How always-on video conferencing connects your distributed team

When researchers from the MIT Media Lab set out to learn why some teams perform better than others, they followed companies from several different industries for six weeks.

What impacted productivity the most, they reported in Harvard Business Review, were a team’s energy and engagement outside formal meetings. “Social time turns out to be deeply critical to team performance, often accounting for more than 50% of positive changes.”

Based on this data, the MIT researchers recommended that one call center, for example, synchronize its employees’ coffee breaks.

• Average “handle time” (a key call center metric) decreased by more than 20% among lower-performing teams
• AHT decreased by 8% overall.
• The company rolled out newly synchronized breaks across its centers, forecasting $15 million in productivity increases.

How do you build a connected culture when your team is distributed?

Workplace culture is key to team productivity, and your ability to hire and retain great people.

Building camaraderie and a culture that inspires colleagues to work well together is tough for any organization. When your company grows, this only gets harder. This is especially true as you expand to multiple locations.

If you manage a distributed team, you know how many tools get used on a daily basis to keep people in sync: conference calls, chat platforms (Slack, HipChat, Flock), email, daily standups, weekly status meetings, scrum platforms, Kanban boards.

But most of these tools revolve around specific meetings, projects, or channels.

The hardest thing about managing a distributed team is missing out on the benefits of less structured interactions.

The idea that comes from a quick chat in the hallway.

The mentoring that happens when a senior engineer overhears a junior dev ask a question.

The efficiency of grabbing two colleagues for an impromptu trouble-shooting conversation.

An always-on video portal helps bring these casual, organic interactions to distributed teams.

What’s always on, and how do companies use it?

Always-on is an easy way to connect your company. It’s a new way to configure Pluot video conferencing hardware.

Let’s say you have offices in Chicago and New York.

Here’s all you have to do to create an always-on video portal between the two offices.

1. Set up Pluot video conferencing in both Chicago and New York. (It takes just a few minutes to set up Pluot. See the simple step-by-step instructions here.)
2. Let us know you want your Pluot TVs “always-on.” No sweat. We adjust a few switches in our back-end. You don’t have to mess with any settings.
3. From now on, when your TVs are on in Chicago and New York, they’re tuned to the same meeting and everybody can see each other.
4. Bonus: Pluot also has free software. So as an alternative to setting up your remote employees with Pluot hardware, they simply can use their computers to join always-on links. Pluot’s free on computers, so there’s no additional cost.

For example, your Chicago office might have an open-plan workspace. And in New York, your Pluot TV might be set up by the coffee machine.

• Someone in Chicago can walk by the TV and say hi to someone getting coffee in New York.

It’s fun to hear where our customers set up their Pluot TV portals. Lunch tables, water coolers, comfortable couches, home offices, on wheeled stands that move around the office…. However your team relaxes!

With always-on, remote meetings change in neat ways:

• Impromptu: Skip checking schedules and prearranging video call invitations. Just have each party walk up to the TV, and you’re ready to talk.
• Standing meetings: Start daily or weekly standing meetings on time with no tech set up required. (Just walk up to the TV.)
• Invite others: Want others outside of your always-on locations to join the meeting? No problem! Simply send them the meeting link. They just click and join.

How to set up always-on

While always-on can help build your team, it requires some resources to set up. Here are posts that describe both the benefits, as well as steps to put together your own system.

Pluot simplifies the always-on procurement, logistics, and setup. Pluot is plug-n-play hardware for conference rooms, as well as free software for remotes. It includes an easy always-on option. Anyone can set a Pluot up. We ship you everything you need except the TV.

A Pluot kit includes an HD camera, noise-canceling speaker/mic, and — crucially — a small Pluot box built especially for video conferencing. This dedicated box, built just for video calling, is key to making video conferencing always available and super easy.

And, by the way, don’t get us wrong: we think all video conferencing should be easier. Both always-on, as well as scheduled meetings. Pluot is designed around 1-click meetings. No downloads, no logins means scheduled meetings are simple and quick.

What does my always-on Pluot come with? (Can I use it for other meetings?)

Yes! Your Pluot TV is not limited to just meeting with your other Pluot TV, or other Pluot systems.

With a Pluot TV, you can talk to anyone in the world, with a full list of features:

• 1-click meeting links
• Free software, to use Pluot free on any computer
• Invite anyone. Send anyone in the world a link. They just click on the link, in Chrome, to join.
• Wireless screen shares to your TV
• Dual screen sharing in meetings. 2 different people can screen share at the same time
• Complete flexibility to join a meeting anywhere, any time.

A CEO who’s on the road can join the always-on link, on a computer. Just click in Chrome, and say hello to the office.

Read our always-on help article here. It explains how you can exit your Pluot TV from its usual always-on link, and put it into another meeting with anyone, anywhere, any time.

Afterwards, it’s simple to get back to your default always-on meeting.

How to get your team always-on!

• Order your Pluot here.
• Set it up with your TV in minutes.
• Tell us you want always-on. We configure your boxes remotely.
• Presto, you have an always-on video portal!

Have questions? Email help@pluot.co, or chat live with us at https://pluot.co. We’d be glad to hear what your team needs!

Cheers, from our distributed team to yours.