Hybrid work era sees 80 per cent employees switching to use collaboration tools: Report

Between 2019 and 2021, the use of collaboration tools increased by 44 per cent, sharing tools increased by 16 per cent and real-time mobile messaging tools increased by 7 per cent

Nearly 80 per cent of employees are using collaboration tools for work in 2021 globally, up from just over half of workers in 2019, a new report showed on Wednesday, as hybrid workforce becomes the new normal.  

Specifically, the use of meeting solutions surged during the pandemic.  

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While workers globally reported that they spent, on average, 63 per cent of their meeting time in-person in 2019, that number dropped to 33 per cent by 2021 as more meetings took place over audio and video-enabled meeting solutions, according to the report by Gartner.  

From 2019 to 2021, use of collaboration tools increased 44 per cent, use of storage/sharing tools increased 16 per cent, and use of real-time mobile messaging tools increased 7 per cent.  

"Collaboration tools found renewed importance during Covid-19 for their role in ensuring the productivity of suddenly remote teams," said Christopher Trueman, principal research analyst at Gartner.  

"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," Trueman added.  

Storage/sharing and real-time mobile messaging tools also saw increased use during the pandemic, used by 74 per cent and 80 per cent of respondents, respectively.  

The shift away from in-person meetings is expected to continue.  

Gartner predicts that by 2024, in-person meetings will drop from 60 per cent of enterprise meetings to 25 per cent, 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," said Trueman.  

"Cloud-based meeting solutions and content service platforms can support this through offerings or integrations with technologies including virtual whiteboards, rich chat features, and recording and transcription capabilities." 

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