When the pandemic hit, organizations moved almost completely to remote work to keep business running and keep people safe. As many parts of the world emerge from the pandemic, it’s clear that the future of work will be “hybrid” – a mixed mode in which some people work in the office, others from home, and others from anywhere.
Hybrid work will look different at every organization, and in many ways it will be harder. It has new dynamics that organizations must thoughtfully plan for. In a hybrid world, 98% of meetings will include participants who aren’t in the room. Getting hybrid work right will require leadership, culture, a people-first mindset – and the right technology.
What you need to succeed with hybrid work
Our customers have been telling us about what they need to be successful with hybrid work. And what they need is a solution with five key characteristics:
- Flexible. With hybrid work people want flexibility in how, where, and when they work. Basic communication tools are not enough; your solution should adapt to any kind of communication and interaction your team needs – from a simple phone call to the largest meeting or event. It should let you work with people inside and outside your company, seamlessly across all users and functions. And it should let you work within the tools you want to use.
- Inclusive. Hybrid work makes inclusivity harder than when almost everyone was in the office or when almost everyone was virtual. Your solution should provide equal experiences for everyone, wherever they are. It should allow people to communicate regardless of their native language or location, and it should allow people to communicate non-verbally with ease. And it should allow everyone in a hybrid meeting to feel like an equal participant – so the remote participants don’t feel isolated or marginalized.
- Supportive. If we learned one thing over this last year, it’s that employees need empathy for their health and well-being. We know that many people are feeling burned out from virtual work, and we also know they may be anxious about returning to the office. That means your solution should provide capabilities to help reduce employees’ fatigue and keep them focused, and it should provide capabilities to ensure a healthy workplace for a safe return to the office.
- Secure. Hybrid work makes security harder than it was before. With people working from everywhere, your risk surface has expanded, and so have threats. Your solution should have security built in, not bolted on, and it should also honor an individual’s privacy by default.
- Managed. Hybrid work makes life more complicated for IT. It’s not just about providing performance and quality for the main office or campus anymore, but for all the home offices and remote work locations. That means solutions should enable frictionless administration of the entire environment – software, hardware, and facilities – with real-time insights to help you ensure the best experience for users, wherever they are. And your solution should be built on a modern cloud infrastructure that’s optimized for the media and bandwidth demands of hybrid work, since every meeting now requires video.
Announcing the all new Webex Suite
Webex provides the industry’s most comprehensive solution for hybrid work that has all of these attributes. And to make it as easy as possible for you to purchase and adopt Webex, today we’re announcing the availability of the All New Webex Suite. It’s the world’s first best-of-breed hybrid work suite.
Here are two important things to know about the suite:
- It’s a single subscription that gives you all of our integrated applications: calling, messaging, meetings, polling (previously Slido), and events. And each of the suite’s applications is best in class on its own, so you won’t be settling for second best.
- It enables you to take out costs of numerous point solutions throughout your organization. For example, you won’t need separate solutions for events or for audience engagement. And as we continue to add more rich capabilities to the suite, you’ll get them automatically – allowing you to drive efficiency and further reduce your costs.
For all the details about the Webex Suite and the announcements we made at our hybrid work event, I encourage you to check out [this Cisco] blog.
A new Webex brand
The new Webex suite represents our commitment to make you successful as we embrace the future of hybrid work. And as we move to the hybrid work world, it’s extremely important that our core value of inclusivity is fully embodied in our brand. Because our brand reflects our purpose.
So today we are also excited to unveil our new branding system. The new logo and imagery symbolize the inclusivity and connectedness we stand for, as well as our commitment to lead the new era of hybrid work. For more details on this effort, please check out [this] blog.
And as we move into the world of hybrid work, organizations have a unique opportunity to rethink their approaches to work and culture. Getting it wrong can be hazardous. Getting it right can translate into more engaged and energized employees, better contribution, and higher performance. That’s why it’s so important to have a technology solution with all the essential characteristics you need to thrive in a hybrid world.
(C) Cisco
