Facebook/Meta has announced that it is integrating Workplace with Microsoft’s collaboration app Teams to enable users to share information more easily between the two platforms.

What Is Workplace?

First announced in 2016, originally Facebook’s internal messaging board, and formerly known as ‘Facebook At Work’, Workplace is the work-focused version of Facebook’s social app. The app is a communication tool that connects everyone in a company, even if they’re working remotely. Workplace has features like Groups, Chat and Live video broadcasting.

More Than 7 Million Paid Workplace Subscribers

Back in May, Facebook announced that Workplace had 7 million paid subscribers, up more than 40 per cent on last year. At the time, Facebook attributed the big jump in demand for Workplace to the COVID-19 lockdowns and the resulting home/remote working fuelling demand for enterprise connectivity platforms like Workplace, Slack, and Teams. Microsoft saw the number of Teams users rise to 145 million per day in May, compared to 15 million in October 2020.

Integration between Workplace and Teams

The integration between Facebook’s Workplace and Microsoft Teams will allow users to share content from Workplace’s newsfeed and from its groups into Microsoft’s Teams platform. Also, it means that users will soon be able to livestream video from Teams into Workplace groups, thereby allowing employees to watch live meetings and events on whichever app they are using or catch up later by watching a recording on Workplace.

No Need To Keep Switching Between The Two

Facebook’s Head of Product at Workplace, Ujjwal Singh, has announced one of the key advantages of the integration between Workplace and Teams is that employees will be able to access the content from Workplace within Teams without having to switch back and forth between the two apps.

The hope is that the integration will make it easier for employees to stay up to date with important information and that it could open up more opportunities for company-wide feedback and engagement.

Example of the Integration in Action

One real example of a company that has been trialling the integration (given by Ujjwal Singh) is the Flight Centre Travel Group. Nick Williams, Head of Digital Workplace (Flight Centre Travel Group), is quoted as saying that, “Workplace enables our agents to connect with colleagues beyond their direct teams, breaking down silos across brands and business groups in ways we’ve never been able to before.”  Also, Mr Williams highlights the particular value of the integration to remote and hybrid working by saying, “By creating a bridge between our company’s community hub (Workplace) and teamwork hub (Teams), employees will be able to access the most important information, whether they’re in an office or in the field, and feel connected at all times.”

Also, back in October, Facebook announced a global alliance with Deloitte to help companies use Workplace to meet the challenges of remote working.

Deepening Relationship Between Microsoft and Facebook

This new integration is seen as part of a deepening, value-adding relationship between Facebook and Microsoft. For example, last year Workplace jointly committed with Microsoft to bring together more tools (e.g., joint customers can already integrate Workplace with SharePoint, OneDrive, and the Office 365 suite). Also, Workplace was named as one of Azure AD’s top 15 most used apps, along with Cisco Webex, Google Cloud / Google Workspace, and Zoom.

Video Calling Support

Another sign of the relationship between Facebook and Microsoft was the announcement in September that beginning in December this year, Facebook will be adding support for Microsoft Teams for all video calling Portal touch-based devices including Portal Go and Portal+.

Comment From Microsoft Teams

Jeff Teper, CVP Product & Engineering at Microsoft Teams is also optimistic about the integration, saying “We have a shared vision of offering our customers choice and flexibility, so it made sense for us to come together to help our mutual customers unlock collaboration and break down silos within their organizations.”

When and How?

Facebook says that Teams and Workplace customers can download and use Workplace / Teams by entering their details at the foot of this page: https://www.workplace.com/workplace-microsoft

Also, companies will be able to stream meetings and broadcasts from Teams into Workplace starting in 2022.

Should Microsoft Worry?

Recent whistleblower allegations about Facebook have generated more bad publicity about the social media giant. Some commentators have suggested that Microsoft may be taking a risk in being too closely associated with Facebook/Meta at the current time.

