With 2021 around the corner, it’s time for some Collaboration predictions. I’ve put together a list of 7 themes that in my opinion will dominate the Collaboration space in 2021. Enjoy!
Virtual / Augmented Reality Meeting Rooms
The buzz on this is all around but can VR really make it to the meeting rooms? I believe it can. Maybe not exactly Star Trek holodeck as Rowan Trollope mentioned in the interview I did recently but we’ll definitely see some great progress on this in 2021. Augmented reality will lead the way with Virtual Reality catching up quickly. It all comes down to making it user friendly.
Personal AI Assistants
You don’t need to be a CEO anymore to get an assistant 🙂 Personal AI assistant will provide you with all the same benefits – meeting reminder with some context? No problem. Making notes for you during a meeting? Why not. Maybe automatically launching a meeting, connecting your personal VC unit, and presenting an agenda? As you can see most of these examples are related to meetings but I believe this can go a step further and actually assist with your daily tasks.
Intelligent and Personalized Self-Service
Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to go through an IVR when trying to get support? Sometimes it’s even impossible to speak with a real person! It annoys me a lot but fortunately intelligent and personalized self-service is on its way and I believe it’s here to stay. What’s important it will be beneficial for both sides – the customer and the agent. The customer will be happy as he/she will no longer need to repeat the same thing over and over again and can get immediate solutions faster. The agent wouldn’t have to deal with simple, repetitive tasks and will only get involved in complex issues and where emotional intelligence comes into play. You will see more and more of this in 2021.
Home Office Dominance
This one doesn’t need a lot of explanation. With the COVID pandemic that has struck the world this year, remote work seems to be a no brainer. Of course, there are pros and cons to both – working at the office and working from home and I don’t want to go into the details here. The important part is that there will be more remote Collaboration in 2021 than ever before.
Decline of Physical Endpoints
This will be a direct consequence of the previous rapid home office adoption. With less people in the office, less office space will be needed. Less office space means less conference rooms required. As a result, the physical endpoints market will see a drop unless companies can get reasonably priced personal endpoints for home office use.
Security breaches
Another consequence of the widespread use of Collaboration tools. We’ve already heard of some spectacular breaches this year and vendors have been trying hard to make their solutions more secure. Have they succeeded? I believe we’ll find out soon 🙂
Cisco vs Microsoft vs Zoom
The battle between those three will get even more exciting. Security will be the deal-breaker. The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions in 2021 might reveal a true winner.
What do you think?
What does 2021 hold for Collaboration?
