The COVID-19 pandemic forced (or perhaps merely accelerated the inevitable) seismic shift towards remote working. It showed how unsustainable – and in many cases entirely unnecessary – it was to write off large portions of each working day to commuting. It is little wonder, then, that as life begins to return to “normal” many of us find ourselves questioning the financial, environmental, and psychological costs of traditional work environments, and gravitate towards new setups which are either hybrid or entirely virtual.

Yet remote working has a prominent “Achilles Heel,” in that most videoconferencing tools and solutions fall well short of the engagement, clarity, and security necessary to create meaningful connections and maximize productivity and creative interactions.

As post-pandemic life returns to something like normality many of us find ourselves questioning the financial, environmental, and psychological costs of traditional work environments
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There are some who yearn to go back to the office due to that lack of a human connection, and business owners and leaders are looking for a middle ground to bridge the two and create a hybrid work environment that fulfills everyone’s needs and lead to better productivity.

Raviv Nadav – Kino by Kinetx Co Founder & Chief Solutions Architect

That is the problem that drives Raviv Nadav, Founder and CEO of Kinetx’ Kino, a platform that he believes could become the solution that bridges the gaps between hybrid work and a remote virtual work environment.

We're gravitating towards new setups that are either hybrid or entirely virtual
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According to him, the Kino video space platform is capable of supporting human connection by creating virtual conversations that feel much more personal.

“Human interaction is organic and personal. Video communication should be too,” says Nadav, pointing to the video below as an example of how his platform enables those personal connections to happen in a natural way, much as they would in real life.

“Social interaction is predominately filled with many conversations happening at once,” he explains. “It’s not some rigid experience where only one person is permitted to speak at any given time. Instead, when a person walks into a crowded room, there is a hum from all the conversation. They can choose to join a group, say ‘hello,’ focusing their attention. As time goes on, they can leave and focus on other individuals or conversations.”

Kino replicates that fluid environment where participants can communicate and shape their virtual experience as they see fit. The tool’s streaming technology allows for a more natural human experience. While others offer a “telephone conference with video” model, Kino is a video space where distance is perceived by manipulating the audio and video of participants that are in the background.

“We developed a focus feature in which the user gets to choose who they like to focus on. Others’ (unfocused participants) video gets smaller and to the side and at 5% audio level. The experience of having focused conversation with other users in the background gives a sense of an in-person gathering where people can roam around and talk to each other freely, just through video,” he says.

So rather than sending a text message to someone and waiting for a response, one can just hop into their colleague’s space and start a conversation with a full face-to-face experience.

“Remote work like we have today is very disengaging as the only face to face option because video conferencing services are glitchy and awkward. There’s no personal feel of talking to someone and really connecting. Chats and casual calls just don’t cut it. As an employer, I love being in touch with my team, seeing their faces and having those laughing moments at work where we just hang and chat. Well, we at Kinetx Co, do it remotely through our Kino platform where we can engage in one-on-one conversation but still have the ambience of an office. We work remote – but never alone.”

And that is the utopian picture that he paints of the techology’s potential to bring people together, rather than keeping them apart.

“Since the 1960’s we have had the trend of the Global Village, where all parts of the world got interconnected and, in a sense, unified. I think our economy and society is getting there,” he says referring the fact that his own team is dispersed all over the world but routinely shares the same virtual office space on Kino. “We should remember technology is an “add-on” to our lives but it should never replace the small joys in life like meeting one another in person,” he says, adding that we’ve never before been able to connect the way we are able to today.

There are some who yearn to go back to the office due to that lack of a human connection
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“As technology evolves, and we with it, new opportunities arise, and tools for real-time communication like Kino can push the global market to the next stage of international hiring and collaborating, thus distributing wealth and perhaps expediting human evolution to the next step. Working as one has always brought great achievements in the past. This is no different. We’re simply Better Together.”

Human interaction is organic and personal. Video communication should be too
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Alice Bonasio is a technology journalist, communications consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Conversations vs Chaos: Creating Meaningful Virtual Connections appeared first on Tech Trends.

“Even in times of global pandemic, no one has to be alone. COVID-19 has forced us apart, but technology makes it possible for us to work, learn, and interact with one another, while remaining physically distant.”

From technical terms to hardware and the right platforms to meet your specific needs, the guide should serve as a primer for newbies and a refresher for jaded pros
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That was the motivation that brought together a group of XR industry professionals and influencers (myself included) to collate and share the resources needed to help more people take advantage of XR collaboration tools, right when they are needed the most.

