With a market segment value projected to grow to $45 billion this year, workplace collaboration tools are booming. Video conferencing and enterprise chat applications are becoming ubiquitous in the modern office, and remote and distributed workforces will likely become even more plentiful. In fact, according to a Global Workplace Analytics study:
• Remote work has grown by 159% since 2005.
• About 80% to 90% of the U.S. workforce says they would like to telework at least part-time.
• Businesses would save an average of $11,000 per half-time telecommuter each year.
Given these numbers and trends, it’s clear that remote work and collaboration tools will only continue to expand at a staggering pace. At the same time, internet speeds are expected to improve, and broadband will spread to more people globally. 5G, the fifth generation of cellular networks, will revolutionize mobile high-speed connections. Workplace collaboration tools will be some of the chief beneficiaries of that revolution.
Powering Seamless Workforce Connectivity
The internet will dramatically change over the next decade, just as it has over the past decade that we're about to close the books on. According to Pew Research, the internet in 2025 will be less visible, but “information sharing over the internet will be effortlessly interwoven into daily life, making us smarter, safer and more efficient.”
And according to Brookings Institute, 5G’s augmented speeds (up to 20 times faster than 4G) will offer people more economic opportunity through improved access to healthcare, education and employment. Indeed, 5G has the potential to connect those without access to broadband -- particularly rural and underprivileged populations -- so they have the ability to tap into the growing remote workforce and reap its benefits. This will allow the overall workforce to continue becoming more diverse, qualified and hand-selected for appropriate roles over the next 10 years.
Collaboration tools will play a major role in keeping that increasingly remote, distributed workforce connected, communicative and productive as 5G reaches the furthest corners of the planet and bridges the digital divide.
Collaboration Mobility And Quality Gains
5G will also empower employees to work from their preferred mobile devices, bringing the mobile work experience up to par with the consumer mobile experience. Mobile connectivity with 4G is primarily confined to smartphones and tablets, but 5G will enable a wide variety of devices to connect over a mobile network. Julie Coppernoll, VP of global marketing at Intel, recently said nothing will be labeled as “mobile” under 5G because everything will be mobile. Workers will enjoy ultimate freedom and flexibility regarding how, when, where and on which devices to collaborate and produce, and workflows will be less rife with connectivity issues thanks to 5G’s faster speeds and reliability.
For example, over a 5G network, video conferencing will be crisper, quicker and easier to access, alleviating user frustration with Wi-Fi or network connectivity issues and fostering greater trust that the technology will work as it's meant to. In a study this year by Asurion, 4 out of 5 Americans reported feeling some level of frustration with dropped or poor Wi-Fi connections. Those sentiments were paralleled in a recent survey my company conducted, where respondents claimed the biggest detractors to video meetings were:
• Technical difficulties (48%)
• Poor audio quality/echo (46%)
• Overly difficult downloads/join process (41%)
• Poor video quality/clarity (40%)
In the 5G era, I suspect those numbers will fall drastically, and with fewer hitches and near-ubiquitous connectivity and performance across devices, people considering remote work as an option will be more inclined to incorporate collaboration like video conferencing into their mobile-first everyday work lives.
5G’s Impact On Collaboration Innovation
Inevitably, this new mobile generation will pave the way for greater innovation. AI and machine learning will soon play a more pivotal role in workplace collaboration. Real-time, highly accurate closed captioning and automated language translation could become a reality in video communication, and data will move between machines and teams at a much faster rate due to 5G’s lower latency. By delivering faster download and data transfer speeds, 5G will further push the bounds of remote work as augmented and virtual reality are accessible anywhere. The eventual combination of 5G plus AR and VR could help remote workers feel completely immersed in a team meeting or collaborative environment. These coming 5G-powered innovations will allow for even more people to enter and thrive in the remote workforce.
Organizations should start preparing by investing in collaboration tools that are mobile-friendly, accessible and easy to adopt, learn and use. Laying the groundwork toward integrating these tools now will ensure employees are adapting to them and ready to leverage their full potential when 5G becomes pervasive. Management should also consider outlining clear, detailed policies for remote work and distributed teams. Confirming that employees are familiar with the tools and expectations of the modern office and team dynamic is vital in setting them up for success and productivity.
It’s important to realize that 5G is only in its infancy, though. By 2025, just 15% of the world’s mobile connections are expected to be 5G, according to mobile industry collective GSMA. But with remote work already surging on 4G networks, and with broadband still not reaching millions around the globe, there’s no question in my mind: The future of workplace collaboration is firmly rooted in 5G.
