrid, by its very nature, supports multiple working environments. To succeed, you need to create a seamless experience between remote locations and offices so your employees feel supported to be flexible and empowered to collaborate with colleagues from anywhere.

There are also two very timely external reasons to consider hybrid office design:

1. The talent market is more competitive than ever. For the first time since records began, there are more job vacancies in the UK than candidates. To attract high-quality, diverse individuals and retain your best talent, you need an exceptional hybrid working experience. 

2. The RICS Commercial Property Market Survey recorded an increase in the demand for office space in the UK, up 30% in 2022 Q1. Regardless of what the press says, organisations are returning to and investing in office spaces. To stay competitive, you need to keep up with this movement. 

So, let’s unpack the five steps you need to take to redesign your office for hybrid working and some examples of organisations leading the way. 

Speak to your people

To ensure any change in your workplace will succeed, you first need to understand your people, the way they work and what is important to them. You can do this through surveys, interviews and observations.

The average workplace is only utilised to 35-50% of its potential. Without an understanding of your office, and how it is currently utilised, it is impossible to know if you are making the right decisions and receiving the expected ROI.

Then you need to get buy-in. Studies show that 40% of office workers waste up to 30 minutes a day searching for space to collaborate, so you’d hope they’d be keen for change. 

Calculate the value of your space

Desk space is expensive. The average desk space in London costs £593 per month. Meeting space is even more expensive. Even more so as utilisation rates are low. 

To effectively plan and work out the most successful hybrid workplace, you need to know what value your space has and the potential costs. This way you can reinforce your plans with a robust business case and highlight key recommendations for the future.

Understand how your spaces are used

Knowing whether a space is occupied or not is essential, but it’s not the complete picture of hybrid office design. To create a workplace that empowers your people and hybrid working, you also need to understand:

• Space utilisation rates – knowing when spaces are used, and the availability of that space assists you in making decisions about the type, number and size of facilities needed.
• Resource usage – looking at the resources your people are using and the tasks they help to achieve lets you plan which investments to make.
• How your people work together – understanding the way your people communicate allows you to identify the location, number, size and style of spaces needed.
• When workspaces are not used – tracking indicates whether you need to look at different options such as the introduction of collaboration zones or the development of new processes like ad hoc booking systems.

As well as the qualitative data such as the relationship between teams e.g. should HR, facilities and IT be close together when they’re in the office? Do teams need a dedicated collaboration zone or a hot desk? Are your meeting rooms used for quick conversations, board meetings or phone calls?

Make a plan and execute

Once the research is done and you understand your people, process, technology and workplace, it’s time to make a plan.

First, take the data from your occupancy study and answer each of the following questions:

• How many meeting rooms do we need?
• What types of meeting rooms should we have?
• What booking system should we install?
• What other resources and technology requirements are there?
• How will we measure and report on utilisation?
• How can we communicate through our office space using digital signage?

Once you’ve mapped out your functional requirements, move on to the aesthetics. Create design mood boards for each room, including furniture styles and colours. Your people will spend a lot of time in these rooms, so it’s important to create welcoming spaces that people want to use and get value out of.

Finally, it’s important to keep staff involved as you go. Asking them for feedback and inviting them to get involved will help them feel like they’re part of the process. It will also help you get more insights into what they want and design something that will be truly useful.

Review your approach

Once you’ve rolled out your changes, you should introduce regular opportunities to review your workplace and look for improvements. These reviews should consider key metrics like employee engagement, retention, cost savings and occupancy.

Creating the future of the office with EasyJet 

We implemented RICOH Spaces for EasyJet to support flexible hybrid working, enable a safe return to work after the pandemic, facilitate greater employee collaboration and enable cost-effective use of space at its HQ.

Currently, employees are recommended to come to the Luton HQ campus up to three days a week based on a role-driven approach. To book a workspace, easyJet employees now simply use the RICOH Spaces mobile app or web browser and scan a QR code on the reserved desk to log their arrival. 

Processes are also in place to safeguard workspaces for people that are critical to the operation on-site, as well as to ensure everyone feels safe at work. The Property Team at easyJet actively uses the reporting tools within RICOH Spaces to explore current and historic workspace usage and assist with future changes. Find out more in our case study here.

If you would like to chat about Hybrid Office Design and how RICOH spaces could help you, contact me today. By working with Ricoh, you can purchase single or multiple components of our spaces package. Remove the hassle of dealing with multiple vendors and pursue a global approach.

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In this article, I’ll share my insights – supported by excellent research from the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM) – to look at how vital facilities decisions will set your organisation up for the years to come.