The guide will continue to be a collaborative effort, so make sure to sign up for updates and send your feedback via @XRCollaboration
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The “Global Resource Guide to XR Collaboration” is a comprehensive guide to using Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) collaboration platforms for business and education.

“XR Collaboration tools are emerging as viable alternatives — not to replace current video conferencing, but to augment through spatial understanding. By sharing fully-immersive spaces with others, we begin to bridge the physical gap opening up a whole new world of communication possibilities.”

Produced by the XR Ignite and assembled by coalition members from technology companies and associations – including AREA, AWE, Deutsche Telekom, Cleanbox, MetaVRse, Qualcomm Technologies, VR/AR Association and XR Bootcamp – the guide and website are meant to become a one-stop-shop for all your XR collaboration questions and needs.

XR Collaboration tools are emerging as viable alternatives — not to replace current video conferencing, but to augment through spatial understanding
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From technical terms to hardware and the right platforms to meet your specific needs, the guide should serve as a primer for newbies and a refresher for jaded pros. But just as much as this is about collaboration, the guide itself was (and will continue to be) very much a collaborative effort, so make sure to sign up for updates and send your feedback via @XRCollaboration

And to end on a specially positive note as we head into a very strange Easter weekend…

“We are all in this together, and we will continue to thrive, no matter what the future holds. Stay safe and productive, and remember: it is the personal connections we make each day that make us human. So let’s put this technology to use to bring us together like never before.”

You can download the guide for free and access the latest updated resources at xrcollaboration.com

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a XR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Collaborating in XR appeared first on Tech Trends.

For much of the last century, our working lives have been dominated by the 9-to-5 grind. Recent research has broken this down in numbers – highlighting how much time we spend in the office, commuting or waiting for the kettle to boil.

While the research data is more than a little depressing in terms of what it means for our work-life balance, the advent of new technology is evolving the way we approach work, so those numbers look set to be transformed.

Allowing for holidays, the average office worker will spend 82,068 hours at work over their lifetime
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Time in the Office

A huge amount of your life is likely to be spent in the workplace. Allowing for holidays, the average office worker will spend 82,068 hours at work over their lifetime, which amounts to 3,420 days or 9.4 years based on a working week of 35 hours. Yet new tech developments will see the time you actually spend in the workplace drop over the next few years, with remote working and working from home becoming more commonplace.

New tech developments will see the time you actually spend in the workplace drop over the next few years, with remote working and working from home becoming more commonplace
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The major barrier to remote working has historically been the struggle to maintain communication between staff if they are working at separate locations. New communications technology has largely overcome this challenge, with email, conference calling, video conferencing and instant messaging all allowing employees to stay connected even when they are miles apart.

Even after the rise of e-communications, there were still problems with regularly working from home. Sharing and accessing any files needed to finish work was difficult to accomplish securely from a remote location. Portable equipment, such as tablets and laptops, combined with file sharing applications like Google Drive, iCloud and Dropbox have enabled even small businesses to empower their employees to work remotely.

The major barrier to remote working has been the struggle to maintain communication between staff working at separate locations
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For large or more established businesses, a virtual private network (VPN) further improves the ability of employees to work from home. A VPN allows authorised users to access a company’s network from an approved machine. It means that workers are able to work on up-to-date documents and immediately share them with colleagues.

The result of these developments will see a severe reduction in the number of hours spent in the office for a lot of workers. Some studies predict as much as 75% of work across the US will be carried out remotely by 2020. Figures are similar for the UK, with research showing that if flexi- and remote working options continue to grow at their current rate, over 50% of the country’s work force will be working remotely by 2020. You can find more information about ways to defend your sleep as a freelancer in this handy remote working guide from sleepadvisor.org.

Portable equipment, such as tablets and laptops, combined with file sharing applications like Google Drive, iCloud and Dropbox have enabled even small businesses to empower their employees to work remotely
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The Future of Commuting

No longer having to journey daily to and from the office will significantly reduce the hours spent commuting. Currently, the average UK worker will travel 216,932 miles commuting over the course of their life – a distance which would get you 91% of the way to the moon.

As much as 75% of work in the US will be carried out remotely by 2020
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In addition to this mileage being sliced, with working from home doing away with much commuting time, new developments in transport will also transform our journeys to and from work.

With the advent of driverless cars, the commute can be transformed from time spent frustrated at the wheel to additional opportunity for working remotely. Being able to work on the commute, using a laptop, a 4G dongle and your company’s VPN, will lessen the time spent away from home every day, as you can get started on the day’s work whilst travelling.

