My, how things have changed!

When anyone was working at home, in the past, we worried about limited collaboration. That everyone was out of touch. We had always maintained that if we were slow we could just hop in the conference room and talk/game plan.

Here begins the tale of going from a bustling office to 100% remote workers. Pretty much overnight.

Teleconferencing has gone from expensive Cisco equipment a decade ago, to an easy accessible, inexpensive dynamite communication and collaboration tool.  And just in time!

Zoom, the standard of happy hours everywhere, and a dozen other solutions have taken off in popularity. Web conferencing tools are bringing people together in ways we never imagined before. What would normally be a one-direction webinar most often is now a group discussion, complete with video of your co-attendants.

Microsoft TEAMS included with Office 365 has been around for a long time. It’s the Instant messaging replacement for Skype for Business and a competitor to Slack. It’s webcam integration and ability to have quick meetings has proven invaluable both with people outside our organization but even more so, inside our organization.  Every morning we gather over TEAMS and have a 15 minute meeting. Then throughout the day we can connect with a video call anytime.

Another thing that has changed for us at Passkey is our rapid adoption of everything “Microsoft Cloud”. We have been rolling out Email, OneDrive, SharePoint and TEAMS for years. We are now a Microsoft Silver Partner. We have been putting time into all the benefits that come along with that. Partner learning and certifications. Great partner representatives, support and consulting hours. We are taking full advantage of the extra time we have while projects have slowed, and are diving deep into Microsoft Identity, Compliance and Security.

Everything is changing. Some things will return to normal, but I think we all agree, some things are here to stay.  Here are our top three recommendations if you sent your workforce home and are trying to collaborate efficiently.

• Get a WebCam for everyone. I think this trend will continue and I don’t think you’ll regret purchasing one for every staff member. Don’t forget speakers or headphones as well.
• Get a Web Conferencing account. Zoom, GoToMeeting, Bluejeans, etc. Be able to bring people together for education, sales calls, or any other meeting you’d like to host.
• Take a look at Microsoft TEAMS. Any office 365 customer can get a free trial of Microsoft teams for six months. It’s a great instant messenger and an easy way to stay in communication with each other, reduce email, speed up collaboration, and have video meetings.

We would be happy to help you navigate any of these solutions. Just let us know! Stay Safe.

Bret Erickson
Passkey Technology
bret@passkeyinc.com