Smart Teleworking: How to implement Smart Working schemes effectively and safely

Are you trying to capitalize on the last developments in business collaboration?

Companies and organizations should make sure that they have a strong infrastructure to train their digital workforce, so they can increase productivity, collaborate with coworkers and clients seamlessly and get access to information without compromising the information.

Setting up the Smart Working efficiently and productively becomes more crucial now than ever. Thanks to technology, employees can perform their activities at home in the same way they would do it at the office.

To achieve efficiency in all types of Smart Working, organizations should foster business collaboration. It is based on exploiting the potential that stems from talent and the interaction between people through the frequent use of technologies that enable communication and interactivity. Business collaboration focuses on people and requires a corporate culture that fosters team work to encourage the improvement of user experience.

In this context, Ricoh Latin America gives you advice on implementing Smart Working models effectively and safely:

1) Voice and video interaction become the rule:

Currently, collaborators adapt to and adopt new technologies at an increasingly rapid rate. Inevitably, this has had an impact on the way we communicate and collaborate. However, some things never change. For example, the importance of non-verbal communications in work meetings, such as body language, facial expressions, visual contact, and posture.

Therefore, video conferences and video calls will become more and more frequent, regardless of our business lines or positions. The need to communicate quickly, easily, and reliably is a trend that will not fade away. It has also been shown that video calls improve information retention. A video call is a richer sensory experience and, as a result, it remains in the memory longer.

2) The user-centered design defines the decisions in the workplace:

When companies think about the future of their business, they should consider their working spaces, the processes and the technology that will help them (or hinder them) along the way. However, people should be at the core of this planning.

Only by considering, assessing, and planning on collaborators’ needs, the appropriate workplace can be designed, the adequate processes can be implemented and finally, the right technology can be implemented. Without a doubt, the needs of professionals must be defined properly first.

A study carried out by Ricoh found that, even though 98% of employees are excited about the introduction of new technologies, a third did not feel capable of making the most of basic solutions such as Microsoft Office, printing, and their PC.

3) Applications vs. hardware:

To improve flexibility and mobility, solutions shall be developed based on content and added value. The key is the solution and the application, not the hardware. An emerging application area includes those areas that contribute to organizing more effective meetings, called “meeting assistants”. Gartner estimates that 40% of meetings will be made easier through the use of virtual assistants by 2022.

4) Solutions that do not require a high initial investment:

In this context, we can see the increase in the offers “as a service”. Clients will be equally satisfied with having access to a service without necessarily having it. In Ricoh, we offer solutions within the concept of business “Workplace Collaboration” with a unified management that includes infrastructure and hardware and software integration, as well as spatial redesign and people-oriented assistance for adopting the new digital habits.

5) Artificial intelligence finally makes inroads into the workplace:

There will be more attention and awareness of AI and virtual reality. We are already seeing it in the context of customer service with bots and self-service solutions. Companies will have a growing need for speaking and interacting with technology before interacting with humans. However, they will not forgive the mistakes, which means that AI must be programmed and designed carefully based on the final users and its needs. These new solutions will become even more and more affordable and they will offer a rapid investment environment.