RingCentral Content Hubs / Future of Work Resource Hub
Future of Work Resource Hub
To assist you in your efforts to navigate the rapidly changing nature of work-life, we’ve assembled this collection of free resources to help your business offer a better customer or contact centre experience.
What is the future of work?
The world of work is changing at an ever-quickening pace. Anyone who’s worked in an office over the last decade or so will have seen a dramatic transformation in that time. In many respects, the work environment is very different from how it was just a few years ago.
That digital transformation shows few signs of slowing. The rise of cloud computing, big data, automation and remote work, for instance, has prompted renewed speculation about what the future of work might hold. Other technologies, including blockchain and artificial intelligence (including machine learning), likewise promise revolutionary effects.
It goes without saying that the coronavirus pandemic’s onset forced many of us to make rapid changes to how we worked. However, the question facing us is how many of these changes will endure into the post-Covid future – and what else might follow. No matter if you’re based in Europe, the United States, the Middle East, or elsewhere, there’s a lot of changes you’ll have to contend with.
To assist you in your efforts to navigate the rapidly changing nature of work-life, we’ve assembled this collection of free resources to help your business offer a better customer experience or contact centre experience.
The future of work is already taking shape before our eyes. It’s worth stepping back to assess all the changes we’ve seen in recent years. The advent of the gig economy has created a plethora of new jobs, while many routine tasks have either been automated already or are in the process of being automated.
According to research from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), almost 14% of jobs in OECD countries are likely to be automated, with a further 32% likely to be partially automated. This is bound to have a major impact on the current labour market, and the future of jobs in general.
The benefits to businesses promise to be substantial. McKinsey Global Institute director James Manyika noted on a podcast that AI and machine learning could help cut back on errors and predict future conditions with greater certainty. This, in turn, could deliver significant productivity growth, with a positive impact on overall economic growth.
How to Prepare for the Future of Work
All this talk of automation has had a lot of people worried. After all, if machines instead of people can do so many jobs, it could lead to many lost jobs. This isn’t necessarily the case, however. In fact, there are good arguments to suggest that, in the longer-term, new technologies could automate menial tasks while creating more fulfilling jobs elsewhere.
However, the nature of work is undeniably set to change. In the new world of work, there is likely to be more emphasis on human skills and emotional intelligence, something for which young people (specifical millennials) should already be well prepared given that many employers have already prized these skills for some years.
This is only one aspect of the transition to new ways of working. It will also involve a considerable amount of reskilling, with workers expanding their skillset through online courses and training. Besides, employers will themselves have to play a proactive role.
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Ways to Prepare Your Business for the Future of Work
Setting up Your Business for Remote Work
Once you understand the scale and the nature of the challenges businesses face facing businesses as they adapt to new working patterns, you’ll be in a much better place to address them. In an article for Entrepreneur.com, Mark Minevich argues that by the outset of the next decade, “knowledge workers” could be at the vanguard of the global labour force, spurred to new heights of productivity by artificial intelligence and algorithms.
Minevich also makes the crucial point that there’s no time to waste. Businesses, their executives, and other stakeholders must act now if they’re to successfully adapt and future-proof themselves against the changes coming down the track. Those who act quickest and begin adapting their business models accordingly are likely to make the most successful transitions. Most successfully. With that in mind, let’s look at some relevant resources that can help.
Businesses have started begun to embrace remote workers. Whilst it was already growing in popularity, COVID-19 has led to some dramatic changes. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and so it has proved. To maintain normality and continuity during the pandemic, businesses had to transfer office-based work to remote and cloud-based arrangements.
As noted, this was an acceleration of pre-existing trends rather than something completely unprecedented. It is also something that is clearly here to stay, as many businesses will prefer to keep remote working in a place to cut back on expensive office rents. Employees too will generally prefer to continue working from home.
Here are some resources which can help your business introduce remote working:
How to Set Up a Remote Working Business
A comprehensive introduction to setting up a remote-based business. This guide covers various relevant areas; it explains what remote businesses are and how they operate. It lists a series of key points for running a remote business successfully. It also suggests some of the key tools you’ll need (from team messaging to project management software).
The Best Meeting Rooms to Look at in London
Although many businesses are transitioning to remote work (and online meetings), there will be times when face-to-face meetings with colleagues and clients are necessary. Hiring a meeting room can suit the purpose perfectly. This guide suggests some of the best meeting rooms in London, as well as providing advice on what facilities to look out for.
