Your Business Has Decided on Hybrid Work… Now What?

Hybrid work has gone from a safety measure during a global crisis to the top preferred way of working. Companies across every industry are embracing it, but some don’t know how to prepare for this new work environment. What kinds of tools should they use? How can they ensure purposeful and consistent employee experiences? Here are a few ways: 

• If we learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that organizations must be prepared for every possible work scenario: everyone in the office, no one in the office, and combinations in-between. 
• It’s not just about output; it’s about creating a better total experience for employees. How easy is it for hybrid workers to access information? Are they easily distracted or disrupted? Companies need to honestly assess their employees’ frustration and consider how they can serve them just as effectively as their customers. 
• Start coloring outside the lines. Consider the unique ways you can optimize workflows and personalize collaboration to help your hybrid teams work smarter. 

This creates some important considerations from a technology perspective:

Moving to the cloud is no longer enough. Companies need to use the cloud as a toolkit to deliver personalized communication experiences on a case-by-case basis.

In a world of hybrid work, composable innovation – enabled through Cloud 3.0. – is needed for creating flexible, fit-for-purpose communications. The concept of composability allows companies to use application components through low-code, no-code interfaces to create their own personalized experiences within minutes. They can give their hybrid workers exactly what they need at their fingertips (ex: adding chat or video on top of their collaboration apps to make information-sharing faster and easier regardless of where they’re located).

Composability also allows you to reimagine what’s possible in terms of business communications (as we say at Avaya: if you can dream it, you can build it). Start with the problem you’re trying to solve for or the outcome you want to achieve and ask yourself, “How can we build for that?” 

The requirements of a hybrid work model cannot be met by a single, generic cloud application. A composable, Cloud 3.0.-enabled platform gives companies what they need to support hybrid work today and into the future. 

It’s no longer about customer service workers (ex: contact center agents) and office workers (ex: knowledge workers). Hybrid work is about organic, persistent communication regardless of persona.

Someone’s persona shouldn’t dictate their access to information or the ability to seamlessly communicate and collaborate. Workstream Collaboration is a cloud-based application that converges siloed UC and contact center technology into one tool with one single application. 

Calling, messaging, meetings, file sharing, and task management is all in one place in the Workstream Collaboration platform, available to all workers whether they’re in-office, at home, hot desking (when desks are used by different people at different times, on an ad hoc basis), or on the road. 

You can search contacts, call anyone inside or outside the organization, hold, transfer, merge, and handle multiple calls with enterprise quality. Avaya helps customers protect business investments by using their existing on-premises calling capabilities within the Avaya Spaces Workstream Collaboration platform. Unlike traditional PBX environments, Workstream Collaboration is specially designed for today’s world of hybrid work.

We’re only scratching the surface of how AI and automation can help improve hybrid work.

Here are some of the ways AI and automation can be used as part of a hybrid work model: 

• AI-powered speech analytics help management improve team and individual employee experiences regardless of where people are working. Managers can better understand team dynamics (who speaks most, who speaks least, tone of voice) to take necessary action. Contact center supervisors can improve agent coaching and training with better insight into the challenges they’re facing. Corporate DEI Officers can assess workplace culture and coordinate with HR. The opportunities for improvement are endless. 
• Many AI-powered capabilities can be used to dramatically improve work-from-anywhere productivity. For example, AI-powered noise cancellation can eliminate all background noise in your environment with the click of a button, so all the other person hears is your voice with crystal clear audio quality (excellent for hybrid contact center agents). 

Hybrid work has changed how we work

The ways in which people work, communicate, and collaborate has not only changed but has been significantly disrupted. Avaya sees these disruptions as opportunities for growth. The agility and cloud-based composable innovation of the Avaya OneCloud Experience Platform enables businesses to create, experiment, and succeed regardless of how work changes or what communication and collaborations challenges might arise.

Speak to an Avaya Cloud expert today to get started on your enterprise’s Workstream Collaboration journey.