Smarter remote meetings for productivity
For the penultimate session in our #GoSmarter webinar series, Data
Science Apprentice Mia Hatton takes us through various tools for hosting
online meetings, lessons and the like, which has become so much more
relevant during the times of the pandemic. Our very own Productive
Meetings tool is one of six automation tools that we are making
available to SMEs through our GoSmarter project to support them through
COVID-19.
What is automation for meetings?
You might be wondering where automation fits into meetings. If it's
automated, do you still have to attend? As usual, when we talk about
automation for business, we're not talking about taking all the work
away from people. We're talking about filtering the boring and
repetitive tasks that a computer can do instead, giving us more time for
the stuff that requires deeper thought. Automated meetings just mean
that we can use the time in meeting to get more done. So, yes, you still
have to go!
As well as automation, we can incorporate AI into meetings. In this
case, we're talking about natural language processing (NLP) that allows
the tool to process what is being said and turn it into text, which can
be used as captions to increase accessibility and later as a searchable
record of the meeting.
The age of remote meetings
The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge effect on businesses by
dispersing teams and changing the way they operate, in many cases,
permanently. No doubt you have made use of some form of online meeting
tool during lockdown, whether it's been for work, a quiz with friends
or an exercise class. This is the same for many businesses across the UK
trying to stay connected to teams and clients, and the following stats
drive that point home.
- 56% of UK businesses are now working remotely
- 73% view video as a crucial part of collaboration
- Microsoft teams had 32 million active daily users in March and 75
million in April
- The global video conferencing market was worth $3.85 billion in
2019 and expected to jump to 50 billion in 2026
For Mia's comparison of some of the top online meeting tools, click
through the slides or play back the webinar below. She goes on to
highlights why the GoSmarter Productive Meetings tool, which is based on
Microsoft Teams, is such a good choice for small businesses. All of our
tools are designed to help SMEs thrive in the age of COIVD-19 and we've
tried to make them as simple as possible to easily integrate into their
existing processes. Some of the benefits of the Productive Meetings tool
include:
- Microsoft level security including multi-factor authentication
- Affordable from just £5/user per month or free if you already use
Microsoft 365
- Access to many other collaboration tools with the subscription
- Meeting backups with searchable transcriptions to find a point in
the video
- Boosts accessibility for the whole team, allowing more people to get
involved
Check out the full webinar video to see the demo of the tool.
Get the slides
Full webinar video