With so many different channels for communication, different business needs, and physical distance as a barrier, how can you best support a hybrid workforce?

During our Hear from a Peer webinar, we sat down with Lawrence Morrisson, head of IT at The Motley Fool, an organization dedicated to helping the world become smarter, happier, and richer through sound investment advice. He shared how their teams have managed to develop a robust and thriving hybrid work culture. Here are some key insights from our conversation.

How have your collaboration and communication needs evolved over the last decade?

In the beginning, it was like the Wild West. We were mostly an in-office culture back then, with open floor plan — no offices, not even for the CEO — with many conference rooms for meetings.

People would use whatever technology was most familiar to them, or whatever the team on the other side of the call was used to. Because of that we had all different connection options, and so we were trying to do screen sharing across those four or five different technologies with dongles that you would plug in, and it was a real headache. With the global presence that we have, it was clear that wasn’t going to scale.

We had to go with something simple and consistent. That’s when we found Zoom in the marketplace. So we tried it and we loved it.

How are your employees embracing this remote culture today?

We’ve committed to our employees that they can choose to go fully remote and are not required back in the office. And most employees have embraced that. It surprised us that we didn’t really skip a beat, productivity-wise. But it was a challenge to make sure we retained the special sauce of our culture that makes The Motley Fool such a rewarding place to work.

Our People Experience Team is focused on ensuring that Fools are building connections outside of their day-to-day work. Part of that is having social outlets and opportunities to learn, both professionally and personally. We’ve offered dozens of classes like gardening, beatboxing, bartending, active listening, and sushi making. We’ve also done events like virtual trick or treating on Halloween, pub trivia, escape rooms, meditation, and more.

As a result, more than 70% of our employees have participated in at least one “extracurricular” event in the last year. We find that when you’ve built a connection with another, even if it’s while doing a water tasting class (yes, seriously), you’re more likely to trust one another and collaborate successfully.

How are you using Zoom to support diversity, equity, and inclusion?

One of our guiding principles is test, learn, and iterate. Our People Experience Team has been tirelessly creative in providing a variety of remote experiences, enabled because of Zoom. We know not every Fool has the same interests, so it’s key to always try new things.

We know diverse teams make for stronger teams and better decision-making. We have ERGs (employee resource groups) set up to provide opportunities for like-minded Fools to share cultural moments and develop professional skills together all made available to everyone through Zoom.

What best practices or tips would you like to share with your peers?

Staying flexible is key — what we think we know today is almost certainly going to be different tomorrow. It’s going to change. Don’t get locked into a particular strategy. For example, we put all the various technical pieces in place that we needed to support a return to the office after COVID, and then we found that we were not getting the attendance that we thought we would. [So we gave] employees choice, flexibility, and trust.

There’s a very common misconception that people are going to be less productive if they’re not in the office, and I think that’s quite the opposite. So trust your people to get the job done.

If a colleague or industry peer with similar needs is evaluating Zoom, what would you tell them?

I really enjoy using Zoom — it’s very intuitive. It’s very flexible. If you’re going to go with Zoom, I would certainly recommend doing it across the board as we did.

I would also recommend doing a lot of communications leading up to your switch. We had a bunch of material prepared, as well as FAQs and best practices that we used to help our employees. We had a little graphic in the background of our conference room screens that asked participants if they wanted to share their screen. We also provided a link at the bottom that directed users to our in-house repository of documentation that we built out specifically to help everyone get onboarded with the product.

To learn more about how The Motley Fool is using Zoom to empower its hybrid workforce and reinforce its culture, check out the customer story.

Original story posted in Zoom Blog.

I'm an instructor at an online coding school. We use zoom as our classroom and use the breakout rooms when it's time for practices. It would be so wonderful if I could create templates or save breakout room setups in some way so I don't have to enter the same settings every single time. I think this would be a great feature for your next update! Thanks for your time.

Hello,

I am representing a Developer from the profession. We have Zoom Oauth App and using that app we have one product that connects with Zoom to create meetings. We are facing an issue when we connect Two accounts with the same account and the same Zoom Oauth App.It allows to use recently connected Zoom account only. If we disconnect which we are facing an issue, It will work while another start sending an error, error we are getting is:
401 Unauthorized` response:
{"code":124,"message":"Invalid access token."}

Let me know if we are missing anything here. Thanks

You can require all meetings to be secured with one of the following security options: a passcode, Waiting Room, or Only authenticated users can join meetings. These options provide additional protection and privacy for your meetings and help prevent uninvited guests from joining.

If no security option is enabled, Zoom will automatically secure all meetings with Waiting Room.

How to enforce meeting security settings:
--> Sign in to the Zoom Web Portal.
--> In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Account Settings.
--> Click the Meetings tab.
--> In the Security section, click the toggles to enable or disable security settings for users on the account, including the Waiting Room and its customization, meeting passcodes and their complexity, and authentication profiles to control who can join meetings hosted by your account.
(Optional) To prevent all users in your account from changing a setting, click the lock icon next to a toggle, and then click Lock to confirm the setting.

