IT Leadership Interview: Why Enterprise AI Fails and How to Scale With HCLSoftware

Watch on Youtube.
In this session, UC Today’s Kieran Devlin sits down with Kalyan Kumar (KK), Chief Product Officer at HCL Software, to diagnose a critical issue facing the Global 2000: the inability to move AI from the lab to the real world. With so many firms stuck running endless experiments without delivering hard business outcomes, this conversation offers the architectural blueprint needed to break through the deadlock. KK shares why the secret to AI success isn’t actually about the AI itself—it’s about how you manage the data that feeds it.
Everyone is rushing to roll out AI, but few are seeing the productivity gains promised. Why? According to KK, it’s not an AI problem—it’s a data problem. The enterprise landscape is a “tangled web” of disparate applications, and without a data-first operating model, deploying autonomous agents often results in simply making bad decisions faster.
In this deep dive, we explore why modernization doesn’t mean ripping out “classic” systems like mainframes, but rather building an orchestration layer that connects them to new intelligence. KK explains why the future isn’t just about picking an LLM, but about mastering metadata and preparing for a multi-agent world where governance is non-negotiable.
Key discussion points:
The Data-First Imperative: Why you must untether data from applications and master metadata before AI can succeed—treating your enterprise like a well-organized library rather than a chaotic storage room.
Solving the Integration Paradox: How to bridge modern AI agents with “classic” core systems (ERPs, Mainframes) using universal orchestration rather than forcing a total rip-and-replace modernization.
Governance in a Multi-Agent World: Preparing for the rise of Agent-to-Agent (A2A) communication and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to prevent autonomous agents from creating conflict.

 

VOSS v25.3 Upgrades AI and Security for Enterprise Collaboration

VOSS has released Version 25.3 of its digital workplace management platform, bringing new features for artificial intelligence, security, and monitoring.
The update targets enterprises using Microsoft 365, Cisco Webex, and mixed-vendor unified communications systems – aiming to provide a single architecture for automation, analytics, and operational oversight.
“With VOSS v25.3, organisations gain a more intelligent, secure, and operationally efficient platform for managing their collaboration and digital workplace environments,” said Dan Payne, Chief Technology Officer at VOSS.

By expanding AI-driven automation, strengthening governance across Microsoft ecosystems, and deepening visibility into user experience and service health, VOSS continues to deliver innovation that will help our customers scale with confidence.”

The platform replaces script-based workflows and multiple point tools with a centralised management layer.
This allows administrators to manage complex collaboration environments more consistently. In addition, consolidating monitoring, automation, and analytics reduces the risk of errors that often occur when tools are disconnected. It also ensures policies and updates are applied consistently across platforms.
Upgraded AI Assistant and Troubleshooting Workflows
Wingman, VOSS’s AI assistant, has been significantly updated. It now supports an agentic chat interface that preserves conversation history, shows real-time task progress, and allows multiple threads to run in parallel. Each thread can maintain its own context. Administrators can also trigger tasks directly from Wingman, reducing the need to navigate menus manually.
The assistant has broader access to data across monitoring, analytics, and other platform components. This allows it to respond to queries spanning multiple domains. Version 25.3 also introduces a guided troubleshooting workflow for Microsoft Teams call quality. The workflow leads administrators through structured diagnostic steps to identify and resolve issues more efficiently.
Microsoft Security Controls and Teams Segmentation
Version 25.3 extends VOSS’s segmentation and role-based access controls to Microsoft security products, including Defender for Office and Defender for Endpoint. Enterprises can assign segmented administrative access to local teams. This allows teams to complete security tasks without requiring global administrator privileges. Dashboards link security metrics to organisational structures, giving enterprises a clearer view of security performance.
The platform also introduces user-based segmentation for Microsoft Teams call data. IT teams can view call performance by region, department, brand, or user group. They can drill down into segments where issues appear. Delegated administrators only see the data relevant to their segment. As a result, larger organisations can distribute responsibilities safely and identify patterns affecting collaboration quality more quickly.
Monitoring and Analytics Across Collaboration Platforms
Digital experience monitoring has been enhanced with synthetic testing agents. These agents simulate user activity across Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex. They track logins, calls, meetings, and messaging, providing a continuous view of service performance. The data includes network and local conditions that may not appear in cloud provider telemetry. Historical data allows IT teams to identify trends in service quality and address potential problems before they escalate.
Webex analytics dashboards have also been updated. They now cover users, workspaces, devices, and licences, supporting both site-level and organisation-wide views. Administrators can examine usage patterns and performance across distributed environments.
The platform also adds support for additional virtualisation systems, including VMware ESXi 8, Hyper-V, and Nutanix. Improvements to SNMP data management allow enterprises to monitor hardware-based systems more effectively. This provides flexibility for organisations with mixed infrastructure and simplifies deployment across large IT estates.
Future-Focused Roadmap for AI and Governance
VOSS describes Version 25.3 as part of a broader roadmap focused on AI, governance, and user experience. The company plans to expand automation and analytics capabilities in future updates. These enhancements are designed to help organisations manage increasingly complex digital workplaces.
Overall, the update provides a single interface for automation, monitoring, AI-assisted workflows, and security management. It streamlines administration, reduces manual effort, and gives IT teams clearer insights into collaboration performance. In practical terms, this means organisations can maintain service levels across multiple sites and thousands of users, while gaining a more complete view of operational health and potential risk areas.

