Planning, scheduling, and attending meetings is integral to the smooth functioning of many different types of businesses. What transpires during these meetings can make a significant impact on a business’ success. Every day, millions of meetings are held in various workplaces throughout the United States, and some are obviously more effective than others.
Data on Business Meetings
On a daily basis, there are an average of 11 million meetings being held. While these meetings may last a few minutes, an hour, an entire day, or for several days, employees attend an average of 62 of these per month. When taking this into consideration, the National Statistics Council reported that 37% of employees’ time is spent attending meetings.
Productivity and Efficiency Issues
Steven Rogelberg of the University of North Carolina conducted a study with senior managers from various organizations. The results showed that 71% of these managers claimed their meetings were both unproductive and inefficient. One of the reasons why some meetings can be unproductive is that employees may not be paying close attention because they’re multitasking. Interaction Associates reported that a large percentage, or 70% of meeting attendees, claimed that they multitasked when they attended meetings.
Another reason for unproductive meetings could be video conferencing glitches. When video conferencing applications have issues, this can obviously result in lost productivity. If a team meeting is being held with ten people, for instance, even a six-minute delay can result in as much as an hour of lost productivity. In the event that these video conferencing glitches occur throughout the meeting, this can create even more delays and a greater loss of productivity.
Utilizing Effective Meeting Strategies
When given the opportunity, many employees would chose to work remotely. Even though some employers currently offer or even encourage working remotely, this is expected to increase over the next ten years. Employees in some fields may primarily be working remotely, according to Upwork’s 2018 Future Workforce Report, which revealed that 38% of hiring managers have predicted this will be the case with their companies.
Given these changes, both small and medium-sized businesses are going to experience an increased need for unified communications (UC) services, such as Cisco call manager tools. According to InformationWeek, improving employee collaboration is at the top of the list for utilizing these services. When surveyed, 62% of the businesses indicated that it was their top business driver.
Additional research has been conducted on the benefits of having a UC solution. Software Advice, for example, indicated that 76% of both small and medium-sized businesses were interested in purchasing these services. Whether these businesses conduct on-site and/or remote meetings, having UC solutions can be effective.
Learn More About Cisco Unified Communications Solutions
In order to hold successful meetings, clear objectives need to be outlined. Furthermore, when video conferencing platforms are out-of-date or tend to glitch, changing over to a Cisco provisioning manager can make a significant impact. Once you contact a representative to learn more about updating your system, he or she will be able to discuss all of the Cisco call manager tools in detail. When you discuss the benefits of Cisco call manager tools, you may also want to learn more about having a chatbot on your business’ website as well.