Other Microsoft News

Other Microsoft news and announcements from its recent Ignite conference includes:

– Mesh for Microsoft Teams, which allows users to have personalised 3D avatars to communicate in meetings held in shared immersive virtual reality spaces (conference rooms, design centres and networking lounges).

– Azure Synapse Analytics, which is a service to (seamlessly) connect data integration, enterprise data warehousing and big data analytics.

– The Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, a solution designed to help companies measure, understand, and take charge of their carbon emissions, set sustainability goals, and take measurable action.

– Connected Spaces for Dynamics 365, which enables organisations to harness observational data from video AI and sensors, use low-code capabilities to control observations, and produce real-time predictive insights.

– Enhancements to Teams webinar capabilities, and a new Teams chat feature.

– Viva Learning (educational training courses through Teams) becoming generally available, and Microsoft introducing new tools to help businesses implement a zero-trust security model.

– The introduction of the Microsoft Defender (formerly Windows Defender) endpoint security solution for SMBs.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The battle to get the best share in the market for collaborative apps in the pandemic-fuelled remote and hybrid working environment has seen Microsoft and Facebook’s relationship become closer and this latest integration is more evidence of that. As users search for more flexibility in their new working practices, big tech companies such as Microsoft and Facebook are seeing the benefits of a ‘team effort’ to stay ahead of the newcomer competitors that grew so rapidly during the pandemic (e.g., Zoom and Slack), and help redefine themselves going forward. Particularly Facebook (now Meta) with its immersive ‘Metaverse’ concept and Microsoft with its Mesh 3D avatars are trying to move away from traditional ideas of their services (Office programs and a social media app) into new more difficult to define market territories and opportunities. This Teams/Workplace integration is likely to be particularly good news for an embattled Facebook (Meta), but some critics argue that these integrations are just ways that the existing big tech companies can consolidate their already powerful market positions.

A Prospect trade union poll has revealed that 32 per cent of UK workers are being remotely monitored and tracked by employers.

Big Rise

The poll also shows a rise in the number of employees under remote surveillance that’s up from a quarter (24 per cent) from just 6 months ago in April. This includes a doubling of the usage of camera monitoring in people’s homes, with 13 per cent of home-workers now being monitored by cameras compared to only 5 per cent 6 months ago.

Young Workers Particularly At Risk

Prospect’s poll, conducted by Opinium, shows that young workers (18 to 34) are particularly at risk of a higher rate of monitoring. The poll showed that 48 per cent of younger workers have reported being monitored at work, including 20 per cent being monitored using cameras.

Tech Sector Workers Particularly Affected

Prospect has stressed its concerns that intrusive monitoring of this kind is likely to be particularly affecting workers in sectors with higher levels of remote working, larger proportions of younger workers, and low levels of trade union membership (e.g., the tech sector).

Monitoring What?

The kinds of metrics and details that employee monitoring software can highlight are:

– Taking sample screenshots/recording screens.

– Whether employees are active/inactive during working hours.

– How much time is spent on the Internet, plus whether games are being played or social media accessed too much.

– Whether employees are using work devices for work or private purposes.

Largely Unregulated

Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy has expressed his concerns, not just at the level of surveillance but also at the apparent lack of regulation saying:

“New technology allows employers to have a constant window into their employees’ homes, and the use of the technology is largely unregulated by government.

“We think that we need to upgrade the law to protect the privacy of workers and set reasonable limits on the use of this snooping technology, and the public overwhelmingly agree with us.”

Labour’s Shadow Digital Minister, Chi Onwurah MP, agreed and highlighted the matter of consent (or lack of it) saying:

“Ministers must urgently provide better regulatory oversight of online surveillance software to ensure people have the right to privacy whether in their workplace or home.

“The bottom line is that workers should not be subject to digital surveillance without their informed consent, and there should be clear rules, rights and expectations for both businesses and workers.”

