Understanding the 5 essential elements of hybrid work

Communication is obviously going to be key. Employees aren’t all going to be in the office together anymore, but they still need to get together and have conversations that will drive productive and highly collaborative work. This means you need an IT platform that makes these conversations possible.

So what goes into the adoption of such a platform? According to Cisco, there are five essential elements you need to consider. Any hybrid work communication solution should be…

• Inclusive. Your solution should be inclusive, giving everyone an equal opportunity to speak up and let themselves be heard. The workplace is at its best when every contributor gets a chance to participate fully, so your IT needs to support that first and foremost.
• Flexible. Given the unpredictability of the modern hybrid work world, you need a solution with some flexibility, helping you adapt to any work style, any role, and any environment. Especially now, with employees spread out across multiple time zones and even multiple countries, you’re going to have people working different hours and using different technology. You need adaptable technology that can meet everyone’s needs.
• Supportive. Particularly during a pandemic, it’s essential that organizations are supportive of their employees’ health and well-being. Work meetings are often important, but they shouldn’t take over your life to the point where your physical or mental health is at risk. Ideally, you’d have an IT platform that was mindful of this, making it easy to enforce principles of work-life balance.
• Secure. Of course, everyone talks about the importance of security, but how many organizations are actually doing it right? These days, it’s vitally important. Meetings that you used to conduct behind closed doors are now happening over IT communication platforms, and this means you need to have complete control over who’s accessing those platforms and how they’re doing so.
• Managed. Everyone is busy these days, and the last thing you want to do is implement a collaboration platform that’s difficult for your IT team to manage. The ideal solution is one that’s easy to manage and enables frictionless administration for IT. This is not always easy, as hybrid work is complex and dynamic, but with the right solution, you should be covered.

So what’s the right solution? For our money, it’s Cisco Webex. With the new Webex Suite, you get a platform that’s absolutely packed with best-of-breed capabilities that users will love. For starters, you get world-class meetings, messaging, and calling, but the benefits don’t end there. Cisco has also included features like interactive polling and comprehensive events management. And because these hybrid work capabilities all come in one comprehensive suite, there’s no need to purchase additional IT solutions. By going with Webex and Webex only, your organization will save time and money.

At Zones, we are excited to get our clients up and running with the new Webex. We firmly believe that, when it comes to the five essential elements of hybrid work listed above, Webex has you fully covered – they’re 5/5. So we’re ready to get to work – and moreover, we’re staffed with a team of experts in software asset management (SAM) who will help you maximize the value of your license agreements, as well as provide ongoing strategic planning. To get started with a demo of the new Webex, connect with us today.