Do you find office meetings unproductive? Do you often find yourself talking about something completely irrelevant? You're not alone.
Meetings can be so frustrating. People are often late, not prepared or just forget entirely. It turns out that nearly half of employees think meetings are a waste of time, but they do have an important place in every business. It gives the team a chance to discuss new ideas, see people they don’t normally see on a day-to-day basis and it creates a sense of teamwork. If you are a business that allows remote working, it’s important to make sure people still feel like they are part of a team.
So how can you do this and reduce costs at the same time?
You need to say goodbye to costly on-site meetings and hello to cloud-based communication and collaboration tools.
Here at CSG, we use Horizon Collaborate. It’s a nifty bit of software that allows our team to work remotely but still gives them an office “presence”. But what else does it do and how can it work for your business?
It gives everyone their own meeting room
All members of staff have their own virtual meeting room. From here they can quickly hop onto an unplanned meeting with another team member, or they can plan a meeting with various people at the click of a button. It sends out a quick invite and with nothing to download, it takes seconds to join. It also comes with video conferencing, group chat and desktop sharing. Perfect for any business that has remote staff who are working on a project together. Most importantly, it gives your meetings a much needed makeover.
- No delay with a simple click to join invite
- Video conferencing keeps everyone focused and on track
- You can measure reactions and keep your team engaged
- With screen sharing you make sure everyone is on the same page
- Thanks to the built in instant message you don’t need to follow up post meeting. You can ask questions in real time and even invite others to jump into the meeting too
It’s mobile friendly
Thanks to a software client, you can use any mobile device to become meeting ready.
- It syncs easily with your phone, allows you to view your meeting schedule and it stays synced with your office calendar as well
- You can join a meeting simply by clicking on an icon on your home screen and it will automatically connect you
- You can send instant messages just as quick as if you were in the office
- The “meet now” button allows you to connect with team members and your phone calls everyone up and creates the conference call for you
- You can even use a personal mobile device and it will only display your business number and name when you join any meeting, keeping personal information safe
The team can collaborate
When one person has control over a file, it can be sometimes be impossible to find the right version in a hurry. With the online workspaces that comes with Collaborate, you can drag and drop files into the workspace so everyone has the right document. But what else can you do in these virtual workspaces?
- Track tasks, due dates and version history
- It works with Office 365, Salesforce and G Suite so you don’t have to jump between tabs
- The built-in tools give you the exact information when you need it
- You can also host meetings in the workspace and message the team too