COVID Has Driven Surveillance and Surveillance Is Driving ‘Gigification’

Anna Thomas, Director of the Institute for the Future of Work think tank pointed to the cause of the increased surveillance and how it could be affecting the nature of some jobs saying:

“IFOW research suggests COVID has driven a significant acceleration in technology adoption by businesses, leading to fundamental changes to the terms, conditions and quality of work.

“Speaking to both remote workers staying at home and key workers who travelled to workplaces through the pandemic, we found that increased surveillance is driving an intensification, and in many cases ‘gigification’ of jobs.”

What Laws Relate To Monitoring of Employees?

Data protection (the data gathered about individual employees), and privacy are the key concerns where there is currently legal protection related to monitoring employees with software and cameras. Relevant laws include Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights whereby individuals have a non-absolute right to respect for their private and family life and correspondence, and (UK) GDPR. Under GDPR, data needs to be processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently as well as being collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a way incompatible with those purposes. Also, monitoring data must be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for those purposes.

The guidance from ACAS is that although employers can monitor employees, workers are entitled to some privacy at work and employers must tell employees about any monitoring arrangements and the reason for it. Employers should have procedures in place setting out what is and what isn’t allowed, and these procedures should be made clear and understood by all workers before monitoring begins. Generally, employers must have a genuine reason to conduct covert monitoring such as criminal activities or malpractice, and any monitoring should be limited, targeted and within certain times, and employers should also have regard for private communications.

Suggested Measures

Prospect’s fundings have led the union to suggest possible measures to protect employees from intrusive monitoring, which include:

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) needs to toughen the regulation on the introduction of new monitoring technology in workplaces, and ensure that employees are always consulted, and that there is full transparency on how this tech is used.

The government should consider banning the use of camera monitoring in people’s homes and make it illegal for employers to use webcams to check up on workers outside of meetings and calls.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Employee monitoring has a value to businesses in terms of helping to manage productivity and ensure that company policies and procedures are adhered to. Remote monitoring of employees started to become more widespread with the remote working caused by the pandemic lockdowns. The resulting shift to hybrid working patterns appears to have driven a further rise in monitoring, but the level of increase and the use of camera monitoring have caused alarm among unions like Prospect, privacy campaigners, and some government ministers. Although Prospect has called for more regulation and for help from the ICO, employers who are currently monitoring their employees (or are thinking of doing so) need to be aware that there are already laws covering how it can be used. For example, workers are entitled to some privacy at work and employers must tell employees about any monitoring arrangements and the reason for it.

Although Monitoring employees can bring many business benefits (e.g., unbiased insights, highlighting areas for cost savings, and getting early warnings of misbehaviour) it is important to stick to the law and to consider that retaining employee trust, maintaining morale, and displaying behaviour that sends positive motivational messages to employees can also be contributors to productivity.

Research by Zen Internet has revealed that hybrid working is causing businesses to question whether they now need enough on-premise tech infrastructure to support a full capacity office.

Most Business Have Hybrid Working Plan

The research conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Zen Internet showed that 93 per cent of businesses already have a hybrid working plan in place to enable employees to work remotely, and 89 per cent now have their tech operations hosted off-premise.

The Hybrid Effect

Post-COVID Hybrid working patterns using software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) and cloud-based collaborative platforms have meant that there are much fewer people in the office and maintaining the same amount of on-premises tech infrastructure, such as data centres, is no longer needed by many companies. The research showed that the effects on the office hardware include:

– Only 11 per cent of planned tech operations are projected to be hosted on-premise, even though on-premise datacentres take up around 8 per cent of office floor space, and half of UK businesses’ technological infrastructure are currently reliant on on-premise systems.

– Employees only working 3 days per week in the office building means that only 55 per cent of office space and desks are expected to be in use over the next year.

Why Keep On-Premise Data Centres?

With half of the businesses surveyed by Zen admitting that data centres pose security and maintenance challenges, and with more than one-third citing a lack of in-house data centre maintenance skills and the fact they take up a lot of a physical space, there is an argument that with cloud-based hybrid working solutions, on-premise data centres may no longer be needed.

