The future of collaboration technologies

With more and more users adopting collaboration technologies to support remote and hybrid work collaborations, it only makes sense that there will be an increasing amount of technology development in this space. Indeed, Gartner has predicted that the social and collaboration technology market will grow to an estimated $6.9 billion by 2024. So, what might the future of collaboration technologies look like? 

Cisco has consistently been a leader in the area of collaboration technologies. In fact, the collaboration platform WebEx was founded in 1995. Last month, Cisco hosted an online panel on LinkedIn Live led by Carrie Palin, Cisco’s Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer with other panel members including Kelly Jones, Senior Vice President, People and Communities; and Jeetu Patel, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Security and Collaboration. The goal of the panel was to discuss the future of technology to support remote or hybrid work. 

During the panel, the panel members noted that the next five years will be critical as people continue to increase their reliance on collaboration technologies. Some of the key areas of technology development they are working on include: 

Digital whiteboards: Whiteboards for drawing and planning, that are in the same physical space as some team members, will be visible and updated virtually for geographically dispersed team members to see online. 

Equal real estate: Everyone working together (virtually or colocated) will have equal real estate online. A people focus camera will determine the number of people in the physical room, and it will make space (a video box space) for everyone present in a meeting.

Audio: Advances in collaboration technology audio will allow for noise removal to remove any background noise and magnify a person’s speech. Audio advancements will also allow for users to focus only on the person who is closest to the microphone (e.g., side conversations will not pick up). Audio advancements will also allow for group conversation voices to be equalized. 

Holographic images, 3D, and augmented reality: Image advancements using holographics, 3D images, and augmented reality will change the future. For example, groups will be able to get together and use imaging to manipulate a 3D model of a car.  In fact, some Cisco customers are already doing this today. 
Overall, the Cisco panelists noted that the next decade will be the most innovative decade ever for collaboration technologies suggesting that geographic distance will no longer feel like a limitation for work and play. To hear more from the panel, log into LinkedIn to watch the full video.