The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were disruptive in ways we’re only just beginning to understand.

After the initial wave of lockdowns sent millions of knowledge workers home in March 2020, IT leaders were challenged to keep everyone working no matter where they were, or how they were connected. Collaboration platforms were quickly forced into service as organizations of all sizes and in all sectors struggled to maintain productivity for their suddenly remote workforces.

They may have succeeded in keeping the lights on, but the processes used to do so weren’t always best practices, and the results weren’t always optimal.

Zoom bombing became a thing as a largely consumer-focused platform was pressed into enterprise service on a global scale its designers had never envisioned. Platform outages routinely threw remote workers offline as vendors worked flat-out to increase capacity. Just as millions of workers were adjusting to the realities of working remotely, vendors, too, were figuring out how to meet their needs despite the global-scale challenges associated with doing so.

Those same remote workers wrestled with maintaining productivity through virtual windows and workspaces – often while working side-by-side with homebound children grappling with their own remote education challenges. They reported to supervisors and managers similarly confused about how to maintain team cohesiveness in this new virtual landscape. While the vast majority had good intentions, many hard lessons were learned along the way.

The fact that remote work succeeded at all given the circumstances of its sudden global ramp-up will be viewed by history as one of the bright spots of an otherwise dark period.

REPAVING A HASTILY REPAIRED ROAD

To their credit, collaboration platform vendors did an admirable job updating their products to meet the fast-evolving needs of remote workers. And as employers accelerate their return to office (RTO) plans and once exclusively remote workers shift into hybrid work styles, the tools continue to evolve to meet the evolving needs of the post-pandemic workforce.

For example, Microsoft has steadily updated Teams with breakout rooms, together mode, support for native and third-party apps, transcription, and greater control over who participates in a meeting, and what they can and cannot do within that meeting. Zoom has tightened security with two-factor authentication and stronger encryption to better meet the needs of an increasingly corporate-focused audience. It has also upgraded its infrastructure to better handle heavy workloads and reduce the frequency and duration of once-ubiquitous outages. Zoom has also introduced integration with a growing range of services, including Salesforce, Dropbox, and Slack.

All told, today’s collaboration platforms are far more capable of meeting the needs of hybrid workers than when the first lockdowns were announced.

GETTING MORE OUT OF THE EXPERIENCE

While the tools themselves may be much improved, it’s fair to say organizations can always do more to derive more productivity value out of them. As we all put the finishing touches on our RTO and hybrid work plans, we’d do well to keep the following best practices in mind:

1. Upgrade end-points

Fuzzy video and muddy audio aren’t just annoying: they’ll quickly derail any meeting and destroy productivity. Consider the following:

• Ensure all remote and hybrid employees have proper cameras and mics.
• Publish how-to documentation to help employees set up optimal home or remote office spaces.
• Test remote/home office network performance and work with remote employees and telecoms on improvements.

2. Review physical meeting spaces

In-office meeting rooms that may have been adequate for remote sessions prior to the pandemic are ill-equipped to handle the challenges posed by today’s hybrid work styles.

Follow collaboration vendor guidelines – including upgraded hardware, better soundproofing, and optimized seating and lighting – to ensure both in-person and remote participants are equally seen and heard.

3. Establish clear best practices for attendees

While proper frameworks will benefit any meeting, they are particularly crucial in remote and hybrid environments.

Define guidelines for things like screen sharing, muting microphones, virtual backgrounds, and chat sessions, among others. Schedule training at regular intervals for employees and make training and guidance materials available to third party participants. Don’t forget the basics like including agendas in all invitations and summarizing and distributing next steps and to-dos following every meeting.

4. Follow proper security protocols

Zoom bombing became a serious early-pandemic scourge because the platform initially lacked protections and users often failed to follow proper invitation protocol. These days, we know better, and our tools have been updated.

Avoid posting invitations and links publicly. Ensure all participants use two-factor authentication, and use waiting rooms to better control access. Ensure all participants’ apps, browsers, and operating systems are regularly updated to minimize exposure to opportunistic cyberattacks.

5. Break down and break out

Breakout rooms allow smaller teams to maximize productivity, up their brainstorming game, and avoid the pitfalls of massive numbers of people crammed onto a tiny screen. Use them wisely – and often.

6. Regularly review settings

Today’s collaboration tools allow a high degree of customization, so take the time to tweak settings to streamline the experience for participants. For example, set meetings – particularly large ones – to automatically mute participants on entry, limit presentation tools to specific participants, and activate captioning for greater accessibility.

Don’t forget to test them again periodically as end-user needs – and the apps themselves – continue to evolve.

