There’s a lot of talk about collaboration in the workplace, but we all know that achieving true collaboration can be challenging, especially when the clock is ticking.
When a problem or an opportunity arises, you can start setting up a meeting for a week from Tuesday. In the meantime, situations are evolving (and problems are escalating). Customers are waiting. Decisions are being made based on incomplete information – or everything is on hold until everyone can meet.
What if you could meet right away?
In a wide range of business situations, exchanging ideas and knowledge for 10 minutes within the next 24 hours will probably achieve more than meeting for 60 minutes sometime next week.
Unified communications (UC) offers some powerful advantages to businesses where “on-demand” collaboration is critical to success.
- UC allows managers and coworkers to “see” where team members are (and where they’ll be throughout the day) using real-time presence and calendar information.
Setting up a meeting shouldn’t feel like a game of Marco Polo. Because UC lets you view people’s calendars in a fully integrated way, you can identify availability and determine a good time for a meeting without a lot of back and forth.
The result: employees can find each other, communicate accordingly, and share information as quickly and efficiently possible regardless of the location of the needed resource.
- UC enables full audio and video conferencing through Microsoft Live Meeting.
You can bring together people from multiple offices, as well as those who are working from home, from remote locations, and from the road. All that is needed is Internet access and no matter where you are, you’re working.
The result: high-functioning virtual meetings that allow for effective interaction while reducing meeting costs and minimizing disruptions to individual productivity.
- UC facilitates “meet now” functionality.
Because you can see where everyone is – and because everyone is set up for audio and video conferencing – you can seize an opportunity to meet on the fly. No need to send a flurry of emails and voice mails hoping to catch everyone you need. If you can see people are available, you can request an immediate meeting, right from your desktop (or laptop, or UC-enabled mobile device).
The result: your organization will be more nimble and responsive.
- Microsoft Live Meeting enables full document sharing and collaboration.
You can share actual content and pass files while in a Live Meeting or an IM session. You can drag and drop someone into an existing IM voice call to add him or her into a conversation. If employees are away from their work PCs but need to be part of a web meeting, they can use Communicator Web Access from any PC they have access to and join the conference as if they were on their work PCs.
The result: team members can share information and collaborate in real time with minimal hassle – and maximum productivity.
