How Professional Audio Elevates Hybrid Work

With professional headsets, employees and companies are much better equipped for the changing working environment in a world of hybrid work. Lean how professional audio devices can improve your hybrid work experience.

In the era of hybrid work, we have transitioned into online meetings and more virtual interactions, but it’s not without its challenges.

With online meetings, the distractions and interruptions of meetings have only increased. You’ve most likely come across colleagues whose background noise disturbs the meeting, or whose connection keeps interrupting the meeting.

You might even be that one yourself; someone who is unmeetable. In the unpredictable nature of hybrid work environments, it becomes even more essential with technology that is equipped for work from anywhere.

Whether you’re focusing, collaborating, or brainstorming, your device should enable you to work flexibly, and not get in the way.

The Way We Work Has Changed

Work and our workplace have undergone a significant transformation in the last years. As a result of the pandemic and with the rise of hybrid work trends, online meetings have become important for collaboration.

While employees have gradually returned to the physical office spaces, the predominant way of working continues to be a hybrid workweek, as only 42% are going to the office five days a week.

48% of knowledge workers work hybrid, which means that colleagues are more distributed than ever. Consequently, online platforms have become more important than ever in enabling collaboration.

Our Global Hybrid Ways of Working 2023 report found that 2 in 3 meetings are now virtual. This means that the technology used during online meetings have an impact on efficiency of meetings but also the quality of collaboration and productivity.

So let’s dive into how the professional technology can elevate your hybrid work experience rather than interrupt and complicate your work.

Certified Devices Keep You Connected

After the pandemic kicked us out of the physical meeting room and into the virtual one, most of us are now extremely familiar with collaboration platforms (UC platforms) such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.

Not only do we spend much more time in online meetings, but most employees today are also using UC platforms on a daily basis.

According to Microsoft’s latest 2023 Work Trend Index, the amount of time spent in Microsoft Teams meetings and calls per week has increased by 300% since February 2020.

With an increase in amount of time spent communicating and collaborating online, audio devices play a much bigger role in our work than before the pandemic.

However, not all audio devices are created equal. While we might all connect on Teams or Zoom, the audio and video we use to access those platforms plays a significant role in the meeting experience.

Using a consumer device, like the earbuds you wear on your runs, or a headset not certified for the given platform can slow down meetings, cause difficulties with connecting, or leave us feeling unseen and unheard.

Certified devices help limit these types of collaboration issues. Put simply, a certified device is one which has gone through rigorous testing and is deemed to meet the standards of performance and functionality for UC platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet.

Not only do they improve the experience, but they also work much more reliable with the platforms they are certified for. After all, it’s the platforms issuing the certifications, making the given headset working as optimal as possible with the platform.

Manage Devices Remotely

When hybrid teams are using consumer devices or nothing at all, there is little that IT administrators can do to ensure the most updated and immersive meeting experience, especially when workers are distributed between the home, office, or a third place.

But the rigorous testing in the certification process of devices also enables IT teams to manage devices remotely.

No matter where their teams are working, they can be sure that all their employees have equal connectivity, and that IT teams can update firmware, troubleshoot issues, and run diagnostics tests remotely.

In this way, professional devices create a standardized experience for all employees across work locations.

Turn Any Place into a Workspace

Hybrid work and flexibility is here to stay, which means that we rely much more on virtual collaboration technology than we did before the pandemic.

The traditional office continues to play a large role, as our Hybrid Ways of Working 2023 Global Report reveals, 42% of employees are back in the office full-time, but 58% are either remote or split their time between the office, their home or a third place.

This means that the vast majority of employees need devices that enable them to thrive in a range of spaces. Some days it might be a noisy desk neighbour, other days a barking dog or children, but no matter what the noise is, having the right device to block it out is crucial.

Professional devices can filter out the disruptive noise and help ensure that you can work from anywhere, without compromising on productivity and professionalism.

Work Whenever or Wherever it Works for You

The pandemic made it more apparent than ever that organizations are made up of individuals who are all trying to maximize their own time.

This clearer view into our colleagues’ home-lives (quite literally) has made us increasingly aware that different people have to balance different priorities in different time frames. Whether it’s the doorbell, playful children, or the dog, the interruptions can be avoided with the right tools.

We spoke with Sandhya Rao, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft Teams, to get her take on how certified professional devices make all of this hybrid flexibility possible:

“Having a certified device is going to give you enhanced capabilities. For example, with my Jabra set, I know I’m going to have full call control. When I raise my mic, I’m going on mute. When I lower it, I’m unmuted. I can answer and hang up calls right from here.

Now, it’s actually like I’m at work, but in my home. If I’m in the kitchen, making food for my kids, and hear a call come in, it’s easy for me to put it on and answer because I’ve got my headset around my neck. My PC is upstairs in my office, but it’s not a problem, it just enables me to remain connected and flexible.”

This blog post has been re-published by kind permission of Jabra – View the Original Article

For more information about Jabra - visit the Jabra Website

About Jabra

Jabra gives contact centres a powerful way to satisfy more customers. Jabra headsets are designed to fit the unique needs of all types of contact centres, who want to exceed their customers expectations and deliver a superior customer experience, whilst ensuring productivity every day.

Find out more about Jabra

Call Centre Helper is not responsible for the content of these guest blog posts. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Call Centre Helper.

Author: Jabra