If you’ve seen one of the more recent videos from Polycom, entitled The Secret, you would have had a glimpse into the slick, seamless world of a high-powered executive as he powers through meetings in New York, Paris and Sao Paulo, all within the same day, yet managing to leave the office before dark. What you see in the video is a demonstration that executives can indeed “have it all”. 

Of course, it’s a video created by Marketing, highlighting the benefits of video collaboration for the busy C-suite executive. But the fact that it’s a marketing video doesn’t make it any less true. The benefits are very real: forward-looking executives have been relying on video collaboration solutions like Polycom’s for years.

Polycom’s customers know this well. Collaboration doesn’t just support the needs and day-to-day operations of the C-suite. The real secret is having video collaboration permeate every team and every single employee’s daily life; and only by making it a digital work habit throughout the organisation can CEOs (and shareholders) truly reap the benefits of collaboration. Gone is the hierarchical model of old, where video conferencing solutions were only for the Board, the CEO or MDs. It’s about ‘power to the people’ now; effective and efficient collaboration allows organisations to fully realise the value of its human capital, regardless of geography.

There are different types of collaboration, namely informative, evaluative and generative collaboration. Informative collaboration is as the term suggests – individuals working together to share information or updates. This could be project management meetings, or from a CEO’s perspective, town hall or all-hands meetings. Evaluative collaboration is also an appropriate moniker where individuals work together, potentially exchanging information but primarily in order for a judgment or a decision to be made. And lastly generative collaboration, where individuals work in tandem to create something; could be an idea, a blueprint, a new innovation and so on. 

Technological innovations such as HD video quality, bandwidth compression, video encryption and advanced content-sharing capabilities, have progressed to enable the different types of collaboration to occur naturally. For instance, annotating on a whiteboard during a brainstorm session can take place between participants in Mumbai, New York and London as easily as if they were in the same room (without the physical scuffle for the marker!). These innovations also address engagement concerns in video collaboration meetings. Now, voice triangulation algorithms can detect the location of an active speaker within a room and zoom in on him or her as the central speaker, whereas before, teams had to settle for listening to an anonymous voice emerging from a large meeting room.

More and more CEOs are leveraging video collaboration for themselves and their organisations to remove boundaries amongst employees and enable natural, easy collaboration to occur. By equipping employees with collaboration technology, physical teams in the workplace can connect with virtual members - distributed teams, remote workers and even contract or freelance employees in an instant, to share information, solve problems and generate ideas. This unleashes tangible value from within your business by empowering the most vital asset within the organisation – its people.

For more on how CEOs can elevate their organisations by leveraging collaboration technology, check out:

10 ways CEOs can build competitive advantage by investing in collaboration tech (Part 1 & 2).

This blog is part of a series of 25 blogs that take a look at how Polycom has transformed industries and business functions.

These blogs are a variety of retrospective, current and visionary perspectives with the common thread of unleashing the power of human collaboration. Follow the hashtag #Polycom25 on Twitter for tweets about this significant anniversary in our history.

Recently, the Manpower Group released the results of their 2015 Talent Shortage Survey, which showed that employers are facing shrinking talent pools as working populations decline. Globally, employers are reporting difficulties filling job vacancies due to talent shortages, increasing to 38% in 2015 from 36% in 2014.

As the competition for the right talent heats up, employers will feel the pressure to present themselves as attractive destinations to potential employees. This has fuelled recruiting trends such as employer branding, social sourcing and even assessment science. Another that is growing considerably in popularity is video-enabled talent acquisition – and this comes with numerous benefits.

Video collaboration technology is increasingly being used to connect candidates with companies, but additionally allows HR recruitment processes such as candidate screening, interviews, feedback, and remuneration package discussions to occur; face-to-face, in real-time, from any distance. Some companies go one-step further to integrate video collaboration into existing human resource management systems (HRMS) to record, capture and archive video interviews in the same way interviewer notes and assessments are kept “on-file”. 

Introducing video collaboration into the talent acquisition process has several advantages:

1. Increased speed of decision and hire

A friend of mine went through 17 interviews, over a period of three months with a company before he was finally offered the position!  Fortunately for them, he accepted. In today’s fast-paced world, few candidates would endure frequent and lengthy interviews. They would probably be interviewing with one to three other firms concurrently and would likely have accepted a good offer and even started their first day on the job, before 17 interviews were completed. Speed is essential in capturing the right talent. 

