Communicating in real-time at work: The promise and the perils
Real-time communications (RTC), such as instant messaging, video calling, tele/video conferencing and internet relay chat, have become central to how people communicate and work inside organizations. During the COVID-19 crisis, these tools have assumed even more importance.
DWG’s new research report Communicating in real-time at work: The promise and the perils explores the ways organizations and teams use these tools under four main headings:
- Too much choice
- Adoption in organizations
- Governance and etiquette
- Organizational expectations and employee wellbeing.
The report looks at the current state of such tools, taking a snapshot of those used by a range of DWG member organizations, and considers the benefits and challenges of how they are used. It then presents practical approaches and tactics for how to optimize their implementation, adoption and use by employees, drawing on case studies to illustrate and bring out good practice and guidance on etiquette.
Without strategy or governance, however, these channels can risk confusion among team members around which option to use, and potentially cause dilution of messages, inefficiency in searching for information and data security breaches. The report outlines how these pitfalls can be avoided as well as how the implementation of RTC tools can be built on a firm foundation that supports both user and business goals.
Also considered is the role these tools play in the “always on” approach to work, where digital tools can prevent users from really “leaving the office” at the end of the day, with work chat and messaging pervasive and persistent, and increasingly encroaching into the home. Some strategies that organizations have used to protect their employees, as well as to promote downtime and wellbeing, are outlined in the report.
Featuring a number of examples from organizations, along with an in-depth case study from Diabetes UK, which focuses on how the charity used real-time communication and collaboration to help retain its high-quality team, this report will aid you in establishing useful, secure and robust RTC tools as part of your digital workplace.
As a non-member, you can download a free report excerpt of Communicating in real-time at work: The promise and the perils.
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Categorised in: Collaboration, Digital workplace, Future of work, Internal communications, Mobile sites & apps, Research reports, Strategy & governance
