Even with all the technology currently available in the workplace, there is a fundamental problem in the way people communicate and collaborate. A recent Cisco® survey shows that the three most significant challenges for organizations today are people issues:
We are entering a new era of work in which compartmentalized “productivity suite” technologies by themselves are no longer enough. We now need to bring intelligent technology across the way we work and integrate within workflows. We need to start making the entire process seamless, thereby giving a highly mobile, sophisticated workforce the opportunity to fully leverage its synergies and talents, to maintain satisfaction and engagement, and to speed up the process of getting things done.
This white paper identifies and describes a portfolio of tools and technologies collectively forming a new approach to work and productivity, called Cognitive Collaboration. It also seeks to illustrate how Cisco is tailoring leading-edge, but often misunderstood, approaches such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in specific, practical ways that make work life more engaging, productive, and profitable.
Professionals are working differently than they were even five years ago. Wireless technologies, high-bandwidth Internet, and the cloud are allowing work to happen in spaces other than traditional meeting rooms. Advances in memory and processing power mean greater levels of intelligence can be built into apps and devices.
A recent study conducted by Dimension Data shows that the number-one technology needed to drive workplace transformation consists of “communication and collaboration tools.” According to the report, 53 percent of organizations say smart meeting rooms that provide workers with intuitive access to various types of conferencing technologies are central to significantly improving business processes.1
Figure 1. Cisco survey results on worker collaboration preferences2
The situation of today’s busy working professional—crowded schedules paired with mobile technologies and potential 24-hour daily availability—has resulted in a significant reduction in attention spans and tolerance for delay.
As just one parallel example, in the consumer space, e-commerce shopping cart abandonment is rampant. Much of this has to do with the fact that a slow-loading webpage (slow being more than two seconds) is enough for a consumer to move on without buying.
Consumer-oriented platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix, with their instant response paired with personalization bots and recommendation engines, further increase the speed and breadth of expectation. These high expectations get carried into the workplace. Consequently, collaboration, teamwork, self-directed work, and outbound customer care all need increased levels of proactive intelligence to keep pace.
This is further compounded by the threat of “shadow IT,” in which people attempt to bring their consumer experience to the office by using unsanctioned and potentially insecure apps to help satisfy their need for fast action. But consumer-centric technology is often not enterprisecentric. This carries a very real danger when there is no central repository or protocol to ensure optimized use.
A recent Dimensional Research survey showed:
So together, these three forces—diminishing satisfaction and efficiency in the workplace, growing expectation of speed based on technological advancement in the consumer sector, and a stated need for intelligent assistance—demonstrate that the time is right for a new generation of communication and collaboration tools. Ones that are built to handle an ever-growing demand while moving the dial forward in terms of quality and efficiency. This is the basis of Cognitive Collaboration.
1. The Digital Workplace Report: Transforming Your Business, Dimension Data, 2017
2. “Cisco Survey Indicates Adding a Virtual Assistant May Be the Key to Happiness at Work,” Cisco