How do people feel about remote working?

Remote working opened your employee’s eyes to new ways of working. By working at home, they have benefitted in a number of ways like more significant financial savings. Your people want to keep these gains. In fact: 

• 43% enjoy not having to pay to commute to work
• 42% value the increased time they get to spend on personal activities
• 61% feel that their experience of remote working has made them want to continue working from home in the future

But for those that do want to return and adopt a more hybrid working approach, there are a few things you can plan to make sure your organisation provides the right environment.

What do your people want from a hybrid office?

Some of the most valuable insights gained by the IWFM are key statistics about what workers expect as the business world transitions to hybrid working. Here’s what they found out:

• 73% expect flexible working options
• 55% hope for increased cleaning provisions
• 49% would appreciate open and regular communications on hybrid working plans
• 39% envisage adjusted desk organisation to maintain social distancing

Take these insights and make them part of your better workspace and hybrid working strategy.

A professional’s view

“Creating a workplace that feels safe and productive is vital to our success. Listening to our people’s concerns and needs was essential. We have implemented a considered approach based on insight and understanding by gathering qualitative and quantitative insights through employee surveys and feedback. Our people are our most valuable assets.”

Dale Woodcock, Executive Director – EMEA at Woodalls Design

How can your Facilities Manager prepare your office for a hybrid model??

No matter your strategy, your Facilities Manager will play a key role in ensuring your office workspace isn’t just suitable but also empowering for your people. Here are three fundamental principles they should follow to ensure your teams remain happy, protected and productive during hybrid working:

• Develop a flexible strategy that makes sense for your staff, visitors and customers

You also need to provide support for those who work at home. Make sure they have the right equipment, like chairs and software devices. So, your solution has to be flexible.

• Engage with your people

The best decisions can only be made through insight gained directly from your people. You must understand the concerns of individuals who work with you to provide solutions that work for them. Facilities Managers should collaborate with HR colleagues to create surveys, harvest data, and enable action. Ricoh, we call this process “The Voice of the People”

• Lead the charge into the ‘new normal’

Understand that this is just the beginning. Facilities Managers have an opportunity to demonstrate authentic leadership and show the value of their role by providing and integrating solutions that their workplace needs. Think both short- and long-term to stay at the forefront of the ‘new normal’, and remember we’re moving forwards, not going back.

How Ricoh can help you reimagine a better workplace

One of the best ways to ensure your organisation creates a better workspace is by working with a collaborative partner whose experts understand the challenges and opportunities.

Take a look at our guide, ‘Reimagining your workplace’ and learn why we here at Ricoh think now is the perfect time to build for a better business future.

Reimagining your workplace

We’re entering an exciting time for business, one with excellent opportunities to evolve how we work for greater commercial success – but there will also be new challenges.

Click to read a quick guide to reimagining your capture

If you would like more advice on reimagining your workplace or help with an existing project, please get in touch.

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In this article, we’ll discuss how business leaders and Facilities Managers can ensure business continuity when transitioning to a hybrid model and learn about the people-first approach of Eversheds.

What is the challenge?

When it comes to ensuring business continuity, the challenge each element of your organisation faces is slightly different and should be looked on as an opportunity to reimagine and accelerate digital transformation.

The challenge for business leaders

Business leaders have to ensure that each decision they make empowers their people. Your people are your most valuable asset. Make them your priority by enabling them to work in a style that suits them. Do this, and you’ll be on the right path to success.

The challenge for HR departments

HR departments need to provide the support that’s appropriate for your workforce – no matter what shape it takes. Many employees will likely value the choice of whether of hybrid working. And these expectations need to be managed carefully. Give consideration to the needs of your employees and your business, as well as the technology required to support this effectively.

The challenge for IT teams

Having a smart digital infrastructure will not only sustain business continuity. It can also provide a performance advantage to drive growth and profitability.

No doubt this is something your own IT teams already have a lot of experience in. But the challenge is set to become even more complex when some of your workforce is distributed across remote and home locations.

The challenge for your Facilities Manager

Your Facilities Manager can play a vital role in addressing the challenges your organisation will face, offering support to your teams from a central position.

It is their challenge to act as the focal point for your HR, IT and leadership teams, overseeing both process and progress to ensure everyone is working effectively towards the same collective goal.

How can my business tackle these challenges?

Reimagining and driving digital transformation all starts with creating a solid plan of action based on the needs of your organisation and – most importantly – your people.

Your strategy must take into your people’s working environments and the processes and technology they will need to work effectively. Get this right, and you could reap the significant performance and productivity benefits. 

What is the role of a Facilities Manager?