Although between one-third and one-half of the businesses surveyed could see a business case for moving data centres off-premise (e.g. better security and maintenance), their reason for not doing so yet is based on a belief that it would be expensive (77 per cent), and time-consuming (82 per cent).

Function Of The Office Is Changing

Hybrid working means that for many businesses, the office has become more of a place for colleagues to meet, collaborate, socialise, and learn, and the has become the ‘cultural epicentre’ of the business, whereas home is now the place where focused work tasks are carried out.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

With hybrid working and the important part played by the cloud and SD-WAN technology now becoming a widely accepted working pattern, and with many offices not likely to see the whole workforce in at any one time, it makes sense that businesses are now asking questions about whether they now need large parts of their in-house, on-premise infrastructure e.g., a data centre. Also, cloud-based alternatives may be more secure and easier to maintain, thereby making the off-premises move more attractive both practically and financially. Although some businesses still see expense and difficulty as barriers to making the move now, it’s important to recognise that a different, valuable use can be made of the office to support the new culture, and many businesses have already successfully made the move to off-premise tech infrastructure and that this could become a source of competitive advantage going forward in the new work environment.

Here’s how to use the Reading Pane and Spacebar in Outlook to sort through your daily emails more quickly:

– In Outlook, select “View” and “Reading Pane.”

– Select the Reading Pane to sit on the right-hand side.

– Select the top email in your inbox.

– Press the Spacebar so that Reading Pane will scroll down to reveal the lower section of your email and email chain.

– When you have reached the bottom of the email, the Spacebar will then take you to the next email in your inbox.

– Use the “Delete” key as you go through to remove emails that don’t need to be actioned.

– Use the Spacebar rather than the mouse to go through your remaining emails.

In this featured-article, we look at the traditional frustrations that occur when customers encounter (some) phone systems and how technology is helping to bring better experiences.

Spending Time On Hold

Being put on hold and spending time waiting has long been known to frustrate customers, cause stress, and lead to them hanging up. Even though it costs money and can lead to lost business, many companies continue to do it even though, from a customer’s perspective, it may feel like the company really doesn’t care about them. Despite messages that their call is ‘important,’ many customers feel that these experiences on hold are more for the company’s convenience, rather than that of the customer.

There is also an argument that from the company’s perspective, losing customers (from putting them on hold) means that the business loses opportunities to gain insights from the calls that could feed into creating a better service and a better experience for customers moving forward. It can also lose opportunities to gain information about competitor activity which is often mentioned in customer calls.

60 Seconds … to Lose 60% of Customers

There is large body of research to show that customers h-a-t-e being put on hold, but really like human engagement. Research from Volaro (2012), for example, showed that waiting on hold for 60 seconds results in almost 60 per cent of customers hanging up, and 63 per cent would prefer a call-back option.

A Sense of Progress Is Valued

A 2007 study (Munichor, Nira, Rafaeli, Anat, Journal of Applied Psychology), where one-third of callers were given music, one-third were given music interrupted by messages apologising for the wait, and one-third were given punctuated by status updates (i.e., “You are the fourth caller in line… You are the third caller in line,”) showed that those who received the status updates were the most satisfied. Even though they waited the same amount of time, it was the sense of progress that they valued and found comforting.

Human Engagement Is Important

Even in this virtual age, human engagement is still very much valued by customers. A CGS survey (2019), showed that 86 per cent of consumers prefer interaction with a human agent rather than a bot or a recording.

Also, research by Shell and Buell (Harvard Business Review – 2019) made the point that when people feel anxious, it is human nature to turn to others for help. Many companies, however, funnel nervous customers to self-service technologies. The research, based in the financial service industry, found that when people had the ability to connect with another person (an expert or a peer) the deleterious effects of their anxiety were offset. The researchers concluded that anxious customers left to fend for themselves may be less satisfied with their choices, and less trusting of the company with which they are interacting. The researchers found that simply offering access to talk to a person is enough to restore customer confidence, improve trust in the company, and even strengthen long-term relationships.