How to Manage a Team in Multiple Locations
With the rise of remote work has come to a variety of challenges. One of these is team management - it’s not easy, after all, to ensure that your whole team stays focused and productive. It can be a challenge to collaborate effectively when everyone’s working from home. This guide provides practical advice concerning remote team management and the new skills you may have to learn.
The Types of Business Costs (and Ideas to Save Them)
As anyone who’s run a business will tell you, doing so comes with a lot of different costs attached. This guide introduces you to the major types of businesses costs and provides you with useful tips and suggestions to help you keep them under control. From saving on energy bills finding cheaper software, there are lots of handy ideas here.
What is Collaboration and How Can You Build a Collaborative Team?
Virtual collaboration has been at the forefront since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. LEARN some effective wayss to build collaborative teams!
4 Leading Team Collaboration Platforms
Collaboration applications are tools designed to simplify and streamline the way people work while accomplishing great things through the cloud.Use the Right Tools for Your Remote Employees
How to Choose Remote Working Tools
Even the best employee is only as good as their tools. Amid all the talk of algorithms and automation, it can be easy to overlook human resources’ enduring importance. The fact is that skilled workers will continue to be indispensable in the brave new world of work – and if anything, they’re likely to become even more important than they already are as the tasks they’re performing grow in complexity.
With this in mind, employers need to ensure that their employees have access to the tools they need to do their job. They must also provide the requisite training and guidance to help close the skills gap and make the most effective use of those tools. Lifelong learning is rapidly becoming an everyday reality for workers, and as new technologies are continually introduced, they will need ongoing support – especially when working remotely.
Here are some guides which can help you make good use of new technologies like screen sharing tool, when working remotely:
Best CRM software for small businesses and startups
Customer relationship management (CRM) software has come to play a central role for a lot of businesses. It helps in a range of areas, including managing client relationships and streamlining the sales process. If you’re running your own startup or small business, this guide introduces you to CRM software and suggests a variety of tools you can use.
The Top 20+ SaaS Tools for SMBs
Software as a service (SaaS) has made it much easier for small and medium-sized businesses to access new technology, including vital collaboration tools. Through SaaS, smaller firms can leverage the cloud to cut costs, boost efficiency and spur strong growth. This guide lists 20 must-have SaaS tools for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Best Video Conferencing Hardware for Your Business
Video conferencing has been something of a lifeline for businesses. It’s allowed them to stay in touch with clients and colleagues alike. To make the most of video conferencing, you need to have the right hardware to hand. This article will introduce you to a variety of excellent devices.
The Ultimate List of Screen Sharing Apps and Software
Screen sharing has helped to facilitate close collaboration among colleagues working remotely. As a result, it has rapidly become an essential tool for private sector businesses and public sector organisations as well. This guide presents an extensive list of screen sharing apps and software tools.
What is a Webinar (and How To Do It Right)
Since the shift to remote working, webinars have also grown in popularity. These online seminars have become increasingly central to marketing efforts, as well as being a good way of sharing knowledge and expertise. But running a webinar is different to running an in-person seminar. This article shows you how you can nail it.
How To Lead Whiteboard Sessions (and Best Practices)
Whiteboard sessions are another effective way of facilitating creativity and encouraging effective collaboration among teammates working from home. In this guide, you’ll find a diverse range of practical tips and insights to help you make your whiteboard sessions more stimulating and effective.
Prepare for AI’s Imminent Impact
How will AI change the future of work
As we’ve discussed, those businesses which take a proactive (rather than reactive) approach to adopt new technologies will be in a much better position to adapt and change. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already making major inroads, changing how various types of businesses and organisations run their affairs.
It should be clear, then, that there’s no time to waste. Businesses must appreciate that AI and its problem-solving capacities make their presence felt in the here and now; the days when AI was a distant, futuristic prospect are themselves a thing of the past. Here are some relevant resources that can help your business make the transition:
Future of Work: The Impact of AI on the Future Workplace
For an informed and detailed introduction to the likely impacts of AI on the workplace of the future, this guide is a very good place to start. It provides a concise overview of what AI is, and explains how it can affect business performance.
The Rise Of Chatbots: How AI Is Changing Customer Service
You’re probably already familiar with chatbots - they’re the virtual assistants that often pop up in the corner of your screen when you visit some websites. They’ve become an important tool, helping consumers find what they’re looking for with the minimum of hassle. This guide looks at how AI-powered chatbots are changing customer service.
AI, Automation and Digital Self-Service in the Contact Centre
Since the pandemic, contact centres have found themselves handling a significantly increased volume of queries. Automation is helping them to cope with this demand without compromising on the quality of customer service, and this article goes into detail about how these technologies are helping.