It might feel like there are a lot of different spinning plates when it comes to ensuring business continuity. But using the expertise and knowledge of a Facilities Manager will keep things on track and under control.

They are the glue that can bring together all the individual teams in your business as they work towards your collective goal – which is why they’ve become a pivotal player in the leadership team.

And just as importantly, they can be the single point of contact for both your IT and HR teams, which allows them to drive the culture shift and create the sense of community that your people need for success.

What does this look like in practice?

Let’s take a look at an example business case study from one of the world’s leading organisations when it comes to a people-first approach – Eversheds. 

Eversheds is a large legal firm that is a little different to most. They see every client for their unique challenges and circumstances, which is vital to their success. By gaining this insight and truly understanding who they are working with, they can mould and adapt their services and delivery to meet their client’s exact needs.

But this approach all began within their own structure. A key part of how their business runs is the central role their Property and Facilities team undertakes. Among their core responsibilities is the management of all the content and services required to provide their people with an agile, safe and secure working environment they need to perform.

This creates a platform that allows for the flexibility and support required to empower their people to deliver on their company ethos across the globe.

Choosing your own ‘new normal’

At the end of the day, we are in control of how we move forwards. We’re approaching another time of significant change – one that will resonate for years to come. While it’s natural to hesitate and feel anxious, we can also see this as an opportunity to enact positive change.

Some of the world’s leading organisations have already offered their people the choice. “Return to the office or continue working from home – it’s up to you.” They can do this because they have the right technology and processes in place. It makes no real difference to the business. It just benefits their people.

Evidence has long shown that remote workers often have higher productivity and job satisfaction. Hybrid working could be your chance to empower your people, remove their anxieties, and enhance productivity all at once.

Facilities management

Facilities Managers have always been focused on the efficient and effective delivery of support services for the organisation they serve. In the current circumstances, this has never been more important.

In the face of new challenges, it’s the Facilities Management team that is best placed to respond. They are best able to navigate the practical elements of implementing safety, efficiency, and continuity in the workplace and beyond. Ensuring people feel safe and understood during their return and have had the opportunity to offer their input. This means putting people at the forefront of your thinking as you consider the business strategy of returning to work.

HR departments

As working practices transition once more, it’s important that your people are empowered to make the decisions. This means you need to put in place the right support networks.

This isn’t just about listening and providing assistance where it’s needed. It’s about proactively showing that your people are at the forefront of every business decision. This will help reassure them that whatever the future looks like, they are very much part of it.

Business leaders

To support hybrid working, you need to ensure you’ve got the processes and infrastructure required to support your people.

This means the implementation of cloud technologies, the latest collaboration tools, and any necessary hardware for each individual.

If you need help with identifying exactly what your business needs to empower your staff, work with a people-first partner like Ricoh – we’ll work alongside you to build the perfect package for your organisation.

Please visit our Work Together, Anywhere Webinar Series page to access the webinar recording.

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The same research report, The Conscious Workplace, identified that “Before the pandemic, only 30% of UK employees had ever experienced working from home”. It went on to say, “Despite this fact, it is not a new concept. For years psychologists, behavioural economists, and forward-thinking business leaders have championed the practice. Touting the numerous mental and physical health benefits it can bring.”

The report confirms that our past approach to remote working has served us sufficiently well for 6-8 months. However, as we look ahead to the future, when we again return to the office, will this current approach sustain us? So we face the challenge of ensuring our office communication and collaboration infrastructure is fit for purpose and responsive for the future. To achieve this, redefining the workplace and its new purpose is critical.

Read the Conscious Workplace:

Click to read The Conscious Workplace

Returning from mass remote working

Looking to the future people will most likely be splitting their days between both the office and home. Therefore it’s imperative for both employees and management that meetings, informal catch-ups and communication, are quick, easy and seamless.

The Conscious Workplace Report says, “The events of late have rapidly accelerated the need for shared workspaces in the cloud, face-to-face video calls and a raft of other work from home tools that could have enabled this style of work sooner. Despite historical concerns, office workers have transitioned to working from home, and for the most part, the system didn’t break. However, remote working through lockdown has resulted in a wide spectrum of experience in technology, covering both remote work and those who have been able to transition back into the office.”

During this sustained period of remote working people have become accustomed to working in a very immediate, hands-on way. They could manage their time more freely, collaborate, establish and set up meetings quickly and efficiently, flex how and when they worked and even relaxed how they dressed. As such, as offices become more available, its the responsibility of organisations to reconsider and begin the process of redefining the workplace, both the office and home.