Video-enabled talent acquisition delivers interviews efficiently; scheduling burdens are reduced when physical meetings can be replaced with virtual, face-to-face interviews, regardless of candidate or interviewer location. It even accommodates multiple interviewers from disparate locations in a virtual meeting room, with the candidate. Internal reviews and discussions about the candidate can also be supported by video collaboration. All this helps to shorten the talent acquisition process, and speeds up the decision and offer to the candidate. This enables companies to be more competitive when seeking talent that is in high demand.

2. Better assessment accuracy

A picture may speak a thousand words but video conveys volumes. When in-person interviews cannot happen, companies sometimes rely on phone interviews to replace them. For most companies, it is the next best option, but it doesn’t have to be. Browser-based video collaboration solutions, such as Polycom RealPresence WebSuite, allow interviewer and candidate to meet face-to-face, in real-time, through a web browser. This is far superior because visual information delivers important cues to the interviewer.

For instance, facial expressions that convey excitement about the role inform the interviewer that the candidate is sincere, and potentially passionate about the role. Other traits such as confidence, personality, understanding, puzzlement and confusion are also clearer over video, than through a telephone line. This ultimately results in a more accurate assessment of the candidate’s competence, personality and enthusiasm, and increases the likelihood of making the right hiring decision. 

3. Employer branding

The world is a different place now, companies no longer hold the monopoly on selection. Candidates too use interviews as a platform to assess whether a company is one that they would like to work for. Theirchoice will also depend on what they learn about the company’s culture, work ethic, team work, trust and so on.  Leveraging video-enabled talent acquisition shows potential employees that a company embraces technology – a factor that is very important to the fast-growing Millenial workforce. It conveys that a company is fast-paced, demanding, but is also collaborative and consultative. The adoption and use of technology portrays a company as dynamic and emphasises teamwork whereas traditional hiring processes may feel conservative, slower and sometimes bureaucratic.This infographic explains more about how HR professionals will shape the future of business. 

All other things being equal, companies which leverage collaboration technology in their talent acquisition process, are more likely to secure the candidate and win the battle for attracting and retaining great talent.

Have a look at the video below, to get you thinking more about the benefits video collaboration can bring to Human Resources operations:

The term ‘pervasive’ usually refers to (an unwelcome influence or physical effect) spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people. Some may agree that this negative connotation is aptly applied to video collaboration. Indeed, there are pockets of individuals in organisations, who often play ‘dodge’ with the camera in video meetings, or who seat themselves outside of the breadth of the camera angle, or who simply join the call via audio – all to avoid being seen on screen. But for me, it ALWAYS saves the day.  Here’s one situation I can recall:  

It was a regular day and I was working from home like I always do. I then received a last minute meeting invitation which involved a VIP

customer.  The key decision makers who were due to visit in two weeks had now asked to move the meeting to the next morning! The Account Manager quickly scrambled to gather all the internal participants to plan the demonstration and meeting.

If we had been “any other company”, this would have triggered a mad dash for me to grab a cab and rush into the office, probably 90 minutes late for the meeting. But we are Polycom after all, and instead of wasting time commuting, I was able to channel my energy to better use and immediately collaborate with my colleagues over video and participate in the discussions. Video collaboration enabled us to discuss how to address the customer’s requirements, our demo strategy and flow, and even conduct a dry run of the final sequence – all as if we were in the same room! (See the photos to prove it, below!). The next day, the customer was blown away by our presentation! 

Is this a case for pervasive video collaboration? A resounding YES!

Any organisation that intends to fully realise the value of its human capital needs to enable efficient and effective interpersonal collaboration, irrespective of geography and location. And video collaboration is the tool that will unleash tangible value from within your business by empowering every single one of your employees to connect and communicate, face-to-face, wherever they are.

Still skeptical?

Check out the whitepaper, Power to the People by Rob Livingstone, Former CIO and Principal Consultant of RL Advisory and find out how the use of video collaboration technologies can meet your organisation’s collaboration needs.

The title of an upcoming webinar organised by my APAC colleagues From Information to Innovation –the Changing Role of the CIO, caught my eye as the email invitation went out to our customers, prospects and internal team. Among the speakers for this event is former CIO Rob Livingstone, who is now himself an advisor and consultant to other CIOs on innovative practices. When I learned more about what the webinar entails, what really got me thinking was the word “innovation”. 