 

RTO Risks: How to Spot the Pitfalls Stalling your Rollout

The return-to-office movement is gaining momentum across corporate workplaces. What started as tentative requests for employees to come back a few days a week has evolved into firm mandates, with up to 70 percent of companies now implementing formal RTO policies. 
Yet, despite this push back to the office often being framed as an initiative to boost productivity and company culture, a 2025 Gallup poll found that current employee engagement in the US has dropped to a 10-year low. 
The reason for this decline isn’t just due to the reintroduction of commutes or their monetary and mental costs for employees. Many are being asked to return to offices that simply can’t accommodate them, which is adding additional stress to their workday. Amazon’s recent experience illustrates the problem perfectly: the tech giant had to pump the brakes on its RTO rollout when it discovered there weren’t enough desks for returning workers. Employees complained that offices and meeting rooms were even lacking basic furniture like chairs. 
For John Ringis, Director of Physical Security at New Era Technologies, there is nothing “more frustrating” than that scenario of “going to the office only to find out that you don’t have a place to sit.” When employees are already resistant to giving up remote work flexibility, showing up to an office that can’t properly support their workflows becomes the final straw. That’s why companies implementing RTO need to make sure they are prepared. Get it wrong on day one, and employees may never fully commit to returning. 
So what can companies do to successfully welcome workers back to the office, and how can they understand their workplace’s readiness for the move? 
When Dormant Systems Meet Full Occupancy 
Many organizations are discovering that years of remote work have meant their office infrastructure has taken a back seat. Even if the technology is still working, new innovations, particularly in UC-based AI copilots, mean the infrastructure they had is “no longer up to the current standards that it should be,” explains Salik Makda, Director of Network Engineering at New Era Technologies. Those standards now include higher performance throughput, expanded user capacity, and advanced workload handling capabilities. 
The problem extends beyond the network infrastructure hosting the virtual meeting to the physical space it is taking place. Meeting room allocation, which was adequate for occasional use when attendance was lower, now faces increased demand, creating booking conflicts. This means that many workers experience a decline in meeting quality as they scramble for places to take calls or, in a worst-case scenario, are left without the tools to properly conduct them, leading to rescheduling and delays. 
Network infrastructure that once handled minimal on-site traffic now buckles under the weight of hundreds of simultaneous video calls, file transfers, and cloud application access. Meetings that were rarely missed at home are now subject to delays stemming from space shortages. 
When workers come into the office, they’re expecting an equal or better experience than when they’re at home. However, if workers discover that their home office setup outperforms their corporate workplace, the value proposition of returning evaporates. 
That’s why companies need to ensure their office is ready for RTO. This should “start with a workplace readiness report,” Ringis explains. Although this readiness report will look slightly different for each company, Ringis recommends starting with the network and evaluating “the condition of the meeting rooms and the meeting space” to avoid these common pitfalls currently plaguing companies. 
Test Your Infrastructure, Not Your Employees’ Patience 
