We’ve all been there. At some point in our professional lives, every single one of us has wasted an entire day travelling to a meeting that could have been done in just half an hour. For every business, this level of wasted time is often frustrating, expensive and downright damaging to productivity.
However, effective communication is the cornerstone of any successful business, and the need for regular face-to-face interaction has often been completely unavoidable. Fortunately, advances in workplace technology look to change all that, and screen sharing in particular is revolutionizing the way businesses communicate.
Of course, a quick snort of derision here would be completely understandable. You’re likely having flashbacks to the older screen sharing applications—which, at best, typically provided a flimsy connection and took an entire technical support department to actually set up.
But things are different now. Businesses are now using the likes of WebEx Meetings to improve efficiency, flexibility and collaboration in the workplace. In fact, screen sharing provides all kinds of fantastic benefits, regardless of what your company does.
Boost Productivity in Meetings
Not only can traditional meetings involve a frustrating amount of travelling, in most cases they’re actually found to be inefficient, unproductive and essentially an enormous waste of everyone’s time.
This is particularly true of larger meetings, where there are just too many voices and opinions involved for the team to make any final decisions. If you don’t believe us, then a recent European survey found that the average UK worker wastes at least 13 days a year in unproductive meetings, while people shouting over each other was cited as the main annoyance.
So, businesses are now holding online meetings via video conferencing solutions, with screen sharing features allowing hosts to make certain participants are all on the same page. Instead of asking attendees to download large files and hoping that they’re able to follow along, you can now control the presentation from your own computer and ensure the entire meeting is much more focused.
When you’re able to maintain such high levels of control, meetings are bound to become significantly more efficient, helping teams to achieve faster results and shortening the length of the session.
Offer Efficient Technical Support
Although your business might not specialize in offering technical support to clients, a significant number of organizations will employ their own internal IT department. After all, we all need someone to help us deal with the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.
Instead of wasting time attempting to describe the problem over the phone, employees can simply screen share with the technicians and allow them to view the issue first-hand. From there, the user can be guided to a solution and get back to work as soon as possible—unless the computer simply won’t start, in which case setting up a video call obviously wouldn’t be possible.
However, it’s important to note that not all screen sharing applications necessarily allow technicians to take control of another user’s machine, since this is only possible with solutions that offer Remote Desktop features.
Improve Your Sales Pitches
They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and this is never truer than when you’re trying to sell something. You can describe the features and benefits of a product all you like, but the fact of the matter is a customer simply won’t be interested if they can’t physically see what you’re talking about.
Whether you’re trying to sell a new kind of vacuum cleaner or a suite of digital marketing services, screen sharing allows you to seamlessly show customers exactly what you’re talking about. Instead of relying on an old-fashioned sales pitch and sending a product brochure after the call has ended, sellers can keep driving negotiations forward and provide greater levels of clarity.
Ultimately, screen sharing helps sales departments develop a sense of trust and connection with the customer, and allows them to close any deals before the buyer goes cold.
Encourage Remote Working
Make no mistake, remote working is absolutely huge right now. More than four million people currently work from home in the UK, while a report from OddsMonkey claims that half the UK workforce will be working remotely by 2020. When working environments are evolving so dramatically, businesses have no choice but to find ways to adapt.
Video conferencing and virtual workspaces are playing a big role in keeping remote teams connected, with regular online meetings becoming an increasingly popular method of inspiring workplace collaboration. Screen sharing is a pivotal feature of these platforms, helping remote team members to brainstorm ideas, exchange feedback and remain focused on the task in-hand.
By showing other team members exactly what you’re talking about (instead of having to go through the frustration of describing it), you can avoid the risk of miscommunication and needless mistakes, ensuring everyone’s on the same page and the project is being pushed in the right direction.
Enhancing communication between remote workers and significantly boosting their productivity, screen sharing has become an essential feature for any modern business in 2019.
