Organizations and businesses around the world have implemented preventive measures to avoid coronavirus. A key strategy for many of them has been the use of cloud meetings and team collaboration solutions instead of in-person meetings/working. Owing to the massive disruption caused by the virus, many companies have forced their workers to stay home.

Marketing as a function has experienced a major transformation. With the mainstreaming of the internet and social media, the pervasiveness of technology, and the world becoming a more combined place, marketing is no longer confined to conventional methods. Marketing has grown multi-dimensional. For each of the kinds of marketing, there is a business side, an analytics side, a creative side, an experiential side, and many more. Moreover, the intent could vary, for instance, some marketing operations are done solely to create leads while some could be done to build the brand name and ensure brand recall. Gone are the times when marketing choices were influenced by intuition and experience. Important marketing decisions are now determined by big data. Conversions cost per click (CPC), traffic sources—with so many potential variables to interpret, it's vital to identify the data that is most relevant to your company. Data-driven marketing choices can boost spending, ROI and provide better, faster results, and present a mathematical basis for marketing campaign effectiveness.

At Prysm (www.prysmsystems.com), we believe the hardest thing about work should be the work itself. Not the technology you use for meetings, not even the logistics of collaborating with your extended teams, whether you are trying to work from home or on travel. That's why our mission has been to remove the friction points that stand between you and getting important stuff done. We're passionate about creating products and solutions that help people work smarter — both together and alone, from office and home, on any display or device.

When you invite colleagues, customers, or prospects into your briefing room, do you have trouble keeping them engaged? Before I came to Prysm, I led a high-performing corporate creative team that worked tirelessly to create content for the business. But when it came time to present our progress, I had no choice other than to distill all that high-impact work onto PowerPoint slides that could be shown through a standard projector. Videos and websites became screenshots. eBooks became thumbnails. Digital experiences became static images. You get the idea: What was incredible content “in the wild” turned dull and one-dimensional in the briefing room. The lack of presentation options created similar challenges for my colleagues in sales, as well.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend Forrester's journey mapping workshop in their San Francisco office. It was a great mix of content and group exercises to give everyone hands-on experience mapping the journey of a customer. We had a pretty impressive journey map by the end of the afternoon!

Today’s workforce includes a variety of generational factions, from Baby Boomers, Gen Xers (like me!), and Millennials, all the way to those from the most recent cohort, dubbed “Gen Z.” On top of that, this particular 50+-year span encompasses a time characterized by unprecedented change in the workplace. Put it all together and it’s easy to see the enormous challenge CIOs now face: They must find solutions that satisfy not only different age groups, but also vastly different skill sets, experiences, and preferences.

It’s the beginning of a new year, and like many of you, I find this is a great time to jump-start my resolve to accomplish more and better — whether that means de-cluttering my desk, better managing my inbox or taking a hike to re-focus.

The word "collaboration" can conjure contrasting associations, depending on who you are and on your life experiences. Some of us may think of collaboration as a positive thing — a process in which we work with others (hopefully harmoniously) and, by virtue of teamwork, create results that are better than we could have achieved on our own. Others may bristle at the word, because it brings up memories of forced committees and coalitions, often ending with results that are inferior to those we might have achieved on our own.

While I've experienced both, my feeling is that the more refined the processes and technologies involved, the better the chance that the outcomes will be positive. The bad news is that the above are often lacking.

Once you’ve realized how important it is to invest in a digital workplace and have secured the budget you need to move forward with your plan, it’s time to begin looking for a collaboration solution to support this new way of work.

One of the most exciting things about working at Prysm is connecting with our customers who are using our technology in unique ways and who are continuing to push the boundaries of what it can do.

Prysm is laser-focused on helping companies develop digital transformation initiatives because we understand that leaders in the digital space are also revenue leaders. Case in point: a McKinsey & Company study¹ found that companies that wholeheartedly embrace digital technology — strategically, not just tactically  — pull in, on average, five times more revenue than digital laggards. No small potatoes. 

The number of remote workers is rising by the year. With the advancement of modern technology and an increasing understanding of how flexibility can improve performance and morale, this is a trend that is likely to surge in popularity.

Research* shows that today's employees can spend up to 80% of their workdays collaborating. As a result, meetings — our primary method of working together  — have become mere waypoints in an ongoing collaborative process. This is a major shift from the way we used to think about meetings, which we regarded as events with a beginning and an end.

Our marketing meetings at Prysm have several different purposes – campaign planning, design reviews, weekly status, one-on-one working sessions – the list goes on. The content we need to share in those meetings varies. With the recent release of co-browsing, we’ve been able to streamline the prep required for any meeting, as well as to dramatically enhance the meeting experience itself.

When you think of the word "collaboration," you probably think of meetings (online or offline), messaging, screen sharing, file sharing, and maybe even video conferencing. These activities have become not only standard in most business environments, but also a critical part of getting work done.

Outperforming your competition in a rapidly changing business climate requires a trifecta of humility, adaptability, and agility.

Humility helps you realize that perfection is a moving target and that success requires continuous evaluation and adjustment. (Or, in the immortal words of the band Kansas, "If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know.") This honest assessment clears the path for the next two key performance indicators.

Long-term relationships with customers are built on a foundation of trust, fostered by clients’ believing that you have their best interests at heart. This can be accomplished by helping them stay on top of the latest tech trends that drive business and bring value to their organizations.

There's a task that's universal in the vast majority of office work environments: reviewing documents, especially with a group. We do this all the time in marketing — with agencies, in team meetings, and when presenting mockups, brochures, and web pages to executives.  In most cases, the process is woefully inefficient.

I admit it. I'm addicted to pens and paper. I have specific pens that I use for lists, others that I use for sketching, some for work, some for personal use, some that I keep in my bag, and so on. I know what you're thinking: yes, I work for a tech company! But I love the feel of pen on paper. The colors help me stay organized. And I'm just a highly visual person. What can I say? It's my thing.