Currently, the average UK worker will travel 216,932 miles commuting over the course of their life
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Although driverless cars are still a long way from being the norm, they are now in the advanced stages of testing, and have been out on the roads in both the UK and USA. They may become commonplace in time to make an impact on your working life.

The Cost of Commuting

Not only will the time and length of commuting be cut by new technology, it is also likely to have an impact on the cost of your journey to work. Currently driving a car to and from work throughout your working life costs £19,444 in fuel. With sales of diesel and petrol vehicles set to banned by 2040, this cost is going to change.

Driving to and from work throughout your working life costs £19,444 in fuel
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Electric alternatives to petrol and diesel cars will see expenses for powering your car drop significantly. To charge an electric car to travel 115 miles will cost you £3.64. Over the course of your working life, where you will journey an average of 216,932 miles, this amounts to just £6,677 – a two thirds (66%) saving compared to petrol and diesel cars.

From this data we see that technology will bring more change to our working life, but these changes look like they will be for the better – giving people greater freedom to choose their working environment and cutting down on commuting time and costs.

If flexi and remote working options continue to grow at their current rate, over 50% of the UK's work force will be working remotely by 2020
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Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Infographic: A Lifetime of Work in Numbers appeared first on Tech Trends.

Since 1995 (back when Google was a mere glint in Larry and Sergey’s eyes) there’s been a fourfold increase in the number of Americans working remotely. And it’s no coincidence that this dramatic rise has happened in step with technological advances such as the widespread rollout of broadband, mobile, and the cloud. The infographic below shows how most managers (two thirds of those surveyed) agreed that remote employees were more productive, and the reason that makes sense comes down to empowerment.

Trusting your employees is the smartest thing you can do for your bottom line
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Although empowerment has become a bit of an overused buzzword, it’s very appropriate here because most of us like to feel we have some say in how we spend our time. So paradoxically, the more time and effort you spend in controlling your employees’ every move (the out-dated “punch card” system which recently landed companies like Sports Direct into such controversy) the more unhappy – and less productive – they become.

Trust them to organize their own time and accomplish the tasks you set in whatever way they judge best, and you instil a sense of pride and ownership that is actually much healthier for your bottom line as well as your workplace culture. Hence the fact that 80% of remote workers report higher morale and lower absenteeism. When you have the choice to work for yourself and you love what you do, you tend to do it more often. The fact I’m happily writing this on a bank holiday with a freshly brewed cup of coffee at my elbow is a case in point.

When you have the choice to work for yourself and you love what you do, you do it more - and better
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Keeping communications channels open is key to making the remote working proposition work, and this day and age there is no shortage of tools and devices – ranging from free to state-of-the-art-and-slightly-freaky conference robots – available to choose from. What mix is right for you and your employer (bearing in mind that in this day and age those two might be one and the same) will vary and if you’re anything like me you’ll experiment with a variety of solutions before landing on the ones that work best.

Keeping communications channels open is crucial to successful remote working
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Telepresence Robot from Double Robotics

Does that mean that face-to-face interactions are a thing of the past? With Virtual Reality technologies advancing at vertiginous speed, there is talk that it will cause dramatic cutbacks in the need for business travel, as we’ll be able to get the same sense of presence and interaction using, for example, a Mixed Reality device such as the HoloLens.

If endless meetings are still the order of the day in your office, you won't attract the best talent to work there
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I for one believe that VR/AR/MR will soon become an important and even dominant element of that communications mix, but that there will always be a value to actually meeting someone, even if you’ve known them for a long time. I work with clients, suppliers and editors based all over the world, and many of those I have close dealings with on a weekly and even daily basis are people I’ve never physically been in the same room with.

VR, AR and MR will soon become an important element in that remote communications mix
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But whenever I’m in their town –as happened recently during a trip to New York – I make a point of reaching out, as nothing beats grabbing lunch together and shaking someone’s hand. The fact is that this flexible – and smarter – way of working makes those interactions count. When you own your own time and you don’t take being in the same room as your co-workers for granted, every interaction has a greater sense of purpose, I find.

I work with loads of people I know really well, but whom I've never met
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If your workplace is the sort where people have endless long meetings with very little point except ticking the hours away, chances are you won’t be attracting the best young talent to join you. 68% of millennial job seekers rate remote working as something that substantially increases their interest in an employer. Recruiters, take note.


Smart Office Solutions from Nucleus

The post Infographic: Staying Connected the Smart Way appeared first on Tech Trends.