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How can AI improve remote work communications?
Learn three AI remote work use cases that can address the communications challenges of remote work and improve productivity and collaboration.
Whether employees work from home by choice or by force, the remote work model has its share of challenges. Not everyone is cut out for the isolation that comes with working from home. And, for many knowledge workers, conditions at home are less than ideal compared to working at a quiet desk in the office.
This is a key concern for organizations, and many are taking different approaches to keep home-based workers productive and engaged. Deploying various forms of technology is one, and AI is emerging to help remote workers communicate effectively with customers and their office-based colleagues. To illustrate, consider the following AI and remote work use cases.
1. Smart video
Video became a key enabling technology for remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it provides an immersive experience that makes communications more personal. AI enhances video with new forms of intelligence to make meetings more democratic and inclusive.
One example is changing screen layouts in real time to ensure that home-based participants are represented equally as those in the meeting room. Not only does this enable remote participants to communicate more effectively in the meeting, but it makes them feel more part of the team.
2. Meeting notes and summaries
Speech to text is one of the strongest enterprise AI use cases as the accuracy is now high enough to be used in one-on-one conversations and group settings, like a meeting. Meetings can now be transcribed in real time, which eliminates the need to take notes and participants can be more engaged during the meeting. This is especially useful for home-based workers who can only follow along virtually.
Another AI remote work benefit is meeting summaries, where the employee uses search words or phrases to extract only the relevant parts of the meeting. This makes remote collaboration more efficient since employees won't need to be present at every meeting.
3. Home-based worker experience
AI offers many ways to minimize the drawbacks of working from the bedroom or kitchen table. Most remote workers are adapting on the fly to a home-based setting that is not optimized for full-time work. Common issues include using an old PC, not having a dedicated workspace, and being in crowded and often noisy quarters. All of these can be a drag on productivity, and this is where AI can make a difference.
Most collaboration platforms now include AI-driven features to improve home-based UX, such as noise suppression, blurred backgrounds, dynamically adjusted lighting and autoframing, to keep the webcam fixed on your face as you move about or stand up to stretch during meetings.
