Fresh off the press. Read the reflections of Gustaaf Jansen, Benelux Country Manager, on the future of work in today´s printed version of Analyse (distributed in Het Financieele Dagblad), digitally on Analyse Netherlands or the translated English version below.
Netherlands - September 16, 2020
The corona crisis proved to be a significant driver for an accelerated acceptance of video communication in business. "Until recently, video wasn't even a part of the common communication strategy, but this has changed completely. Now, video communication is a crucial part of everyday collaboration and, more importantly, business continuity during the pandemic."
These are the words of Gustaaf Jansen, regional sales director BeNeLux at Pexip. "However, there are a few challenges to overcome. For example, every company has its particular preferences regarding the type of video software or platforms they use. These platforms all 'communicate' in their own language, and if you want to work together or collaborate with external parties, these tools need to be connected. Pexip is the 'translating' party that connects all these different systems to ensure that everyone can communicate, using the platform they prefer, regardless of technology or device."
It is expected that even when the corona crisis passes, video communication will still play an important role in business. However, this does not mean it will replace all in-person meetings. Jansen: "With these tools, it gets easier to come together with your team quickly, it only takes one click. Most people are still not used to communicate informally via digital platforms. Consequently, some might feel distant from their team, lonely or even depressed. But what we've seen recently is companies actively using video to built company culture, as social distancing is required to keep staff safe. They arrange social huddles and define best practices that help employees meet face-to-face using video frequently and casually, such as dialling your co-worker on video when you have a question, where you would normally walk over to their desk. Some meetings will likely continue to occur in-person, such as sales kick-offs and corporate anniversaries. Still, I truly believe that most in-person business meetings will be replaced with high-quality video calls."
Evidence shows that the modern employee prefers to have freedom of choice when it comes to home-working. A Gartner study shows that 64% of today's professionals say they could work anywhere. Furthermore, remote work policies are common and in place at 71% of organizations. As an employer, enabling remote work can give businesses a competitive advantage, with the opportunity to attract the best talents, regardless of their location. Employees also note that they work more efficiently when they work from home. They can easily participate in meetings with colleagues, customers, and partners from different countries, without the interruptions and the noise of an open-plan office.
Furthermore, it is also easier to set up appointments because more and more users are knowledgeable about video conferencing, and organizations invest in seamless video collaboration tools. "For example, when you are at the office, you can join a video meeting such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Cisco Webex, from a conference room, simply with the touch of a button. The hurdles concerning communication are decreasing. In the past, if you wanted to make an in-person appointment, weeks or even months could go by before you could meet. Nowadays, with video communication, a meeting can be set up within a day, questions can be answered efficiently, and decisions can be made more quickly."
Video conferencing makes certain aspects of work a lot less complex and contributes to a more sustainable future. "By allowing hybrid work models, there is less travel, saving both time and CO2-emissions. It can also positively influence the employee's work-life balance, as they save time on commuting and business travel. Instead of spending hours in rush hour traffic, they can use that time to have breakfast with their children or exercise before or after work."
The big concern growing from increased remote work is ensuring data security and privacy. "Pexip has specialized in large companies with complex IT environments, such as financial, governmental, and public sector organizations. These are all organizations for which security, privacy, and high quality are of the utmost importance. Our company is young, but founded by people with decades of experience in the industry. Data security and privacy are part of the company's core values, using industry-standard encryption and security protocols to maintain privacy and security. Uniquely, Pexip offers flexible deployment options, allowing customers to either build and design their own platform, keeping their data completely private in their own data centers, or run Pexip as-a-Service. If they use our service, they can run Pexip in the cloud of their choice, including private and public clouds. We have a dedicated team of security experts that ensures that we are, and remain, GDPR-compliant and uphold the industry-standard encryption and security protocols to maintain privacy and security."
"Ultimately, we want to ensure that people feel seen and hear, and can work together, face to face, in a more efficient manner", Jansen states. "Video conferencing solutions without delays, that are of high quality ensure that people can meet with ease and comfort. We want them to be safe and assured that their meetings are private, and offer them the possibility to work more freely, whenever and wherever they want. Video meetings can be just as good as traditional ones. Or maybe even better!"
Pexip simplifies complex video conferencing to empower teams to meet, regardless of location or technology. Our scalable, cloud-native platform enables high-quality video meetings, interoperability with Microsoft and Google solutions, and video system device registration. Customers can deploy Pexip on their own privately-hosted servers, in their own cloud subscription of choice (Azure, Google Cloud or AWS), as a hybrid, or as a service. With a diverse set of APIs, Pexip can be customized to fit customers’ unique needs. The solution is sold through 300 channel partners in 75 countries and used in more than 190 countries.