Collaboration tools have become an essential element of the hybrid work environment as organisations across the globe have relied on them for maintaining the productivity of their employees.
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The use of these tools has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to a survey conducted by research and advisory firm Gartner, which noted that 79% of the employees are using collaboration tools for work in 2021, an increase of 44% since 2019.
“As many organisations shift to a long-term hybrid workforce model, cloud-based, personal and team productivity technologies, along with collaboration tools, will form the core of a series of new work hubs that meet the requirements of various remote and hybrid workers,” Christopher Trueman, principal research analyst at Gartner, said in a statement.
Additionally, the survey found that the use of audio and video-enabled meeting solutions increased during the pandemic. While employees globally said that they spent, on average, 63% of their meeting time in-person in 2019, that number dropped to 33% by 2021 as more meetings took place virtually, the firm noted.
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According to Gartner, by 2024, in-person meetings will drop to 25% of enterprise meetings from 60%, driven by remote work and changing workforce demographics.
“As IT leaders prepare for a mix of meeting modalities, it will be critical that they ensure equitable collaboration, tool and resource access for all meeting participants, regardless of location,” Trueman said.
The Gartner 2021 Digital Worker Experience Survey was conducted among 10,080 full-time employees in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific, while the Gartner 2019 Digital Workplace Survey was conducted among 7,261 respondents in the same regions, the research firm noted.
Published - September 04, 2021 10:24 am IST
