Five hybrid video conferencing tips for effective collaboration

[[417444]]

When Pixoul, a Dallas-based web design company, adopted hybrid video conferencing software in 2020, it encountered some early hurdles. "We initially had office workers gather in a conference room for a video conference, and remote workers joined at the same time through video conferencing software, so they could see each other on their monitors," said Devon Fata, the company's CEO. "Our goal was to better provide hybrid workers with face-to-face communication opportunities."

Fata noticed that this approach ultimately resulted in an unequal dialogue between the two parties, with many employees at the meeting not communicating better with their remote colleagues through video conferencing software, but having easier and more direct access to digital documents through virtual meeting applications. As a workaround, Fata asked employees in the meeting room to join the video session using their own devices. "This approach was quickly abandoned due to poor experience and echo," he said.

Many companies have invested heavily in moving to a hybrid work model and hope to achieve this goal through video conferencing. According to a survey report released by Metrigy called "Workplace Collaboration: 2021-2022", nearly half of companies plan to support a combination of on-site and remote work, and only 12% of companies expect all their employees to return to the office. If the hybrid work model is the trend of the future, its success may depend on the company's ability to provide what Mike Fasciani, senior director analyst at Gartner, calls "collaborative fairness." This means that employees can participate in discussions equally whether they are working on-site or remotely.

“If hybrid video conferencing is not productive and highly inclusive for all participants, then the hybrid work model itself is at risk of failing. This is important because many businesses today rely on hybrid work,” Fasciani said, noting that remote workers may be reluctant to return to corporate offices if they find themselves marginalized in meeting discussions. Both scenarios threaten a company’s long-term growth strategy.

How the pandemic democratized virtual meetings

Remote work was a given due to the pandemic. But Fasciani said it ultimately precipitated a paradigm shift that changed end-user expectations of virtual meetings for the better. Historically, hybrid video conferencing brought most participants together in a conference room, while employees working from home joined virtual meetings remotely, with stakeholders primarily driving the conversation and most participants participating passively. "Due to the pandemic, the adoption of video conferencing puts everyone on the same level with the same ability to participate, access information and influence outcomes," Fasciani said.

Seeing and experiencing these benefits is also driving IT leaders to keep participants in hybrid video conferences on an equal footing. For consulting and professional services provider Accenture, collaboration equity has become a strategic priority. Jason Warnke, senior managing IT director and global digital experience leader, said his IT team is working hard to ensure that Accenture's 560,000 end users around the world are included and connected. This means paying serious attention to technology, training and culture.

But even with strong IT planning and good intentions, collaboration equity is easier said than done. Irwin Lazar, president and chief analyst at Metrigy, predicts that the shift from fully remote work to a hybrid video conferencing environment may bring some growing pains as the pandemic subsides. "I think it's going to be awkward in the beginning because the experience we're all used to is changing," he said.

5 ways to improve hybrid video conferencing

As the world increasingly embraces hybrid work, here are 5 ways to achieve collaboration equity in video conferencing:

(1) Add video function to the meeting room

According to Metrigy’s research on workplace collaboration, 57% of enterprises plan to upgrade their conference rooms to support hybrid video conferencing by the end of 2021. Lazard predicts that all enterprise conference rooms will soon have similar capabilities, with only one-third of enterprises having conference rooms with similar capabilities.

At Accenture's offices, the IT team recently deployed Microsoft's Teams Rooms systems and Surface Hub smart screens, as well as smart speakers and ceiling microphones. On-site workers will use the new conferencing video equipment to hold video conferences with internal employees or external clients, Warnke said. PeopleFinderFree, a directory search engine provider based in Singapore, invested in a video conference room system to facilitate hybrid video conferencing. "The idea is to give office-based employees the feeling of being in the same room with their remote colleagues," said Eden Cheng, the company's co-founder.

Vendors such as Zoom are also working on technology that individually frames the faces of participants in corporate conference rooms in the same way as remote workers, so that everyone appears equally on the screen. Lazar believes this capability will go a long way toward achieving fairness in collaboration. “I think it’s necessary technology, but it will take some time to implement and it may take some hardware upgrades to make it work,” he said.

(2) Consider using a virtual whiteboard

Fasciani said that as an analyst at Gartner, he now answers questions from clients about digital whiteboard applications every day, while before the pandemic, only a few clients asked monthly. That's because more and more companies see virtual whiteboards as a missing element in their video conferencing strategies. "It solves the need to use whiteboards in hybrid meeting scenarios, where using traditional whiteboards excludes remote participants," Fasciani said. "Both on-site and remote workers will benefit from virtual whiteboard notes, and their shelf life is unlimited, so content can be added over time."