Redefining the workplace, its purpose and relationship with remote working

The workplace undoubtedly now includes the home, as well as the office. Human behaviour and our daily interactions have changed – many of the positive aspects of that change will need to be considered as people work more flexibly in the future.

The report recommends, “Empathy must be offered to managers who are walking a tightrope whilst managing expectation versus reality. Suddenly, managers are responsible for more than staff productivity. They have to take charge of adapting and maintaining their work environments, whilst remotely managing staff who are no longer within direct reach.”

The top challenges when redefining the workplace and overcoming them

Some solutions can ease the process of redefining the workplace, such as quick and easy collaboration tools, digital processes and productivity cloud applications. Here are just a few to share some ideas;

Finding meeting spaces

With the aid of remote digital collaboration tools, we can start or join a meeting with just a click of a button when at home. But in an office environment organising a physical meeting has historically required a far more involved process. Firstly checking meeting space availability then securing the right meeting resources. However, smart workplace management solutions provide a real-time view of which meeting desks, rooms and spaces are available. This includes spaces that are currently in use, pre-booked (but currently not being used) or if they are under-utilised. Solutions such as these provide an equivalent ‘one-click’ experience for the office.

Ensuring critical messages are communicated clearly and immediately

There are an array of solutions that can assist in effective communications across single or multiple office locations. For instance;

• ‘Multiview’ on multiple locations across the office, laptops, desktops and mobile – sharing news, health and safety reminders, travel. Helps visitors, employees and customers access the latest information. A single management dashboard can update these messages from one remote location across a range of multiple communication channels.

• Managing visitors and employees with digital print and integrated digital signage and IPTV

Wayfinding and integrated intelligent building management systems

Whilst redefining the workplace there are cloud solutions available that can be integrated with what you already have in place. These can provide the ability to manage and control the office to ensure comfort and maintain an optimal working environment. Solutions to regulate heat, light and humidity in the building. Or to help meet compliance standards such as safety notices, regulations and logistics.

HR and Management tools

There are also management tools to ensure the right employees, both remote or in the office, have seen the correct training video. These can also incorporate additional features such as hands-free/contactless updates and controls options, reporting and tracking functionality.

Conclusion

Whether your challenge is communication, wellbeing, space or productivity there are solutions to help make your workplace fit for purpose. That includes redefining a workplace to improve efficiency, addresses people’s needs and create a smart and safe environment.

To learn more about this subject why not watch our recent webinar – ‘How digital signage should support your smart and safe workplace‘.

Work Together, Anywhere – Helping business succeed in a changed world

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We’re experiencing the biggest shake-up of working practices since the introduction of the personal computer. 

People who have never worked from home are now doing so; people who worked remotely once a week now do it five days a week – and for the foreseeable future, week after week. Indeed, some of the changes we face may even be permanent. This isn’t just difficult for individuals. Businesses are faced with a serious challenge: how do they adapt now-obsolete working practices and continue to support their people?

So, in a world where everything from customer data to the office coffee machine has become out of date overnight, let’s discuss three key areas:

1. 1. How do businesses rise to the new challenge?
   2. What are the most common issues?
   3. And why is outsourcing to a specialist technology partner the quickest and best way to resolve pains?

Taking stock of our new demand for collaboration

IDC has carried out research to help us establish the expected impact of spending on major technology areas, and to show the immediate IT priorities among businesses across the world.

Their findings – reassuringly – validate what we think we already know: the biggest challenge right now is teamwork and collaboration, and this is where technology is most likely to attract investment in the coming months.

At the time of the survey, 70% of businesses were mandating work from home for all suitable employees or extending existing home office policies. And it’s certain that this figure has risen.

Understanding how businesses can adjust

Remote working has been on the rise for a while now: indeed, Condeco’s Modern Workplace 2019 report highlighted, at the time, that 41% of employers offered some form of remote working – a figure that was set to be higher this year, even if current events hadn’t happened.

So, there are pre-existing experiences with remote working that we can draw from. They tell us that good communication is key. Leadership teams, managers, employees, suppliers and customers all benefit from being more connected.

What technologies do we currently have in place?

IT Managers have access to many well-established remote working solutions, suiting both current conditions and the specific needs of an organisation, including:

• Video conferencing
• Team collaboration
• Telephony
• VPN
• Document workflows and collaboration
• Digital approval processes and signatures

But these solutions may no longer be enough and could prove ineffective for your organisation.

Collaboration and remote working challenges

Most collaboration technologies are at their most effective when they support a central working environment. But, when used more prominently, problems escalate significantly – quickly reducing productivity, causing frustration and harming morale.