THE BOTTOM LINE

As millions of workers – including our developers here at STEP Software – settle into post-pandemic routines involving various combinations of in-office, remote, and hybrid work, collaboration tools are now their primary communication and productivity tool. Vendors have done an admirable job recognizing their shortcomings and streamlining how they work. Now it’s up to the rest of us to get the most out of them. We’re always here if you’d like to set up a Teams or a Zoom call of your own with us.

The post Collaboration tools hit their stride in the post-COVID age first appeared on STEP Software.

Now think about some of your favourite websites. Perhaps you regularly visit popular sites like Facebook, Amazon or Google, and maybe you’ve come to rely on at least one or two websites as your primary resource for things like news, weather or travel information. These portals of data and services are all web-based, meaning they use the power and reach of the internet to function. Website data lives on servers that are probably nowhere near you physically, and data processing that might be a challenge for your home computer is handled by machines designed solely for that purpose. This means that you can seamlessly leverage the immense computing power of a website like Wolfram Alpha without having your own supercomputer.

EVERY WEB APP IS AN EXPERIENCE 

If you’ve ever used unique login credentials to access data or services on the internet, then you’ve used a web application. Some examples of web applications that you might already be using include:

– Salesforce.com

– PayPal/eBay

– Google Docs

– Your online banking portal

– Tax services like TurboTax 

But what else can be done using web applications? With the advent of encrypted connections and user verifications, complex applications can be managed 100% online, resulting in more streamlined user experiences and severely reduced downtime thanks to system redundancy and failover measures. Some tasks now being performed by web applications are:

– Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 

– Project/Program Management 

– Workflow Management

– Customer Portals and Loyalty Programs 

– E-commerce 

– Peer-to-peer services like Uber and Lyft 

Here’s an example of a small business that could benefit from a customized web application built to suit a specific need. Imagine that you run a design firm with four graphic artists who all live in geographically separate parts of the world. Perhaps they each have unique skills and portfolios, and let’s assume their involvement in projects for your customers varies. It would save you serious time and money if you had a secure, web-enabled way to collaborate with your employees, store critical customer project data and maintain daily operational insight into your business. You want to view progress on projects in real-time, and you want a central platform that is scalable, reliable and efficient. 

Enter the web application developer. With excellent communication about application requirements and performance expectations, a cost-effective web application solution can be designed, built and deployed in less time than you might think. Every need is unique, so a good developer is going to want to discuss your specific requirements to arrive at the most accurate development time and cost estimate. The point is to use web applications to enable businesses to function and interact with their stakeholders in a way that frees them from the technological constraints of the 2000s. Because legacy, stand-alone applications are expensive to operate and maintain, a web application can often pay for itself within a year of its deployment, or even sooner!

MORE APPLICATIONS, MORE PROBLEMS SOLVED 

What other problems might building this web application solve? Well, the most obvious benefit would be the absence of hardware to manage. Web applications are typically hosted on redundant servers that do not require repair or maintenance by the customer. User access also becomes more natural, too. Also, there isn’t any bulky or memory-hungry software that needs to be installed and continuously updated. Further, because scalability is factored into every project, changing how the application functions is a straightforward process that can be executed with little to no downtime. So as your business grows and adapts, your web application does, too. 

Consider how much easier it is to use Quickbooks Online versus a locally-installed version of the software. With the web application, you eliminate the need to unbox software, install it, apply patches or hotfixes, manage its product keys and generally ‘care’ for it like you would any other local application. The same could be said for using Microsoft Office versus the web-enabled Office 365 application. Virtually any need for data processing or collaboration with others can be addressed with a web application built by a team of knowledgeable professionals in constant communication with you, the customer. The team at STEP Software is ready to explore your web application options! 

WEB APPS HELP IMPROVE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 

One final (often overlooked) aspect of web applications is how easily they can be branded and productized. A useful web application reflects a company’s brand consistently and with allegiance to the company’s business directives, whether that means selling e-books, fixing HVAC equipment or running a doggy daycare. Deploying a custom-tailored web application can be as much of a business functionality upgrade as it can be a sales and marketing upgrade.

Because of this, it is quite possible that eventually, all computing will be done ‘in the cloud.’ And STEP Software can help you bring the power and flexibility of web applications to your workforce – and loyal customers! Thinking you might need an app? Email support@stepsoftware.com to start a cost/benefit conversation.

If you looking for the Best Custom Software development for any complex problem in your technology. Please mail to support@stepsoftware.com

The post What Can A Web Application Do for Your Business? first appeared on STEP Software.