Collaboration is key

Collaboration is vital in the modern office – what are you selling to help your customers make the most of the new hybrid working environmentand what could you be selling?

Workplace statistics show that 86% of employees and executives cite the lack of effective collaboration and communication as the main cause of workplace failure. There is currently a high demand for tools to foster effective communication across the office, both digitally and in-person, as hybrid working environments become more commonplace – yet Elisabete Wells, regional marketing director at ACCO UK and Ireland, says that there are lots of companies out there that haven’t got started yet. “Over 60% of workers claim that their companies have not made any significant changes to their workplaces to adapt it to the new ways of working – they have maintained the same setup that they had pre-pandemic.”

Data from a recent survey by Gensler US highlights that 43% of employees seek workplaces that promote effective collaboration, Lawrence

Savage, marketing manager at Exaclair shared, which has triggered a massive shift in modern work habits that can be seen across several areas which savvy dealers can sell into.

Digital Platforms

The pandemic accelerated the need for digital communication platforms and many teams are still using them; the average Microsoft Teams user has increased their weekly meeting time by 252%, and sent 32% more messages each week in February 2022 than in March 2020. However, businesses are also enabling more collaborative working via video conferencing tools, which can facilitate face-toface meetings from anywhere in the world. They give employees the ability to speak together and build relationships and personal connections –high-quality video and audio enable them to pick up on verbal and non-verbal cues.

“There is a range of video conferencing systems and technologies on offer for collaborative working in 2023, for example, tracking cameras and audio enhancements,” says Jon Grundy, head of AV solutions at Exertis. These technologies can help to aid collaboration by making sure everyone is seen and heard. “Cameras can focus on specific speakers, track movement and auto frame the participants,” adds Jeff May, regional sales director at Konftel.

“Intelligent audio focuses on the spoken word, rather than background noise; it can be expanded to accommodate dozens of people in a room, and can be located on the desk, wall or ceiling, depending on the room and furniture layout.”

Accessories

To collaborate successfully across digital platforms, employees also need high-quality accessories. “A whole host of hardware and software tools are available for all sizes of remote meetings,” says Jeff. “Individual remote users can use high-spec webcams - now with HD video and audio so that they look and sound as great as anyone else on the call - through to large office deployments with multiple cameras, daisy-chained HIFI audio and smart screens for simultaneous video-calling and content-sharing.” For those working from home, Jon adds that, “staff can choose from multiple home working solutions, including webcams, headsets and speakerphones.”

During calls, headsets allow employees to participate in digital meetings ‘hands-free’, enabling them to make notes and handle documents which makes for a much more productive meeting as well as blocking out noise from a busy office or home space, and speakerphones offer high-level sound quality for better communication and understanding between teams.

Many workplaces are embracing and benefitting from new technologies but Elisabete says ACCO is also bringing traditional products up-to-date. “Sales of traditional visual communications products - such as whiteboards, notice boards, and easels - have grown for the past year. While they may seem a bit traditional, these tools are effective and versatile, and everyone knows how to use them!

“Post-pandemic, our team at ACCO Brands has developed and launched the next generation of collaboration systems specifically with the new office in mind.” So don’t write off old favourites from the past; modern movable whiteboards and noticeboards can be wheeled anywhere in the office to create a meeting space or to section off areas for more privacy in open-plan spaces.

Collaborative Workspaces

For office-based teams the demand for digital platforms is less urgent – but they can benefit from dedicated workspaces built with collaboration in mind. Simon Howorth, design and marketing manager at Dams Furniture, knows that there are sales opportunities here too. “Meeting booths are specifically designed to address modern working practices by offering essential private areas in any busy workplace to accommodate working groups with exceptional comfort and practicality.”

As always, making sure you offer products with the customer firmly in mind is key to success. Impromptu meetings are unavoidable, so having a space ready for teams to go to is a great way to foster productivity, avoiding time wasted in the search for a suitable space. “Many employees may also need complete privacy to participate in work meetings or video calls because a hybrid office model has been adopted,” Simon points out. “This is where an acoustic hub comes in. Businesses can put up smaller ‘phone booth hubs for single-person use and/or go for multiperson hubs that can accommodate small groups who can then collaborate in private.”

Looking Forward

Collaborative tools are transforming the ways that teams work together in so many ways. “Immediate access to people and information, the sharing of ideas, faster decision-making, training and risk management are just some of the real benefits that remote collaboration brings,” says Jeff - and they are also helping to offer maximum flexibility for employees. For hybrid teams working across the UK, collaboration can be achieved regardless of location, says Jon. “A better work-life balance can be accomplished when staff can work from home, and there is the benefit of reduction in travel costs, and carbon, between offices.”

Lawrence is convinced this is a win for both employers and employees. “As well as helping to improve staff productivity, saving time and resources, utilising a variety of these collaborative tools will also contribute towards employee team-building and personal wellbeing.”

“Resellers should tap into this huge opportunity and use solutions-based selling when offering products to customers looking to upgrade their offices,” says Elisabete.

This week I had a visit from the accountant and the bank on the same day, and it was the perfect storm. Panic set in days before, even though the business was perfectly healthy, and it felt as if they would both be followed by a team of undertakers and a brass band playing the death march.

Perhaps they had heard on the grapevine that we were laughing too much and decided to launch a pincer movement to calm everyone down to make sure we were miserable again - the way office suppliers are supposed to be. You don’t spend the number of years we have in the office supplies industry without being miserable quite a lot.

Of course, it has its ups and downs. Today we were miserable about a big customer ordering too many boxes of paper where we made 15p per box, but tomorrow we could be celebrating an order where the goods get to a customer in one delivery on the right day! You just never know what’s round the corner in the crazy world of office supplies, and that’s what makes it so exciting.

Maybe that’s why, whenever there’s an office supplies conference, there is so much laughter and merriment. All of a sudden we have strength in numbers, and a room full of people like ourselves, so we no longer feel like the poor relation in the business meeting, selling paperclips whilst everyone else is involved in high stakes finance, property and software. It’s a room full of people who suddenly don’t have a care in the world, where you might find yourself dancing with the competitor who, only last week, stole one of our biggest customers, and hugging the salesman from the big corporate who almost put us out of business twice last year.

It is also a place to congratulate the suppliers who have let us down so much recently because, here, we are all in it together - all for one, and one for all, as we drink and dance ourselves into oblivion.

The suppliers are our new mates. They make promises we know they can’t keep, but we are more than willing to believe so that we can stay in the mood we haven’t been in since the last conference - or the last drink.

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