If your staff is working remotely all or part of the time, you may be familiar with the odd phenomena known as Zoom fatigue. A wealth of online productivity and collaboration tools have handily proven the case that work can be completed just as quickly and just as well from anywhere. But they’ve also proven the case that your staff’s experience using these digital tools can make a huge difference in their mental and physical health, and ultimately, their long-term job satisfaction.

Common Frustrations With Digital Collaboration Tools

A burst of new online collaboration tools flooded the market in the past few years. And while many did one or two things very, very well, very few were able to accommodate everything that a remote or hybrid workforce needs in one, simple tool. Digital tools were obviously created to help, and employers provided them with the best of intentions. But every now and then, they created more problems than they solved.

1. Too Many Different Tools

Every collaboration tool your team uses is an additional tool that they must keep open, that your IT department must keep running, and that your new employees must learn. Toggling between multiple tools can be terribly frustrating and supremely inefficient.

2. Difficulty Tracking Conversations

When a file is shared on one platform, but your staff must have conversations on it through another, and your meetings are held on yet another, it’s easy to forget about, or simply miss vital input.

3. Hard To Access Important Information

Where was that file shared again? Your staff may be left hunting through multiple platforms to locate the information they need, which may lead to them accessing a previous version of the same file, or wasting a tremendous amount of time.

4. Network Issues

Most home networks simply can’t handle a professional workload. Many online tools don’t meet expectations without a lightning-fast connection.

5. Too Much Face Time, Not Enough Work Time

Because video conferencing platforms typically don’t incorporate other collaboration tools, users are left to focus on the image of themselves and their coworkers for long periods of time. It’s hard to keep your focus where it needs to be when your attention is drawn to the minute details of a coworker’s face and their workspace. It’s also terribly hard not to focus on your own appearance, which can make video conferencing an anxiety-producing experience.

6. Lack of Security

Many collaboration tools increase your organization’s cybersecurity risk, but relatively few employees are ever trained on how to mitigate those risks.

The Importance of Collaboration

Excellent collaboration is key to maintaining a positive culture throughout your company and keeping your staff happy and productive. Furthermore, a recent study showed that boosting collaboration is associated with a 63% increase in profitability, and 43% more innovation. Collaboration is vital to the health and viability of your entire organization, and will absolutely affect your bottom line.

Better Collaboration Solutions From Cisco

Cisco has been able to address the common frustrations of digital collaboration tools with solutions that are designed for organizations large and small. From networking and security to a collaboration tool that can perform as a be-all, end-all, Cisco’s made it easy to optimize a hybrid workplace.

Webex

With Webex, your staff can message, share files and call people inside and outside your organization with one click. During the meetings, they can focus on what’s important, with AI-powered transcriptions, noise reduction, and a white-board space for better brainstorming, where your staff can see ideas, and get a break from faces. Webex also features strong security protection, so important files will get to the right hands easily, and stay out of the wrong ones.

Cisco Meraki

The best way to solve home network challenges is not to use them. Cisco Meraki allows businesses to offer a reliable, cloud-managed, secure network that employees can access from anywhere. An organization with a little bit of IT know-how can get it set up fairly quickly, and because it’s a cloud-based solution, it’s easy to scale.

Cisco Business

Smaller organizations may find the Cisco Business suite to be an ideal solution. It provides enterprise-level capabilities at a smaller price point, and it’s easier to manage.

Additional Security Tools

Cisco Umbrella provides a multi-layered defense against threats by preventing devices from connecting to malicious sites. Additionally, Umbrella stops callbacks to command-and-control (C2) servers, malware, and phishing attacks.

Cisco Secure Access by Duo integrates seamlessly with other apps and provides best-in-class multi-factor authentication. Users can enroll in minutes, will be properly verified in seconds, and won’t have to enter codes.

Cisco AnyConnect can help you uncover malware and ransomware threats, and allows you to easily approve which devices can access your network.

Cisco Secure Endpoint is a cutting-edge endpoints security solution that allows you to detect, respond, and recover from attacks quickly.

Cisco Secure Cloud Mailbox Defense is an email security platform based in the cloud and fully integrated with Microsoft 365.

How To Save on Cisco Solutions

Marco is a Cisco Preferred Partner, and can provide bundling options to help you save on Cisco’s collaboration, security, and network solutions. Better yet, our technology experts can point you towards the best tools for your organization, and help you solve common hybrid work frustrations, once and for all.