A “Good enough” collaboration platform isn’t good enough when your people are leaving

People are leaving their jobs at an unprecedented rate. Many feel unconnected, unseen, and unheard across their team and organization and the collaboration platform tools they are using are part of the problem. We all thought we’d be back to normal by now, or to at least some sort of pre-Covid normal. Unfortunately, that’s not the situation most of us are in.

In a 2021 survey by Dimensional Research, 32% of professionals stated that their connection to the company has suffered while working remotely and 38% indicate they are experiencing increased levels of burnout since they started working remotely. Even Microsoft had a survey that stated employees’ productivity and innovation are suffering since the shift to remote work.

Employees, management, and IT have all been in a state of limbo around what and when the new normal will be. You can’t afford to wait on hybrid work planning! Workers are increasingly disconnected and burned out; therefore, strategic decisions need to be made now; your competitors certainly aren’t waiting! Your employees deserve a tool that allows them to stay connected, be productive, and collaborate inside and outside your organization without a compromised experience. Your IT department needs the right tools to manage and support all users securely, no matter where they are working. Hybrid work is not just an IT problem, it requires a cultural, technological and leadership shift. IT, HR, and Facilities teams all need to work together to provide a solution and environment that keeps your employees loyal. Hybrid work cannot be solved alone.

Is a small cost worth the expense of your employees’ productivity and creativity?

Costs play a significant role in the decisions organizations make. Companies pay on average $4,000 to hire new employees and that doesn’t even count the cost and time it takes to train someone to be proficient (much less the extra stress on the rest of the team during the transition).

We often get told that Webex has the best end user experience and overall collaboration solution, but “I need to save money”. The reality is, Webex isn’t as expensive as everyone seems to think. If you remember my previous blog, customers can purchase the Webex Suite, a suite of collaboration products that include Cloud Calling, Meetings, Messaging, Polling and Events, for $11.95 per user per month. If it costs $4,000 to hire an employee, that same cost would provide the employee with the Webex Suite for 28 years!

If providing the world’s best-of-breed collaboration solution with the Webex Suite helps you keep your employees connected, be more productive and reduces turnover, wouldn’t it be an incredible investment for your company?

Many people believe that collaboration and Microsoft Teams is already included in their Office 365 agreement. On the contrary, Microsoft Teams comes with many hidden costs and only includes a subset of what you will need for world class collaboration. The price is a moving target and organizations need to pay for every additional service and product. As soon as you add calling, PSTN, devices, conference rooms, IT management or really anything that creates a seamless collaboration experience for employees in the office and at home, your total cost of ownership will significantly increase.

A Gartner report states that Microsoft customers should expect to see a 25% increase in software cost every three years. This is over and above the hidden costs that I will help you identify in this blog.

For about the same price as Microsoft, organizations can upgrade their “good enough” collaboration experience to Webex providing so much more than just a mediocre meeting or calling app. Webex can help enhance your hybrid workplace to get work done, not only with Calling, Meetings, and Messaging, but also with Polling, Events, and integrated capabilities such as AI-driven next generation noise removal, Webex Assistant and so much more!

Isn’t the $11.95 per user per month worth it to increase employee retention, productivity, and creativity?

Take a look at this video and imagine how this world-class collaboration experience could help.

Are you being burdened with a stitched together “good enough” collaboration solution? Collaboration Platform

Technology should be simple and practically invisible to its users. Collaboration is vital to success in the hybrid workplace but how can organizations succeed when different technology tools and vendors cannot integrate well together?

Think of a plane where every part is made by a different company and there is no communication between the companies. I’d imagine it would be difficult to fly and quite a turbulent flight. This is also true when organizations have only Microsoft Teams; it’s a mess.

While companies think they are getting a comprehensive collaboration solution from Microsoft, they aren’t. Microsoft doesn’t provide a complete solution; most companies will need to stitch together 6-12 disconnected collaboration vendors.­­ That leaves your IT organization to fly the plane above, to worry about the end-user experience and the impact of so many different vendor software upgrades. Your Chief Security Officer is struggling to secure a collaboration solution when it’s a dozen vendors stitched together. Your finance department is wondering why it costs them more and more every year for their “productivity applications”. Finally, it leaves your HR department asking why employees are still burned out and leaving.

We understand that many companies will use Microsoft or Google for productivity tools and Cisco for real-time collaboration. That is why we are dedicated to making Webex work seamlessly with both Microsoft, Google, and other major business applications. We are adding new integrations constantly, learn more about what’s new and coming to Webex.

Cisco and most other companies leverage Microsoft for Exchange, Active Directory, Sharepoint, Windows, Azure, and Office, but that doesn’t make Microsoft experts in real-time voice and collaboration:  Meetings, Events, Contact Center, Audience Engagement and so much more. As the importance of hybrid work becomes apparent, organizations need to move quickly, employees deserve a secure, world-class collaboration solution, and Webex + Cisco is the answer.

Are you sure your hybrid work solution is secure enough?

Webex is ranked the #1 collaboration service in end-to-end security by the National Security Agency of the United States Government.

Due to hybrid work, employees can work in any location. Attacks can surface at any time and the number of locations you need to secure has increased by an order of magnitude.

Today, customers who have bought into Microsoft for real-time collaboration have kept Webex for the “important meetings”, admitting that Webex is more secure, reliable and provides a better user experience. Isn’t this strategy flawed?

How do you know where the best ideas will come from in an organization? They can happen from anywhere within the organization and at any time in conversation. Think about an important decision you made recently; chances are it was probably made over real-time collaboration. Do you really want to risk leaking your innovative decisions made in a private meeting?

If you are starting to wonder if Microsoft Teams is the right solution for your company, I would encourage you to dig into their security and ease of use, especially when you start collaborating externally or via a third-party application. Cisco can make you more secure not only within our collaboration tools, but also across all your users, data, devices, and applications that are connected to the network.

It’s time for a world-class collaboration platform

Just when we thought the pandemic was over, we have yet another pause on a full return to office. Organizations can no longer keep hybrid work investments on hold, it’s fundamental to your business success and core to employee retention. Hybrid work requires strategic planning, and your employees are worth the effort.

Knowledge workers should be empowered with an uncompromised world-class collaboration experience that reduces IT challenges, secures and supports your organization, and keeps employees productive and engaged. For a very small investment, your organization can get a best-in-class collaboration solution that is secure, seamless, and inclusive.

“Good enough” collaboration is NOT good enough anymore. Great customer experiences require great employee experiences. If you want your business to be successful in the hybrid workplace, it’s time to move your collaboration platform to the next level… with Webex.

Learn more

• Cisco strengthens Webex Calling with South Korea data center enhancement
• A new era of customer experience:  Cisco named in Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Contact Center as a Service
• Experience the full power of Webex Suite, for the cost of lunch