How to Stay Competitive, Relevant and Collaborative

JEI Tech, a leading managed technology services provider (MTSP), shared the top 3 business collaboration tools in 2020. Small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) need to be able to collaborate across teams and departments and unfortunately, the old way of doing business simply has become obsolete, due to its inefficiencies. JEI Tech is actively engaged in educating the business community with how SMBs can utilize the latest in technology to position themselves to grow substantially in 2020, and if there’s a single feature that virtually every organization needs it is the ability to collaborate. With more companies looking for better, more effective ways to collaborate JEI Tech has compiled its top 3 technology tools that are imperative to foster collaboration.

The first tool that business owners need to deploy within their organizations to foster collaboration is remote workforce technology. Typically, this encompasses cloud IT such as Microsoft’s Azure and cloud voice to support remote workers. Employees need to be accessible and communications need to be secure. The reason these technologies are indispensable to an organization is because remote working has become the norm in many industries and in the coming years that will only expand as Millennials and Gen Z begin to dominate the workforce. According to a study by IWG, “70% of employees globally work remotely at least once a week and 50% of employees work remotely half the week,” which means that business owners will need the technology to keep their remote workers efficient and effective whether they like it or not. “Lots of business owners think that remote working is a fad. However, remote working is here to stay and will only expand in the coming years,” state John Coleman, Director of JEI Tech.

Next, business owners need to invest in group chat software, such as Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams keeps everyone on the same page, which is imperative for companies who need to move fast. Group chat software helps employees communicate more effectively, eliminates redundant messages, and provides everyone with access to the right tools at the exact moment that they need them. With a shared workspace, nobody has to wait around and they can get right to work. So, whether businesses have staff in the office or remote, group chat software enables employees to collaborate across multiple platforms, media and files, instantaneously.

Thirdly, business owners need to equip their team with a cloud videoconferencing solution. One of the reluctances amongst business owners who are dragging their feet on this trend, is that they don’t want to lose the face-to-face connection that an in-office environment provides. Fortunately, videoconferencing has become sophisticated enough to stream video conferences with strong enough connection to preserve those intangible moments that used to be limited to an in-office environment. “Videoconferencing has come a long way since its inception,” added Coleman. “It’s actually a more personal way of connecting than group meetings of the past and it’s very inexpensive.”

Whether due to a shifting population majority within the workforce, software trends or business owners who simply understand where the world is headed, the one aspect that will need to improve within everyone’s business is collaboration. Oftentimes, the main obstacle to successful collaboration is speed of communication, which these three technologies 1) cloud IT/Voice 2) group chat software and 3) cloud videoconferencing solutions cultivate within in an organization and are some of the fastest ways to increase collaboration within any SMB.