The Next Generation of Office Communication Tech

Covid-19 will change the office environment. But it’s not a choice between co-location and virtual. New technologies allow a mixed-reality environment. For instance, mixed-reality programs such as Sneek and Pukkateam show remotely working colleagues in tiles with periodically updated snapshots, so employees can know who is at their desk, on a call, or drinking a coffee and perhaps up for a chat. With a mouse click, teammates can instantly turn a snapshot into a live video call. Online platforms will allow companies to perform much larger focus groups with remote employees to check in on how they are managing. And virtual collaboration tools such as online sticky notes, shared digital whiteboards and live co-editing of wikis, slides and documents will continue to bring people together. Like the grainy Skype calls of 2010 that pre-dated today’s Zoom boom, mixed reality technologies becoming popular today will likely be far surpassed in the near future. Ten years from now, we will look at the current crop of virtual office, focus group and collaboration tools with the same disdain we now have for crackly phone calls.