At PeopleFinderFree, Cheng’s team now uses Miro, a virtual whiteboard, during hybrid meetings. She finds that the app promotes equity in collaboration by keeping in-office employees and remote participants on the same digital page. “It allows us to collect ideas generated during the meeting and easily access them after the meeting,” she says.

(3) Use third-party devices to improve video call quality

Third-party virtual collaboration hardware, such as external webcams and executive desktop systems, can help improve collaboration equity by providing a video conferencing experience that is closer to face-to-face interactions. Metrigy found that companies that get a greater return on their collaboration technology investments are more likely to purchase high-quality endpoints for employees working remotely from home. Lazar said that external devices from third-party vendors such as Jabra, Poly, and Logitech provide higher video and audio quality than most built-in laptop cameras and microphones. For example, acoustic barrier technology can minimize background noise, while low-light compensation can correct for dark environments.

“It does make a difference,” Lazar said. “Since the beginning of 2021, the price of these devices has come down, even though their capabilities have increased. For employees in customer-facing roles, we’re looking at putting better cameras on their desks. I think it’s probably going to be a full deployment for every employee. But training employees and users on how to take advantage of advanced features is a challenge.”

What remains to be seen is whether and how companies will provide third-party video-calling devices to employees working in the office. "If I walk into the office with my laptop, do I need a higher-definition camera installed on my desk? I think a lot of companies haven't really figured out what they want to do yet," Lazar said.

(4) Supplement remote connections as needed

Jess Munday, co-founder of Custom Neon, an Australia-based global manufacturer and retailer of custom LED neon lights and signs with employees across three continents, says its most common video conferencing issues stem from connectivity issues on the user’s end, which inevitably compromises their ability to participate equally in hybrid meetings. “These issues are usually related to the employee’s internet plan being outdated or the speed being very poor in their area,” she says. Custom Neon has begun encouraging employees to use their company-provided mobile data plans to fire up video call hotspots. “We’re lucky that the data caps are a lot larger than they were before,” she adds.

PeopleFinderFree took a similar approach when remote users experienced audio and video lag and occasional dropped calls during meetings, Cheng said. The company equipped employees with the hardware and internet service plans needed for a stable connection so they could participate in virtual meetings. Cheng added, "We also made sure our IT department was as available as possible to remote employees to provide guidance or technical assistance when needed."

On the access side, network administrators may need to upgrade connections through WAN optimization or software-defined WAN and prioritize collaboration traffic. Portable storage devices, such as AWS Snowball Edge, can also help reduce cloud latency for remote employees.

For remote users who may not have access to mobile broadband, good partnerships between companies and cloud computing vendors and satellite internet providers may improve connectivity. The ambitious Elon Musk SpaceX project, which is developing low-altitude satellites, aims to eventually enable unprecedented edge technology capabilities in remote areas.

(5) Establishing cultural norms

The shift from fully remote to hybrid work requires both cultural and technological changes. “Sometimes the technology is the easy part, and the actual adoption is harder,” Accenture’s Warnke said. “It’s important to support employees in adapting to new ways of using technology.” In his view, this includes consistent IT resource provisioning and support processes for in-office and remote employees, as well as an executive-driven change management program from the top of the business to promote collaborative equity.

On a more granular level, business leaders should also consider how evolving hybrid video conferencing norms can better enable their teams to collaborate successfully. In a conference room, for example, Gartner's Fasciani recommends that in-office participants sit on one side of a table and face the camera and monitor on the other side. "Remote meeting participants need to be able to complete the conversation to some extent, rather than sitting off to the side or in a corner and listening," he said.

Munday says Custom Neon uses a similar seating configuration for its weekly strategy discussions. “Employees working in the office can see employees working remotely, and employees working remotely can see the internal team,” she says. “We believe it promotes an open, forum-like feel that encourages greater contribution and brainstorming.” But for less interactive, more procedural meetings, such as training, Custom Neon’s in-office employees typically view relevant documents on computer screens at their desks.

There may not be a one-size-fits-all hybrid meeting model, as unique organizational variables such as physical facilities, employee personalities, and meeting software can all influence outcomes. Determining how to better achieve collaborative equity in a given workplace may require some troubleshooting.

“There will inevitably be technical and logistical issues along the way, so you need to be patient with them and be ready to adapt," said Pixoul's Fata. In contrast to its earlier hybrid video conferencing, Pixoul has decided to keep meeting rooms for full face-to-face interactions. Today, participants can join hybrid video conferences individually from their computers, whether at home or in the office.

“The social norm that really made hybrid video conferencing work for us was that each member had to participate on their own device,” Fata said. “It created a level playing field for everyone.”