In the evolving landscape of work, enterprises and employees are increasingly torn between remote, hybrid, and co-located teams. Traditionally, each of those work models comes with its advantages and downsides. Co-located teams are great for in-person collaboration, but it does not offer employees the workplace flexibility they increasingly desire after the huge work-from-home experiment that happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The remote team model offers employees the workplace flexibility they want, but without in-person face-to-face meetings, team cohesion and collaboration can suffer. Hybrid team model offers a balance by providing some degree of flexibility while also enabling some face-to-face time, but teams can find it confusing to navigate and can struggle with maintaining productivity when part of the team is co-located in the office and part of the team is remote at different times. Since the past few years, Virtual Reality (VR) based collaboration platforms like Arthur have offered enterprises the ability to bridge the gap by enabling in-person collaboration from anywhere in virtual office spaces. As the mixed reality hardware for workplace collaboration comes of age with headsets such as Meta Quest 3, there are increasing opportunities for innovation to bridge the gap further and ensure top notch team cohesion, collaboration, and productivity irrespective of how distributed a team is and where an employee chooses to work from on any particular day. One such innovative functionality that promises to redefine collaborative meetings is our newly launched co-located meeting mode. This groundbreaking feature leverages the unique capabilities of extended reality (XR) to enhance the collaboration and connectivity of teams regardless of their geographical dispersion while offering the possibility to seamlessly leverage the benefits of XR even when a part of the team or the whole team is co-located.
Understanding co-located meetings
At its core, a co-located meeting refers to a gathering where participants are in the same physical location. Our co-located meeting functionality allows such teams to leverage the benefits of a virtual office platform seamlessly, while also integrating any remote participants as if they were physically present. This mode of meeting combines the benefits of in-person interactions with the expansive capabilities of virtual environments, catering to the needs of modern enterprises that have teams operating across the spectrum of remote to co-located settings.
Benefits for co-located teams
A co-located team is a group of individuals working together in the same physical space. This traditional setup offers advantages, including familiarity, spontaneous communication, and the strengthening of interpersonal relationships. However, the advent of digital transformation and the shift towards more flexible working arrangements have challenged these teams to find innovative ways to maintain their productivity and cohesion. Virtual Reality technology can be a pivotal tool for co-located teams, bridging the gap between the physical and digital realms. The Arthur platform with the newly added co-located meeting functionality enriches the co-located team experience by integrating virtual elements that expand their collaborative potential beyond the confines of their physical space. The co-located meeting functionality eliminates common barriers such as audio duplication issues and the need for avatars, facilitating a natural and immersive meeting experience when the participants are co-located and seeing the physical room is beneficial for the meeting. Participants can interact with virtual objects and each other within their actual physical environment, enriching their collaboration and creativity.
Benefits for both hybrid and distributed workforces
For hybrid teams or a distributed workforce, the co-located meeting mode offers a unique solution. When part of the team is co-located, they can initiate a meeting in this mode, invite remote members to join seamlessly, and collaborate normally while also benefiting from their physical meeting setting. This functionality allows hybrid and distributed teams to seamlessly continue benefiting from their virtual meeting rooms and the body of work within those rooms even when a part of the team chooses/happens to meet co-located.
A vision for the future of meetings
Christoph Fleischmann, Founder and CEO of Arthur, envisions this innovation as a transformative step in how meetings are conducted. He highlights, "The co-located meeting functionality is not just an enhancement of our virtual office platform; it's an opportunity to reimagine team collaboration for the better. By bridging the virtual with the physical, we're enabling teams to collaborate in ways that were previously unimaginable."
As enterprises continue to navigate the complexities of modern work arrangements, the introduction of co-located meetings represents a significant step forward in enabling better collaboration independent of employee location. This functionality not only accommodates the diverse needs of today's workforce but also sets a new standard for what collaborative meetings can achieve. By harnessing the power of XR, teams can transcend traditional limitations on collaboration and productivity while fostering a culture of innovation and inclusivity that is vital for the workplace of the future.