With the majority of businesses now operating almost entirely remotely, there has been a stress test of their infrastructure’s ability to support collaboration effectively. Many are experiencing challenges they cannot yet address.

What are these challenges?

One major issue is in giving your people the training or IT support they need to use the technology effectively. They might lack the necessary hardware, not understand the software or even be unable to login or access online files.

There are complications for a company’s culture too. Two-thirds of organisations are finding it hard to align their local culture and communication styles with new ways of working – especially when they span multiple geographies.

So, what’s the answer? Nearly nine out of 10 people feel that their company would benefit from the assistance of outside experts to help with cultural training and cross-organisational education.

Outsourcing to a specialist partner

Businesses need to resolve their collaboration issues immediately. But with their IT teams already busy handling day-to-day operations, and also dealing with the internal pressures of transitioning to remote working, there just isn’t the capacity to rise effectively to the challenge.

And even if they did, they’d address issues in a traditional in-house way, committed to existing processes with no experience of alternative solutions.

What businesses need, therefore, is a highly experienced ‘first responder’ technology partner. One with a broad and deep understanding of entire digital workspaces and the immediate resources and solutions available. 

Outsourcing to a partner will ensure that:

• Your people can maintain their focus on business continuity
• Issues are addressed more quickly
• You benefit from the partners vast experience
• You gain insight and ideas from cross-fertilisation

Looking to the future

While our immediate challenges take priority it would be remiss of us to not think ahead to our future needs.

As we look to third-party experts to help us address our current situation maybe we’re seeing a glimpse into how business leaders will handle IT for years to come.

A world where businesses have IT teams at a management level only, outsourcing the execution of technical systems and solutions, while they themselves focus on their people to deliver excellent customer experience.

Perhaps that is the true future of collaboration.

The post How to meet the challenge of collaboration for your remote worker appeared first on Insights - Empowering Digital Workplaces.

We’re fortunate enough to live in an era when purchasing is easy. If you want to buy a television, a car or a piece of office equipment, there are countless options to choose from.

If anything, sometimes, there are too many options. As Barry Schwartz pointed out in his 2004 book and TED talk, The Paradox of Choice, too much choice can be a bad thing. 

Having to choose between many similar products can leave us feeling paralysed or cause us to lose sight of the bigger picture. It’s easy to get caught up comparing one set of features with another, when really what we should be asking is:

What are we trying to achieve? What’s the end goal?

Once you have the answer to this question, choosing between products becomes much simpler. If you buy products on their individual merits, you can end up focussing on what the products are capable of, instead of what they can help you do.

In fact, something we often remind ourselves of is to not discuss products, if possible, but to focus on solutions. Clients will often approach us asking what meeting room tech they should be buying. In response, we ask them to reflect on what they’re hoping to achieve:

• What behaviours are you trying to encourage? 
• What problems are you trying to solve?
• Is there anything you can learn from your latest employee and client satisfaction surveys?

With this in mind, I wasn’t all that surprised when Ricoh’s latest IDC report landed on my desk. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in there and I recommend all Facilities and IT leaders who want to know where their peers are investing and why to give it a read. But one specific statistic really jumped out:

Organisations still lack a holistic business collaboration strategy. 

The survey shows there is patchy penetration with only 3% of respondents deploying a complete set of business collaboration solutions. However, it is worth noting that this small proportion of companies with end-to-end solutions report much higher levels of satisfaction. Roughly 95% are more satisfied.

97% of organisations are not starting with a business collaboration strategy, but buy fragmented collaboration and workplace solutions. Of the 3% who buy complete sets of integrated solutions, 95% are satisfied, compared with 62% satisfaction for the others. 

Almost all organisations have recognised the value of investing in workplace collaboration solutions. They particularly appreciate the benefits of seamless communication and collaboration. The next step is a more considered, business collaboration strategy approach to deciding what your organisation really needs. As the report shows, businesses who invest in end-to-end solutions as opposed to individual products report a 33% increase in satisfaction.

Integrated solutions are the way to go. And the best way to design a solution that’s right for you is to form a strategy, rooted in what you know about your people.

The real crux of the matter isn’t choosing the right technology. Technology is always the means, never the end. The skill lies in identifying the problems you need to fix and setting the right goals. Our approach to this is simply to speak to your people. Nobody knows better where you should be spending your money.

Click here for your free copy of Ricoh’s IDC report.

It’s full of information and advice that will help you make better workplace purchasing decisions. And if you have questions about how to create your own business collaboration strategy, please feel free to drop me a line on LinkedIn

Or to read more on how to connect and collaborate, please read our new guide on Communication Services. 

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