Forecast: Even more business meetings to be online

The trend from business meetings in-person to online will continue, according to a forecast. In 2019, workers globally spent on average 63% of meetings in-person. Now it is estimated to be 33% and by 2024 it will be 25% driven by remote work and changing workforce demographics, research and marketing firm Gartner predicts in a report about the importance of collaboration tools.

The increased remote working because of pandemic has been a boom in the use of collaboration tools. Close to 80% of workers are using such tools today, up from just over 50% in 2019 – an increase of 44% since the pandemic began.

“As IT leaders prepare for a mix of meeting modalities, it will be critical that they ensure equitable collaboration, tool and resource access for all meeting participants, regardless of location,” said Christopher Trueman, principal research analyst at the company“.

“Cloud-based meeting solutions and content service platforms can support this through offerings or integrations with technologies including virtual whiteboards, rich chat features, and recording and transcription capabilities.”

“As many organizations shift to a long-term hybrid workforce model, cloud-based, personal and team productivity technologies, along with collaboration tools, will form the core of a series of new work hubs that meet the requirements of various remote and hybrid workers.”