Let AI Lead the Way: Reshaping CX to Improve Customer Retention
In the ultra-competitive world of modern business, hanging on to customers is harder than ever. This is why so many firms are placing increased emphasis on the customer experience (CX). This article shows how AI is helping firms to improve their CX offering, fostering stronger customer loyalties in the process.
Conversational AI: Customer Engagement in the Age of Messaging
In recent years, AI has advanced to the point where it can undertake increasingly convincing, naturalistic conversations with real people. This article provides an overview of conversational AI and shows how it’s being used to enhance customer service.
Technologies That Are Transforming Retail: Why All Retailers Must Become Early Adopters
As we’ve discussed, early adopters are best placed to reap the benefits of new technologies. Many leading retailers are doing exactly this. In this guide, you can learn more about how technology is transforming the retail sector, and why retail firms must be prepared to move quickly and take advantage.
Preparing Your Employees for the Future of Work
Preparing for the future of work doesn’t just involve getting your business prepared as an organisation – it also means getting your employees prepared. When adopting new technologies, it’s important to make sure everyone knows what they’re doing. Happy and productive employees are the foundation of business success.
Here are some useful resources that can help you and your employees get ready for the changes that are coming their way:
How to Choose the Best Laptop for Your Home Office
When you’re working from home, you need to ensure that your laptop is up to the job. An unreliable laptop could cause endless hassle. This guide gives you a better idea of what to look out for when buying a suitable laptop for your home office.
Remote Collaboration and Why it Matters
Remote working has been a lifesaver for many businesses, but it’s come with its fair share of challenges too. Maintaining close collaboration while working remotely has been particularly tricky. In this article, you can learn more about why remote collaboration matters and how to ensure it functions as effectively as possible.
DevOps and Cloud Computing: Improving Productivity with Cloud DevOps
We’ve noted the revolutionary impact of cloud computing, and cloud DevOps has been particularly transformative for software development teams. You can learn more about it in this article.
BYOD: Defined, Explained, and Explored
Bring your own device (BYOD) is becoming increasingly commonplace at work, rising in tandem with related trends such as hotdesking. This guide provides a concise definition and explores some of the issues BYOD raises for both employers and employees.
Let’s Talk: The Pros and Cons of Online and Offline Communication
Digital communications have dramatically changed how we work and collaborate. This article assesses the respective upsides and downsides of online and offline forms of workplace communication.
Ultimate Guide to Broadband for Your Home Office
Having a reliable, high-speed broadband connection is vital when working from home. This guide takes an in-depth look at different types of broadband connections and answers some frequently asked questions.
Future of Work Tools
What do you need in your future of work toolkit?
It’s one thing to acknowledge that having the right tools is essential in the changing world of work. It’s another thing, however, to know which tools are going to prove most useful. So just what should your ‘future of work’ toolkit include? The following tools from RingCentral are among those likely to prove indispensable to many businesses over the coming years.
RingCentral’s desktop app makes close collaboration easier than ever. It brings team messaging, video conferencing and business phone calls together in one place - making it a one-stop business communications solution.
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Whether it’s a quick catch-up with colleagues or reaching out to clients, video meetings have become an integral part of the way we work. RingCentral’s video conferencing tool provides HD video and audio.
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RingCentral’s cloud-based phone solution offers sharp HD audio, the ability to check voicemails at a glance and call management through an easy-to-use admin portal. You can even keep your current number!
Learn moreGet reliable video conferencing for your remote teams
Video conferencing keeps teams connected and productive from anywhere
More Helpful Tools for Future of Work
- Team messaging: Wherever you’re working from, it’s important to stay in close contact with our colleagues. RingCentral’s team messaging tool makes this easy.
- Customer engagement: With contact centres handling increased volumes of queries, a good customer engagement tool is crucial. RingCentral helps agents to maximise their productivity without compromising on customer service standards.
- Contact centre solutions: With RingCentral, contact centres can connect customers to the right agents so that their problems are resolved sooner. It also allows them to optimise agent schedules to reduce downtime and provides real-time reports, agent monitoring and detailed customer services.
- Digital customer service: Thanks to RingCentral, it’s easier to provide customers with support on any digital channel – email, live chat, Twitter, Facebook – and to manage all your responses from one place.
- Small business solutions: RingCentral’s small business phone system allows smaller firms to bring their work communications together, potentially making significant cost savings by doing so.
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