According to a recent Forbes article, the COVID-19 pandemic propelled the world 50 years into the future, ushering in a predominantly virtual environment. And as the world has gone virtual, so has meeting room support.

This has a major impact on support teams – no longer confined to maintaining a finite number of organization-wide meeting spaces, but rather a widely dispersed workforce. Yet, despite the shifting environment, support teams must provide the same level of support – whether in-person or virtual. Although this may seem impossible, it’s not.

How to ensure you’re meeting virtual support needs

1. Document all equipment

Virtual environments often generate a variety of equipment challenges since employees working in disparate settings use a variety of equipment. So, solving one employee’s hardware or software issues might not solve another’s similar issue. Further, undocumented technology and equipment wreak havoc on support teams, as they lack full visibility into the problem at hand.

Overcoming these challenges requires a clear, 360-degree picture of all equipment being used across the organization, both in-office and remotely. Think cameras, microphones, computers, monitors and even lighting. By understanding which employees operate what equipment, support teams can be properly trained to provide accurate and timely support; prepared when issues arise by fully understanding the tech stack of the room/individual; and equipped to identify common support trends and issues so they proactively maintain what is needed most.

2. Prep teams to support multiple meeting platforms

To continue meeting customer needs, many offices are moving to technology- and platform-agnostic environments. As a result, employees find themselves operating across multiple meeting platforms daily.

Traditionally, support has been limited to the platform adopted by the organization but, as the world has gone virtual, teams are now asked to maintain additional meeting platforms that their employees, partners, and prospects, may use. Specifically, think Webex, Zoom, and Teams all being relied upon to conduct business on a daily basis.

To succeed in this environment, support teams must ensure they are properly trained on all relevant meeting platforms and understand the common problems that can arise in each. Doing so will allow teams to quickly and accurately resolve support issues.

3. Educate employees on virtual support policies

Regardless of changes brought on in recent years, customer expectations are rising. And support teams must ensure their staff members clearly understand how remote support policies work. Therefore, it’s critical to clearly define processes, including service-level agreements (SLAs), to set expectations while educating employees on relevant procedures. Consider, for example, adding formal employee training for remote support processes and revamping your FAQs for common problems in the virtual environment.

The need to support virtual work will not go away

In sum, support teams must understand that today’s virtual environment is not a short-term thing: it is here to stay. Employees may return to the office. But even when they do, meetings could continue taking place virtually. Regardless, they will expect the same level of service they had before – when in-office was the norm. By ironing out virtual support processes to create a seamless experience whether virtual or in-person, support teams can ensure they are prepared to meet employee needs, no matter the situation.