New technology and innovations are lauded as the currency of this digital age but I was curious about the sentiment out there. Do companies genuinely believe they have to innovate to grow? Are they investing towards this strategy? Or were these just sexy buzzwords that MBA students and industry pundits bandied about? 

A quick Google search turned up an intriguing Wall Street Journal article – Economists Duel Over Idea that Technology will Save the World: Has All the Important Stuff Already Been Invented? (Read it in full here.)

There are some key opinions that stood out from the article:

• Since Nobel economist Robert Solow first argued in the 1950s that growth was driven by new technology, most economists have embraced the idea. Progress may be uneven, according to this view, but there is no reason to expect the world to run out of ideas
• On one side of the ring, is Joel Mokyr, who imagines a coming age of new inventions, including gene therapies to prolong our life span and miracle seeds that can feed the world without fertilisers.
• Robert Gordon, on the other hand, believes our best days are over. After a century of life-changing innovations that spurred growth, he says, human progress is slowing to a crawl.
• Mokyr has long studied how new tools have led to economic breakthroughs. For example, how the development of telescopes allowed for rapid advances in astronomy. History makes him certain his colleague is wrong
• Gordon often displays images of a flushing toilet and an iPhone and asks: “Which would you give up”?

I’m no economist. But being in the video collaboration industry, gives me a front-row seat to how just one sector of (recent) innovation, has changed our lives dramatically. The advances for productivity supported by the ability to collaborate face-to-face, anytime, anywhere, in multiple ways puts me firmly in the camp of optimists (such as Mr Mokyr) in this debate. And it’s exciting to me, because it isn’t just about the method of collaboration, but rather, the subsequent output or value (made possible by the innovation) that is astounding. 

In a recent IBM survey, the 4,000 or so C-level executives participating considered technology the single most important external force shaping their organisations and their business strategy. With this imperative in mind, the upcoming webinar led by Rob Livingstone looks to be immensely relevant to current and future CIOs.

The live webinar - “From Information to Innovation – the Changing Role of the CIO”, will take place on Friday, 28 November, at 12:00pm Singapore time (9.30am Bangalore, 3:00pm Sydney). Rob Livingstone, together with Polycom experts Nick Hawkins and James Brennan will take participants through the trends that are accelerating the new rise of the CIO and IT function, and discuss how great collaborative organisations are tomorrow’s innovation leaders. If you’d like to find out more about the need for collaboration and innovation in today’s competitive market, be sure to join in here.

Why is collaboration so important to organisations? It turns out that innovation stems from routine collaboration that occurs in workspaces, social networks, and informal connections throughout the day. And because innovations deliver competitive advantage for companies, its catalyst – collaboration – is now the major focus of C-level executives, as well as HR, Facilities and IT leaders.

Face-to-face collaboration no longer requires physical presence in the traditional office. Video collaboration overcomes distance barriers and allows organisations to assemble the best teams and talent on projects and meetings, regardless of where they are in the world. This means that collaboration is now more effective and efficient in terms of time saved, time to market, and cost. The new reality is therefore, the Collaborative Workspace - a blend of physical and virtual collaboration environments within the traditional office, the home office or any other location an employee has chosen to work from.

People need people and people need technology; and they need spaces which bring both together. Here are five considerations when creating transformed, interconnected workspaces that offer both choice and control:

1. Optimise Real Estate: If designed well, more flexible, team-focused offices, meeting rooms and hot desk environments will often require less real estate, not more. The cost and space savings can easily cover high quality voice and video communications systems that connect not just those in a single office, but a string of global offices that are all set up with these goals in mind.

2. Enhance Collaboration & Innovation: When more comfortable and engaging workspaces come together with the technology to connect anywhere, anytime, and in virtually any way, collaboration is automatically improved. From virtual whiteboards and immersive environments to physical group areas that are purpose-built for idea sharing, much can be done to foster teamwork.

3. Attract, Develop and Engage People: Employees are looking for more flexible work environments andHR professionals understand that smart, successful people do best when connected and engaged with like-minded colleagues. Top candidates are drawn to the mentorship and teamwork that come with collaborative workspaces.