Once companies recognize the need for a workplace assessment, the question becomes how to actually execute it. Ringis recommends a structured approach: “First of all, have a strategy and a vision of what you want this return-to-office environment to look like, and then send some resources into those individual offices and facilities to truly assess what is there.” This means comparing your current infrastructure against your RTO vision and identifying the gaps. 
For network infrastructure, organizations need to calculate whether their internet circuits can handle the bandwidth demands of full occupancy. As Makda explains, most of the collaboration now happens over the cloud, “so you want to make sure you have that back-end infrastructure built out properly.” This isn’t about whether circuits are technically functional, it’s about whether they can support hundreds of employees simultaneously accessing cloud applications and running video conferences. 
Wireless infrastructure like Wi-Fi demands particular scrutiny because modern work depends on mobility. “Users are mobile. They’re not tied to a single desk,” says Makda. Therefore, companies need to “make sure their “devices connect seamlessly when moving across different rooms.” This requires comprehensive coverage so people can work anywhere in the office without connectivity drops. 
Such connectivity is important considering the BYOD nature of meeting rooms and collaboration spaces, where users bring their own laptops or phones to connect to the AV systems. However, the issue of occupancy still needs to be addressed so that employees are able to gain access to a meeting room when they need it. Physical security systems offer an unexpected advantage in this process. Beyond protecting employees and assets, modern access control and video surveillance platforms generate valuable data about how spaces are actually used. “We can use data from our card access solution to see who’s coming and going from the building, how often they’re coming and going, what time of day they’re coming and going,” Ringis explains. This data reveals actual occupancy patterns versus planned schedules, enabling better meeting room allocation and resource planning. 
Interpreting all this data and turning insights into a cohesive workplace plan requires both technical and strategic expertise. That’s why working with a managed service provider like New Era Technologies can streamline this assessment. MSPs bring expertise in evaluating both the physical security elements that reveal capacity patterns and the network infrastructure needed to deliver modern workplace performance. They identify gaps between current conditions and the vision for return-to-work, create a roadmap for closing those gaps, and then provide the technology to facilitate this new experience before employees arrive in force. 
Building a Future-Ready Workplace 
RTO is a big undertaking, one that many companies won’t have taken lightly. Yet for those that have weighed the options and decided it’s right for them, they must ensure the office is ready for the return of staff. Otherwise, they risk a slower start, fiercer resistance, and likely a workforce that is less efficient than when they worked from home. 
Conducting a readiness assessment is therefore an essential first step. With it, companies can see what new network, connectivity and meeting room requirements they will need to have in place in order to avoid the common pitfalls seen with RTO. 
For organizations that get this right, the payoff extends beyond simply avoiding failure. A properly prepared office environment delivers the collaboration advantages that companies claim to seek from RTO policies: better spontaneous interactions, stronger team cohesion, and more effective in-person meetings.  
While competitors struggle with subpar workplaces that drive employees away, organizations that invest in readiness can actually realize the cultural and collaborative benefits that make returning to the office worthwhile.   
 

 

