Johannesburg, 22 Mar 2022
Hybrid work is here to stay, making enterprise-grade video conferencing tools and important investment for organisations looking to enable employees and support productivity.
This is according to Logitech and Zoom video collaboration specialists, who were addressing a webinar on the evolution of the hybrid workspace last week.
Charis Nicholas, head of high touch end user video collaboration: South and Southern Africa at Logitech, said the pandemic had catalysed the mass move to remote and hybrid work, but that there was every indication that hybrid work models would remain. With this change, there was a growing focus on the tools to enable hybrid workforces, such as video collaboration platforms and enterprise-grade devices.
She said: “Post-pandemic, the number of remote workers is expected to be 6 to 7 times higher than it was before the pandemic.” However, only around 36% of employees working from home had a dedicated office space during the pandemic, and these remote and hybrid workers needed to be properly equipped going forward, she said.
“The South African video conferencing market is still in the initial growth stage of its industry life cycle,” she said. “Video conferencing has exploded, and large organisations are spending millions of dollars annually on video conferencing licences and services. Software type video conferencing has witnessed a substantial increase in revenue in recent years, and this trend is continuing – particularly in corporates, healthcare, government and education. Growth is also continuing in managed platforms, managed and professional services.”
Nicholas said: “As a result of the work-from-home trend, people now travel lighter, dress more comfortably, and we have also seen an acceleration of two long-standing trends in IT: the consumerisation of IT and decentralised IT spending – or funding for tech purchases.”
In the rush to work from home at the start of the pandemic, workers tended to buy consumer-grade devices or rely on built-in mics and webcams to support their remote work, she said.
A poll of webinar participants on what webcam they use for video meetings revealed that 82% rely on their integrated laptop camera, 12% use an external webcam and 6% use audio only.
Said Nicholas: “Consumer devices don’t always work for work: they weren’t vetted for security and aren’t manageable by IT, they may not be certified or optimised for business software, and they could lack features for professional quality audio and video to help users look and sound their best. Hybrid workers need easy to use, enterprise-grade collaboration tools to move between home and office,” she said.
She noted that one size does not fit all; the buying decision is a fine balance between the needs of workers and IT security and compliance requirements.
Regan Alexander, senior account manager – Channel, Video Collaboration South and Southern Africa at Logitech, said enterprise grade headsets and webcams are easy for employees to set up and use, and easy for IT to deploy and manage. “Standardising on webcams and headsets makes IT’s job easier, and addressing concerns around video and audio quality,” he said.
Alexander said the needs of the enterprise and the wishes of employees could be addressed through curated IT. “Curated IT allows for freedom of choice within a limited set of enterprise-grade options. IT can vet options for security, quality and integration, and then offer employees choices based on their work and preferences,” he said.
In addition to the video conferencing devices used, the quality of the platform is also crucial, they said.
Permesh Naidoo, head of Zoom for Sub-Saharan Africa, said: “Zoom started from a meeting platform, then saw the need for webinars, and last year started events. Our portfolio isn’t just a killer app anymore, it’s now a killer platform. We partner with Logitech to take the Zoom experience to the next level.”
“We are more than a UC platform – Zoom has meetings, chat, audio, phone, webinars and events, Zoom Rooms, Zoom apps and OnZoom, which integrates into other applications and systems for contact centres, CRM tools and a range of business tools,” he said.
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