Not In Supermarkets?

Interestingly, despite lessons learned in past (e.g., adding human interaction points to please consumers at deli counters, fish counters, meat counters), UK supermarkets now appear to be moving towards favouring shop-floor technology and reducing human interaction (self-service, or even zero checkouts). Although this may bring them in line with some overseas supermarkets, cut overheads, and deliver operational efficiencies, it remains to be seen whether customers will begin to miss human interaction.

Dos and Don’ts

Developing hold systems for the phone that stop customers from hanging up has become a science in itself where there is much research and where technology is now playing a major part.

For example, findings published in “The Psychology of Telephone ‘On Hold’ Programming” by Dr. Jim Will (2005) highlighted certain points to remember when creating an on-hold experience for callers. These include:

– A primary cause of caller discontent involves the concept of “perceived time” on hold and adding music is effective in the lowering of perceived time. The music, however, should be upbeat, should be created differently in type and instrumentation, and should not include songs that don’t evoke negative associations in the mind.

– The length of the overall message-on-a-hold program is also an important factor in reducing potential anxiety. Longer, less repetitive on-hold message program formats are more effective at reducing caller anxiety.

Also, an optimal “message on hold” program consisting of music on hold and verbal presentations should:

– Incorporate a variety of information genres to maximise interest and cognitive functions, placed in a structured manner.

– Have longer message formats to minimize “wearout”.

– Have upbeat and personable verbal information delivery.

– Have information with no background music or interference (which could divert attention).

– Offer lower perceived time and provide structure to the holding period.

Outsourcing To Call Centres Offshore

The outsourcing of call centres offshore by companies may make sense financially and in terms of increasing capacity, but it has been a contentious issue. For example, back in 2018, BT pledged to bring all its call-centres from offshore locations such as India and the Philippines back to the UK and Ireland after the use of foreign customer service staff was identified as a major complaint by BT’s UK customers.

Some of the reasons some customers dislike speaking to call-centres that have been outsourced include:

– A feeling that their problem isn’t important enough to be dealt with by the company directly, and a perception that the only reason for offshore customer service is to save money.

– Feeling uncomfortable about language difficulties and communication problems, and how this can complicate solving their problem.

– A reliance on scripted conversations by some offshore call-centres can frustrate customers.

– Customers want to talk directly to the company, particularly for services that are personal and involving finances (for example), rather than what they perceive to be ‘go-betweens.’

– Customers are looking for quality service more than fast service and consequently, customers are more likely to recommend a brand based on good service experience.

– From the company’s point of view, poor customer call experiences and negative perceptions can damage the marketing efforts that the company has spent time and effort on and could lead to customers switching.

New Technology

Despite the faults from the point of view of some customers, on-hold messaging services are likely to remain an important part of customer service for some time yet. Examples of how technology is being used to improve these services include:

– Tailor-made music to suit specific customer demographics.

– Systems that can update recordings with the latest promotions.

– Auto-attendant and IVR for automatically routing calls.

– AI-powered voice recognition technology (IVR receptionists) that lets callers state the purpose of their call and their expectations in their own words.

– Google’s AI secretary (‘Hold for Me’) that waits on hold for phone users and notifies users when the call is picked up, thereby leaving them free to put the phone down.

– AI call transcription that can transform call recordings into text documents.

– Using AI-driven analytics in VoIP business phone services to gain better insights into call metrics, caller-behaviour, and the performance of individual company agents.

Chatbots

In the wider sphere of customer service and information provision, bots have become a favoured tool. Bots provide a way for businesses and organisations to reduce costs, make better use of resources and communicate with customers and enquirers 24/7. Examples of how bots can make a positive difference include:

– Lancaster University’s ‘Ask L.U.’ chatbot. Built on Amazon Web Services (voice), it delivers a voice interface that interacts with users, and can be accessed via the iLancaster App on mobile phones and tablets, or by asking “Alexa, Ask L.U.” on any Amazon Echo device. The service, based on the most popular 300 student queries gives students a way to get information in a fast, easy, and convenient way, 24/7.

