Latin America. Have you ever wondered how productivity can be improved in the workplace? This has been a problem for many businesses, governments and organizations over the past few years. And, with new trends like remote working, flexible offices and an increasingly younger workforce in business life, optimizing that productivity has become a challenging issue.
The solution can be found in new technologies. The rise of digital tools could well be the way forward you need. Adopting BYOM (Bring Your Own Meeting) will help drive your digital workplace strategy towards a highly efficient and effective future of work.
Bring Your Own Device: old practices?
Today we all bring various devices of our own to the office, from laptops, tablets, mobile phones to smart watches. More and more we use them in our working lives to share content and communicate with colleagues, partners, potential customers or simply to carry out our daily activities.
Since 2010, when BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) was an acronym and an innovative phenomenon, launched by Intel, its research identified that: "61% of 'Generation Y' and 50% of workers over 30 believe that the technological tools they use in their personal lives are more effective and productive than those they use at work."
As of that date, the BYOD market has taken off and reached more than $370 billion by 2022. 67% of people use their own devices at work and 87% of companies rely to some extent on their employees' ability to access mobile business apps from their personal smartphones.
Today, BYOD is a key component of many companies' digital workplace strategy. Providing "freedom of choice" empowers employees and increases personal efficiency and productivity. Being able to choose the devices they're most familiar with and most proficient with has given employees the confidence they need to save time and get more done.
Here comes BYOM
Today, remote work, as well as short and spontaneous meetings, require offering fast and effective video conferencing possibilities to employees. An evolution similar to that of BYOD is observed in the meeting room, where IT departments prefer standardization in the use of Unified Communications platforms, in uniform AV solutions for all their meeting rooms and in the installation of fully equipped conference rooms.
This is because IT departments noticed that choosing a 'rigid' way to standardize audio and video calls resulted in long wait times, poor connections or poor video quality, difficulties joining meetings on different platforms, UC solutions that are not always compatible with AV equipment in the room, or difficulties connecting to an external UC solution.
Thus, end users who are more productive when using their own devices at work, may present difficulties when using tools to which they are not accustomed. They prefer to work with the technology of their choice and avoid working with teams they don't understand or find difficult to operate, easily welcoming conferencing solutions that appeal to them, that are easy and intuitive to use.
This resulted in a trend: BYOM (Bring Your Own Meeting), a natural extension of BYOD, which allows people to make a conference call using their preferred platform – Microsoft Teams, Webex, Zoom – from their personal devices.
The BYOM system opens the door to an improvement in personal and group productivity, allowing organizations to address different dimensions of a digital workplace strategy, companies are choosing this modality due to its multiple advantages such as:
Connect people (bring your teams together around the world. Anyone can meet, anywhere in the workplace.)
Assist the diverse workforce (which includes contractors and interns, who can collaborate and contribute as much as employees, without the need for prior training).
Choose your own versatile work style (when and where to work, whether in the cafeteria, at home or on the go).
Move freely (using different workspaces for different tasks).
Have true interoperability in diverse environments (your own devices work seamlessly with existing AV equipment and UC solutions of your choice).
Adopt BYOM in your company
Deciding and implementing technology solutions that adopt BYOD and BYOM in a company is the responsibility of an IT department. The challenge is to find those tools that fit budget, but also give employees the same intuitive experience, as well as accelerate business results and productivity.
Ideally, look for unique solutions that are fully secure and accessible, that do not interrupt the employee experience and that are fully compatible with your existing IT infrastructure. Like Barco's ClickShare Conference, which offers wireless conferencing solutions that are perfectly suited to businesses looking to enhance their BYOD and BYOM experience.
The success of a Digital Workplace strategy and the choice of the best collaborative tools depends largely on putting the user at the center of the workflow. Only then, you will be able to make effective use of the real estate in your meeting room and save time.
Text written by Rodrigo Cornejo Avendaño, Country Manager Mexico & Director of LATAM Channels at Barco.