4. Build Brand and Activate Culture: From a better group dynamic to happier, healthier employees and a lower carbon footprint that comes from less travel and waste, collaborative workspaces empower employees to work better, appreciate their work more, and broadcast these benefits to those around them.

5. Wellbeing at Work: More studies show that sitting alone in an office all day is bad for your heart, your feet, your spine, your weight, your mental acuity, and your outlook. Collaboration and movement together can combat years of damage done by stagnant and solitary work.

Collaborative workspaces are looking better and better, both physically and virtually. Offices can now offer sitting, standing and even treadmill and stationary bike desks, as well as purpose-built pods and rooms for engaging groups of all sizes. On the virtual side, fueled by the affordability of bandwidth, High Definition quality, and a wider range of video technology at lower price points, video collaboration is becoming ubiquitous. This means that emergency meetings, discussions with remote experts, and even HR training and corporate announcements are becoming simpler to organise, far more affordable, and better for everybody.

By combining people-centric approaches to enhance productivity and satisfaction, with a technology and equipment strategy that enables high performance around the office, around the clock and around the globe, collaborative workspaces are offering unmatched benefits to all kinds of companies, from the top to the bottom line.

Would you like to learn how video solutions can transform a collaborative workspace? Click to read more.

Most of you, like me, will have subscriptions to multiple news sites, analyst updates, and industry media outlets. These companies send you the latest trends, surveys, white papers and reports on a daily or weekly basis – keeping you up to speed on the latest and greatest. And you may have noticed, like me, that of late the interest around Talent has been growing. Talent, talent, talent. How you recruit, manage, motivate and improve productivity.

Talent, also known as Human Capital, has replaced Financial Capital as the new source of competitive advantage. As one of the largest items on the balance sheet, organisations are concerned with how well they manage this asset in order to maximise their investment and generate superior performance. Organisations are also concerned about how they address shortages in talent, as well as productivity.

In my guest article for ComputerWorld Singapore published this month, I share how new training paradigms that leverage real-time video instruction, recorded and streamed video lessons, and interactive webcasts are becoming simple to use and increasingly popular.

I also suggest four ways in which video collaboration can transform training, and help organisations resolve the shortage of skilled and productive manpower.

Read the article here: Training for the trenches – from battlefronts to boardrooms

I’m sure it’s happened to most of you…especially the iPhone users out there. If you have ‘App-Alert’ OCD like I do, you would have upgraded to the latest OS after seeing that glaring red circle with the numeral 1 over “Settings” appear, promptly irking you into action. But then horror ensues – no new emails are coming in! Email on my phone is DOWN! How will I get through the day/night/my life?!

Yet take yourself backwards in time about eight years and the concept of having a smartphone which gave you access to feature-rich, html emails or HD video collaboration (clearly I don’t mean the Blackberry), was probably not commonplace. For the tablet, it took merely four years from the launch of the first-gen iPad to penetrate the workplace and establish itself as the indispensable business tool it is to many of us.

So when I spoke about “The Video-enabled Collaborative Workspace of the Future”, at the recent Corenet Global Discovery Forum in Singapore, I really actually meant that the Future is already here. Now.

In a business environment where companies have to reduce operating costs, increase productivity and continuously enhance company value, it makes sense to empower the largest item on the balance sheet – people. By enabling employees to be more productive and more engaged, companies CAN reap greater returns in the form of innovation, creativity, productivity and that really difficult thing called competitive advantage.

Polycom’s vision of the Collaborative Workspace is more than a building or an office, or a desk. It’s more than merely putting people next to one another and saying “Go work together to solve/create/strategise”. It’s where collaboration technology – video, voice, presence – liberates employees and delivers the freedom to work wherever, whenever and however they choose. It measures results and accomplishments instead of physical presence in the office. Thereby empowering employees to develop that culture of collaboration and be more productive, in order to ultimately deliver greater company value.

Are you already working in a video-enabled collaborative workspace today? If not, get started. As a first port of call, there are many useful resources on our website. And if you don’t know where to begin, if you run into problems, or if you have any questions at all – leave a comment here or get in touch. We’ll be happy to offer advice.

ABOVE: Staff in Polycom's offices across Asia Pacific use many different types of video-enabled collaborative workspace. Pictured are examples of Steelcase furniture with integrated Polycom video collaboration solutions in our Melbourne and Tokyo offices.