– Marriott International’s chatbot, ChatBotlr, available to users through Facebook Messenger and Slack, enables Marriott Rewards members to research and book travel to more than 4,700 hotels.

– During the pandemic, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) bot on WhatsApp became a trusted information source and alert delivery tool for the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The phone is still an important way for customers to make contact with businesses and organisations. How those calls are handled, and the customer’s experience of the interaction is vital to retaining customer trust, and the positive perceptions that have been built-up, with considerable investment, over time. Using a system and a supplier that enables customers to get what they want quickly (without hanging up) and allows the business to get the insights and information it needs to feed into improving its marketing are important considerations. Websites, social media, and technologies such as AI and the use of bots may have reduced the reliance on the phone system, but where customers have to use it, the most important part of a good customer experience is actually having the problem solved effectively in a reasonable amount of time.

In this tech insight, we take a brief look at the WEP and WAP security protocols, and what happened to them.

What Is WAP?

Developed by Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Unwired Planet, and introduced back in 1999, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was a security standard for devices with a wireless Internet connection on a mobile network. It was designed to create interoperability between WAP equipment e.g., mobile phones that used the protocol, and WAP software e.g., WAP-enabled web browsers and network technologies.

Used A Gateway Intermediary

WAP worked in a similar way to the traditional client-server model but had a WAP gateway that sat between the client and server. The WAP gateway:

– Translated the WAP device requests from a mobile browser (micro browser) into an HTTP URL request and sent it to the server over the internet.

– Processed the response by sending the webpage to the WAP mobile device as a WML file that was compatible with micro browsers.

Why WAP?

Some of the benefits of WAP were:

– It gave wireless network and mobile phone operators an opportunity to improve their services while enabling the introduction of new apps that didn’t require phone or infrastructure modifications.

– It created the potential for third-party developers to write apps (in WML).

– End-users had better security when accessing online services like online banking.

What Happened To WAP?

WAP was not widely adopted around the world and by 2013, due to HTML compatibility in mobile phones, it had largely disappeared.

What Is WEP?

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), which was developed in the late 1990s, was a security protocol for wireless networks that encrypted data transmitted over the WLAN using a static key with the RC4 stream encryption algorithm. The idea was to use WEP to give wireless networks the same level of protection as LANs which also benefitted from physical protection.

Protection From Unauthorised Network Access

Whereas wired networks can only be accessed by users with physical access network access points, wireless networks needed protection from threats such as people gaining access to the WLANs via the radio waves that connect to the network.

What WEP Provided

WEP provided privacy by using a data encryption key (128 or 256-bit), an initialisation vector (an arbitrary number used alongside the secret key), data integrity due to the use of a CRC-32 checksum algorithm (a string of letters and numbers acting as a fingerprint file), and authentication. This authentication could be either Open System Authentication (OSA) or Shared Key Authentication (using a multi-step challenge-response algorithm).

WEP Weaknesses

Unfortunately, WEP was found to have had several critical weaknesses such as:

– Weaknesses in the encryption and RC4 algorithms.

– The inability to authenticate individual users because all users shared the same key.

– The use of the protocol was optional and, therefore, it wasn’t always activated when new devices were installed.

What Happened To WEP?

WEP’s weaknesses and the introduction of the better Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) protocol meant that WEP was replaced by WPA2 in 2004. WPA2 offered stronger encryption and integrity protection. The current version is WPA3 (introduced in 2018).

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

With most of us now using mobile devices for our work and home life, particularly with the shift to remote and hybrid working over the last year, it is clear to see why security protocols for mobile networks are so important. WAP and WEP represented important steps in the evolution of network security and encryption, and lessons learned over time have led to the much more secure protocols that we use today.