See the full article here:
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360059665892-Requiring-meetings-to-have-one-security-option

Welcome to the Customer Success Zoom Community Forum! Here, you'll find a vibrant and supportive community of Zoom enthusiasts, just like you. Whether you're a seasoned Zoom expert or new to the platform, this forum is the perfect place to share ideas, ask questions, and learn from one another. Our Zoom professionals are here to assist you with any queries related to Zoom! So, dive in, join the conversations, and make the most out of your Zoom experience. We're thrilled to have you here!

Current Health from Best Buy Health transformed its healthcare delivery by providing care-at-home offerings to patients, enabling them to access medical care on their terms. With their Hospital at Home solution, patients have the option to receive treatment from the comfort of their homes through video visits with trusted healthcare providers. Tom Roberts, the director of product management, highlights the importance of high-quality video communication for healthcare, which led them to integrate Zoom Meeting SDK into their solutions. The adoption not only improved the patient experience but also made it easier for providers to collaborate, offer interpreter services for non-English-speaking patients, and provide closed captioning for the hearing-impaired.

The enhanced reliability and accessibility of Zoom have been well-received by both patients and providers, leading to improved patient outcomes and positive feedback from nurses and healthcare professionals. Their full adoption has significantly sped up the implementation of their solutions, allowing them to focus on optimizing patient satisfaction and reducing the burden of healthcare costs. By embracing technology to connect patients and providers seamlessly, Current Health is transforming how healthcare is delivered, empowering patients and facilitating more efficient and convenient healthcare experiences.

You can learn more about it here.

Do you have any similar organizations or stories?

Opal HealthCare manages 80 residential aged Care Communities located in metro and regional areas across Australia. They have a key purpose: to bring joy to the people they care for.

These communities are a world away from the traditional idea of aged care, and Zoom is playing an instrumental role in how those living in aged care are thriving.

Roseanne Cartwright, Opal HealthCare’s Director of Communications and Community Engagement, says the COVID-19 pandemic has provided their team with a unique opportunity to find solutions that give residents special experiences even when they can’t interact with people in person.

“For our residents and families, the most difficult part of COVID is not being able to see one another in-person for, at times, many months,” Cartwright said. “So, for our residents, there was a gap in the connections they’d normally have.”

An answer in Zoom

The Opal HealthCare team decided the best way forward in helping residents cope with COVID restrictions – and missing seeing their loved ones – was to roll out an additional 340 tablet devices to their Care Communities.

They also trained more than 360 team members to use Zoom’s video communications platform, and the benefits were immediate. According to Cartwright, Zoom enabled residents and families to connect daily or weekly – or whenever they wanted to chat to friends and family – via video calling.

“The ability to see your loved ones face to face, and to have that peace of mind, knowing that they look good and they’re comfortable – this has been enormously important to both our families and our residents,” Cartwright said.

“At Opal HealthCare, our residents represent 26 different nationalities, who are used to talking in their own language. For those families to continue to connect and be able to speak together in their first language with no barriers, has been a great relief to them. One [resident] was able to meet her great-granddaughter for the first time over a Zoom call. These moments are just so important.”

Tech has no age limits

What’s been inspirational for the team at Opal HealthCare is seeing how well technology is able to play a role in residential aged care. Residents who might never have used any kind of tech before, are now embracing Zoom and willing to learn as much as they can.

“With Zoom, many residents are getting so excited about what they can do. They’re feeling really included in the community because now they’re using the same technology that their grandchildren are using,” Cartwright said.

“Our residents love using the iPads for their Zoom calls, and they know just how to do it. We’ve got specially designed cases, which are easy for them to hold, and we have team members ready to help when necessary.

“We have a great deal of enthusiasm from residents who are looking forward to their daily or weekly Zoom calls. And another great opportunity via Zoom is being able to connect team members from across our Opal network around Australia.”

Opal HealthCare’s Chief Information Officer, Tan Nguyen, says residents have enjoyed more than 700,000 “Zoom minutes,” so there’s no doubt their love of Zoom will go well beyond the pandemic.

“I think it’s really exciting that residents, of any age, can come into our Care Community wanting to learn a new skill: technology. At Opal, we are lucky to have innovation as one of the key pillars within our strategy,” Nguyen said.

“There are many examples of how residents have adapted to using Zoom, but it’s also beyond just interacting and talking with their family members. There have been times when a resident hasn’t been able to attend a wedding, for example, so the wedding has been streamed over Zoom. It feels very fulfilling for us that we’re able to bring them that experience, all through the use of Zoom.”

The future of aged care

The Opal HealthCare team is working to further improve resident care, building out its innovation team so that Opal remains at the forefront of aged care. Tech – and Zoom – will continue to play a major role in future plans.

Roseanne says that when it comes to Zoom in aged care, there are endless possibilities.

“There is no stopping us. Our innovation team is working incredibly hard. What can we do next? When people think of Opal HealthCare, we want them to think that everything is possible,” Roseanne said.

“For residents in our care, who are increasingly tech-savvy, we’ve got to be at the forefront. We want them to think, no matter what their situation is, everybody has the opportunity to live in our care with love, purpose, and belonging – and being able to continue to do the things that are unique to them.”

To learn more about how Zoom can elevate your business communications and services you can provide, schedule a demo with a Zoom product specialist today!