Klaxoon claims mobile workspace first as multi-team projects become the norm

Teamwork and smart work technology pioneer Klaxoon has launched its Teamplayer mobile console, following research that suggests the future of teamworking will centre on efficient collaboration driven by an increase in multiple touchpoints across organisations.

The company believes that mouse and screen, paperboards, email and slides all fail to overcome the new challenges businesses face, such as the abolition of physical and time barriers, dramatic increases in information flow and an expanding number of teams and projects, and says the time has come for new, powerful, smooth, intuitive and inspiring tools that can change the way people work.

The research that Klaxoon commissioned suggests that the future of teamworking will be driven by an increase in multiple touchpoints, from formal meetings to project management via digital tools, between various teams and at distinctive times.

Klaxoon said the research also shows that from the use of agile methodologies, an increase in distributed teams and the widespread adoption of collaboration tools, as technology evolves and transforms the way people work, how teams create alignment and synchronise is a determining factor in enhancing innovation, creativity and productivity across organisations.

It said the study also reinforces the fact that meetings remain central to how teams share information, make decisions, generate ideas, plan, give feedback and collaborate. However, rising meeting frequency and the number of participants in attendance were seen to have the potential to sidetrack daily efficiency.

Just over two-fifth of workers questioned in the survey attended more meetings in the last year, while only 14% took part in fewer meetings. There were also more people in the room, with 63% of employees agreeing that there are more attendees at meetings.

When asked about team collaboration and whether the conversations and most ideas were driven by one or two team members, 79% of those surveyed agreed. Yet three-quarters said they collaborate better with others on team projects because of collaborative tools.

Digital tools were seen as becoming vital as more and more companies allow remote working and flexible work schedules. The survey showed that 21% of workers currently spent more than 60% of their time working remotely, and just over half felt they would work more remotely in the next year.

Klaxoon concluded that as the number of distributed teams rises, the need for new ways of working will need to evolve to keep pace with change, especially to ensure team alignment, smooth collaboration and remote worker connectedness. It said the need to improve is evidenced by 63% of employees feeling they are less informed when working remotely than when working from the corporate office.

It said it has launched Teamplayer with the aim of transforming working environments by making them mobile and smart, collaborative workspaces that are more inspiring, participative and human. With smart controllers and sets of shortcuts by way of adaptive screens and customisable keys, Teamplayer – which will be launched in June 2020 – is designed to emphasise human interactions.

It has two fundamental input mechanisms – the pad and the wheel. Engineered to stimulate and facilitate actions, these can be used to answer questions, browse through ideas on a brainstorm and take part in sessions intuitively. The wheel allows users to navigate through various activities to discover a new way to access information. And with its nine adaptive screen keys, the pad offers visual and smart shortcuts that adapt to people’s actions in real time, opening up a new field for expression and collaboration, said Klaxoon.

As well as working with teamwork tools designed by Klaxoon, the system allows application developers to customise Teamplayer with shortcuts and actions, and combine up to seven connected controllers.

“Teamplayer breaks away with ergonomic conventions,” said Klaxoon CEO Matthieu Beucher. “It brings much more fun to work when interacting, expressing ideas, processing information in a more intuitive way and inventing new ways to interact. We are really keen to see how everyone will take hold of Teamplayer to transform the way they collaborate and build more human workspaces.”