Adopting the hybrid work model poses numerous challenges for Human Resources departments but those can be overcome by using the Cisco Webex collaborative work Platform. Datanet Systems recently organized a webinar, presenting several practical ways of Webex suite usage in the HR field, as well as three common working scenarios.

58% of employees want to work from home for at least 8 days a month, 64% require more flexible working conditions, and 97% requested increased safety before returning to the office. This is why, more than three-quarters of companies (77%) have already changed their procedures and way of working, so the Human Resources departments are looking for solutions to quickly adapt to the new requirements.

With over 650 million monthly users worldwide, Cisco Webex is one of the most effective and secure solutions that the HR teams currently have. During the webinar with the title “Streamlining Human Resources departments with Webex platform“, Petre Popescu, Presales Manager at Datanet Systems, presented a series of practical ways enabling the HR Departments to benefit from the Cisco Collaborative Work Suite’s functionalities.

The full registration for the “Streamlining Human Resources departments with Webex platform” webinar is available below : 

 

 

Webex’s benefits in the HR field

“Webex is a complete and secure collaborative work tool that can be easily adapted to the specific requirements of human resources departments, regardless of the size of the organization or usage scenarios,” said the Datanet Systems specialist, who presented the main competitive advantages that recommend the Cisco platform usage in HR departments:

• Modular approach and integration of multiple communication tools and features – Cisco has added over 900 innovations to the platform over the past nine months;
• Advanced security capabilities – Webex includes several security features and ensures compliance with ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, etc., as well as several applicable regulations (HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, EU Standard Contact Clauses, etc.);
• Extended compatibility and multiple integration options with well-known applications in the enterprise environment, such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, ServiceNow, Box, Trello, MailChimp, etc;
• Multiple use scenarios, covering a wide range of needs and requirements.

With Webex Meetings, for example, HR departments can replace impersonal e-mail messages or phone calls with face-to-face conversations, which allow you to personalize your interaction with each employee and increase your involvement. The suite offers multiple possibilities for scheduling virtual meetings, sending and confirming invitations, a wide range of follow-up actions, etc.

Additionally, Webex Teams allows creating dedicated virtual spaces, where members of HR departments – but also other colleagues and employees outside the company – can discuss and share files, collaborate on various projects, search for information and update data.

Among the new features integrated by Cisco into the Webex suite are:

• Automatic transcription of the discussions held during the virtual sessions;
• Real-time translation services, from English in over 100 languages, including Romanian;
• Gesture recognition capabilities to facilitate non-verbal communication;
• Advanced audio control capabilities;
• Automatic delivery of information about participants in a virtual meeting (with their prior consent).

In regard to integration, during the webinar, the speaker mentioned the benefits of using Webex with the Slido application, which offers multiple possibilities to interact with the audience of an online event through surveys, forms and questionnaires, and real-time voting systems. At the same time, through the analysis functionalities provided by Slido, detailed information can be obtained about the level of involvement of the participants, various statistics, as well as the surveys’ results.

Webex usage scenarios in Human Resources activities

Datanet has presented three common work scenarios for human resources departments in which the Cisco Collaborative Work Platform is promptly proving its usefulness.

The first scenario presented was focused on training sessions: “Whether we are talking about new employees who need to become familiar with internal procedures, or senior employees who need to attend regular information and training sessions, Webex offers various possibilities to carry out these activities, delivering results quickly“, said Petre Popescu. Using the Cisco platform, employees can connect from anywhere and from any type of terminal, in secure conditions, and benefit from multiple possibilities of audio and video interaction or through messaging tools. The suite allows file sharing, polling, and simultaneously editing files using Whiteboards. All information shared via Webex is available, in a secured and controlled access, and can be permanently updated.

In the second work scenario, Petre Popescu presented the benefits of the new features introduced by Cisco last year. Thus, the Webex Events module offers Webinar options – through which events with up to 10,000 participants can be organized directly from the platform – and Webcast, in which the audience can be up to 100,000 people. Participants in live Webcast sessions can connect via a simple web browser, and the interaction is done using instant messaging solutions. Another Webex feature with extensive applicability in the human resources field is Vidcast, an asynchronous communication feature through which HR employees can record and edit video messages that they can share with other colleagues, receiving feedback from them. Immediate applicability of this functionality is, for example, the creation of video trainings or tutorials to present certain internal procedures, applications, or products.

A third working scenario presented during the Datanet webinar addressed the challenges of hybrid work: “Webex uses Team Insights capabilities to collect and deliver information about team members’ interactions remotely, that is difficult to obtain and centralize. Thus, through Team Insights we can identify communication patterns within the team, the employees who communicate most frequently, with whom, how the teams are grouped, which are the most used tools, what is the frequency of communication sessions, their duration, etc. All this is useful information for both the managers of the respective teams and for the human resources departments, for assessing the level of employee involvement and identifying the most effective ways to increase the level of cohesion of the teams, the motivation of the employees, and their productivity“, explained the Datanet Systems specialist.

The three scenarios can be viewed by accessing the full “Streamlining Human Resources departments with Webex platform” webinar recording.

For more details on the Cisco Collaborative Work Suite, download the “Cisco Webex Collaboration Platform Adoption Datanet Systems Guide“.