Businesses across the globe have had to pivot with the changing times over the past year and a half. Subsequently, we’ve learned a lot about ourselves and our ability to adapt.
Those reticent towards home working adjusted, and even remote working veterans learned about the technologies that could seriously support their team in the years to come. As we navigate the final throes of the global crisis, 84% of businesses are putting plans in place to adopt a hybrid or flexible working model.
One key learning for organisations has been that the need for genuine human connection isn’t going anywhere. As we increasingly take to hybrid or remote working, staying connected is crucial for the productivity and success of every team.
That means providing workers with the right tools. Tools with capabilities that support the workplace experience, such as the recently launched Rainbow Office, are paramount right now. With that in mind, we’re excited to announce a whole host of new features for Rainbow Office.
Breakout Rooms
Give hosts what they need to set separate small group discussions all within the same video meeting. That means meeting, conference or virtual classroom participants can split into a breakout room to discuss the logistics of a project, conduct a quick brainstorm, or work on a file before rejoining the main meeting to discuss their findings or present their work.
New phones
For users who enjoy having a deskphone, they will now benefit from a wider choice of Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) IP desk phones available for sale, namely the Myriad series M3, M5, and M7. The list of compatible phones available with assisted provisioning includes the ALE 8078s phone, Poly CCX series desk phones and Yealink T5x Series desk phones.
Rooms
This new feature extends the power of video to conference rooms and meeting spaces that have dedicated video conferencing equipment. Getting started is simple. IT admins can use the admin portal to integrate multiple meeting rooms at once with a company’s preferred calendar system. They can also wirelessly pair their controller device (a tablet) with the room. Employees can seamlessly sign into meetings in rooms, taking full benefit of all the security settings they enjoy on their Rainbow Office app.
Data protection
The platform Rainbow Office was built on is compliant with relevant government regulations such as the government-backed German verification framework (known as C5), a key security certification valid for all European cloud providers. This level of compliance ensures business data and customer information is better protected under one of Europe’s strictest data protection standards. To learn a little more about why the C5 security attestation matters, take a look at our recent blog.
Team Huddle
This collaborative feature replicates an office environment’s impromptu, water-cooler style interactions within your virtual workspace. The huddle allows colleagues to get together for meetings that are not scheduled to allow for more spontaneous chats and creative troubleshooting. Huddlers can open a team huddle within the app, define a topic, notify their team, and team members can join or decline if it isn’t relevant to them.
User experience
To ensure we keep up with ever-evolving user demands, we’ve also added several features to enhance the overall user experience of the platform. These include the following:
- Video backgrounds
- Capability to automatically activate ‘do not disturb’ during video meetings
- Central processing unit (CPU) optimisation during screen share
- Full localisation of the Rainbow Office video interface
- Attach files from One Drive and Sharepoint
- Work hour definition directly from the app user settings
The rise of permanent hybrid work means we’re unlikely to return to the era of fully in-person meetings. But video meetings (along with team messaging and phone) have the potential to support teamwork, wherever your colleagues are.
This all starts by breaking down the barriers to meet. Available with the desktop, mobile and web apps, why don’t you try out these features in your next video meeting?
For more details on how to optimise your productivity as part of a hybrid workforce, check out Rainbow Office powered by RingCentral.
Originally published Nov 08, 2021
