Meeting Mania: 60 Percent of Workers Report Having More Meetings Than Last Year

With productivity plummeting, cloud meeting technology can increase output says BlueJeans

LONDON — May 16, 2018 – Blue Jeans Network, Inc., the first cloud service to connect desktops, mobile devices and room systems in one video meeting, has today found that well over half of the global workforce is having more meetings than 12 months ago. In 2014 US businesses wasted $37bn a year on unproductive meetings, and the UK has seen work-per-hour output stagnate at 2008 pre-recession levels. With more meetings on the horizon, businesses need to find a solution to this low productivity crisis.

Modern audio, video and content sharing technology that integrates with today’s most popular group messaging applications is seen as the most popular way to resolve this. In the UK, 59 per cent of organizations introduce the technology specifically to improve output; no other solution has as much support in the industry. And no wonder – aside from face-to-face meetings, video conferences are seen as the best type of meeting, with 68 per cent of workers in the UK calling it a productive work format.

The research also uncovered what fosters productive collaboration, with audio quality and video conferencing tied for the most important factor for remote attendees. This was followed by the staple of all good meetings – a clear agenda. Users also want a consistent experience across device types and easy set-up, two of the top three bug bears when it comes to meetings of this type (behind reliability as number one).

BlueJeans has partnered with some of the world’s most innovative technology companies to overcome these issues and improve meeting productivity. Its work with Dolby has delivered a meetings platform that has unparalleled audio clarity, and by collaborating with the likes of Microsoft, Slack, Facebook, Amazon Alexa for Business, Atlassian and Polycom, BlueJeans can be accessed seamlessly through the most common forms of worker communication.

Mark Strassman, Chief Product Officer, BlueJeans, comments:

“As cloud-based services increase and improve beyond the quality of legacy conferencing, there is simply no reason why businesses of any size should not introduce them and increase overall productivity, especially as we are all spending much more time in such meetings. BlueJeans is making the most of its expertise to improve productivity in the workplace, making it easier for companies to increase their returns and improve business output.”

BlueJeans will be talking about improving productivity and the future workplace at UC Expo in the ExCel Centre on the 16th and 17th May. It’s sessions are:

• The future of work is now: How Facebook and BlueJeans help organisations collaborate in today’s modern workplace
  May 16th – 14:20-14:50, Keynote Theatre
• When less is more: how BTG consolidated its collaboration stack with BlueJeans and increased productivity
  May 17th – 12:20-12:50, The Future of Work Theatre
• Panel debate: make the most of video
  May 17th – 13:00-13:40, Video & Collaboration Theatre

Contact:
Stacey Nardozzi
Account Manager, BlueJeans Press Office Stacey
Nardozzi@octopusgrp.com / bluejeans@octopusgrp.com
020 3837 3689