Polycom Releases Top Seven Collaboration Technology Predictions for 2016, TD Reacts

3: Web technologies are maturing but interoperability remains a challenge

Leveraging the web browser to access collaboration has been an objective for the industry and WebRTC is emerging as a viable technical option. Ira Weinstein, senior analyst of Wainhouse Research, predicts that over the next 3 – 5 years, as more browsers become WebRTC friendly, enterprises will embrace the technology. Initially this approach will simplify video interactions with customers, but over time extend to business collaboration as well. WebRTC enables browser-to-browser video connections without the need to install plug-ins or additional technology. However, despite considerable interest we expect it will be some time before WebRTC sees widespread adoption. This is due to lack of standardization, inconsistent browser support, and minimal interoperability between WebRTC applications and established enterprise collaboration solutions. In a recent survey conducted by Virgin Media Business, just 27 percent of respondents acknowledge web conferencing as the most effective tool for remote collaboration. Instead, we expect WebRTC will play an important role in familiarizing more end users with video communications, but continue to fall short of the audio, content-sharing and video quality found in enterprise-grade visual collaboration systems. For WebRTC to reach the mainstream, interoperability with a broader spectrum of enterprise environments will be critical. Until then, we expect customers will use WebRTC alongside a host of other technologies to enable collaboration.

My Take: This one is pretty cut-and-dried – companies can’t start leveraging web browsers to access collaboration until the web browsers being used are able to do so. But the overall point is that collaboration will eventually become more mobile than ever. Once browsers become readily WebRTC friendly then any computer that can run the browser can connect to collaboration technology. That means on-the-go collaboration where employees can stop in at a library, borrow a friend’s laptop, etc. and still participate. It will open up a flood of employees that can now easily collaborate. The problem is that browsers haven’t yet adopted, and until that adoption is a given, and as a result companies are able to more heavily invest in creating browser-to-browser collaboration technologies, don’t expect it to be a viable option within the next year unless your company can afford to be at the forefront.

4: Workspaces are morphing to support new work styles

Where you work is now wherever you are and this is driving an important shift in enterprise facilities planning and IT. Visual collaboration is no longer confined to the conference room and the desk, but is extending throughout the enterprise and into virtual spaces outside the office. Audio, content sharing and video communications are no longer just conference room technologies, but now permeate every workspace inside and out of the office. In 2016, we believe the industry will place a renewed focus on enabling a wide range of workspaces, expanding huddle/smaller rooms and demonstrate an increasing desire for center-of-the-room collaboration solutions. Wainhouse Research estimates there to be 30-50 million huddle rooms around the world, the vast majority of which are lacking support for collaboration. While traditional conference rooms are still valuable for presentations, we believe they will be increasingly augmented by spaces designed to support rich collaboration and new working styles in virtual rooms, huddle rooms and open spaces. We expect this will place a much greater emphasis on tapping into the power of face to face collaboration, whether people are in the same room or spread around the world. Innovative new solutions will enable any space to support these interactions and the traditional conference room as we know it today will become more multi-functional and far easier to use.

My Take: This is a bit of a reiteration of some of the points already made, but, yes, employees are moving out of the office. Whether that means working from home or staying on the road longer, employees are out of the office plenty and therefore don’t need assigned spaces in the office any longer. This has been happening for years, but offices are moving to open-office styles where employees can plug in at any available desk or meet in any available room. The personal office has become the huddle space, and it’s open to any team that needs it at that time. These huddle spaces should then be outfitted with collaboration technology to bring employees in the office and on the road together easily and quickly.