Salesforce Launches Slackbot as Personal AI Agent to Eliminate Context-Switching

Salesforce has launched a completely rebuilt version of Slackbot that automates tasks previously requiring multiple app switches and manual effort.
Available now for Business+ and Enterprise+ customers through a phased rollout, the new Slackbot AI agent can draft documents, schedule meetings, surface information from conversations, and pull data from connected systems using natural language commands. The company positions it as a productivity solution to the growing problem of “agent sprawl”—employees juggling multiple AI tools without a unified interface.
Slackbot: From Passive Summarization to Active Automation
Slackbot has been part of Slack since the platform launched in August 2013, handling scripted responses to preset questions and setting reminders through /remind commands.
A major upgrade to the platform came in winter 2023 when Slack AI entered pilot, adding features like thread summarization and channel recaps. By February 2024, these tools were generally available, but they were passive. Users clicked “Summarize” or “Search Answers” to get information, then had to act on it separately.
What’s different now is that Slackbot can complete tasks without handing work back to the user. Ask it to draft meeting notes from a discussion and it produces a document you can refine. Tell it to schedule a meeting and it checks calendars and sends invites. Request information about a project and it searches across channels, files, and connected systems.
How Slackbot Enables Productivity Gains
Sinan Deriş, Head of Beast Games Marketing at MrBeast, reported that Slackbot saves him “at bare minimum, 90 minutes a day.” He cited a specific example: asking it to create a canvas for a meeting.
“In 17 seconds it’s better than I could ever do. It tells me next steps, saving time and money.”
The productivity gains come from three areas: eliminating context-switching between apps, automating repetitive document creation, and surfacing information without manual search.
For information retrieval, the Slackbot AI agent uses natural language queries to search across conversations, files, and connected systems. Instead of remembering which channel discussed budget decisions or which document contains project timelines, employees ask directly. The agent respects permission controls, only accessing information users are authorized to see.
For content creation, it drafts meeting notes, project updates, and briefs through conversational refinement. Users provide rough direction, then iterate until the output matches their needs.
For task management, it handles scheduling by checking calendars, surfaces priorities, and sets reminders. For Salesforce customers, it can pull CRM data to generate customer briefings that combine account history with recent Slack discussions.
Solving Agent Sprawl Through Orchestration
The automation strategy goes beyond individual productivity features. Salesforce is positioning Slackbot as an orchestration layer for multiple AI agents.
As companies deploy separate AI agents for sales operations, HR queries, IT support, and other specialized functions, employees face a new productivity drain: remembering which agent handles which task and switching between different AI interfaces.
Slackbot is designed to eliminate this. Employees ask once in natural language, and it either handles the request directly or routes it to the appropriate specialized agent—whether that’s Agentforce for customer data, a custom HR agent, or a third-party service management tool.
Christine McHone, Global Enterprise TMT Leader at Slalom, said:
“Instead of switching between apps and losing my train of thought, I can stay in Slack and keep moving. It has completely changed how efficiently I work.”
This orchestration approach differs from competitors. Microsoft Copilot automates tasks within Office applications. Google Gemini focuses on Workspace productivity. Slack is betting on conversation as the coordination layer—where work gets directed before flowing into specialized systems.
The Productivity Platform Competition
The collaboration platform market has moved quickly toward automation-focused AI over the past 18 months.
Microsoft Copilot costs $30 per user per month and automates document creation, data analysis, and email management within Office apps. Google Gemini automates content generation and email workflows within Workspace, available as an add-on to existing tiers.
Zoom launched AI Companion 3.0 in December 2025, automating multi-step workflows including meeting summaries, task extraction, and follow-up actions. It costs $10 per month standalone or comes included in paid plans.
Atlassian‘s Rovo agents automate support workflows and can now operate inside Slack through integration, searching across Jira and Confluence. This is the type of third-party automation Salesforce envisions Slackbot coordinating.
All the major platforms are building toward the same productivity model: conversational agents that automate work across systems. The difference is which layer they control and how effectively they eliminate context-switching.

 

Checking in on the RCS Business Messaging Hype: Is it the Enterprise’s New Currency?

If you were to conduct a forensic audit of your organization’s current SMS strategy, you would likely uncover a channel in crisis. Once the gold standard for immediacy, boasting open rates that email marketers could only dream of, the humble text message has become a victim of its own utility. Cluttered with delivery notifications, two-factor authentication codes, and a rising tide of sophisticated phishing attempts, the consumer inbox has become a low-trust environment. That’s why RCS business messaging promises a renaissance of engagement.
According to new research released at Twilio’s SIGNAL London conference, the answer lies in the rapid maturation of Rich Communication Services (RCS). The data suggests that for IT leaders and CX strategists, the shift to RCS could signify a fundamental restoration of digital trust.

Los Angeles Rams Leverage RCS Messaging to Transform Fan Engagement and Digital Operations
Twilio Bets Big on RCS: Why Verified Messaging Could be the Next Battleground for Enterprise Trust

The Economics of Attention and Why RCS Business Messaging Can Change the Narrative
The headline metrics from the Twilio research offer a compelling business case for the CFO. Organizations currently deploying RCS reported a significant increase in pickup rates compared to standard SMS, a 27 percent jump. In the modern attention economy, where engagement gains are typically measured in fractions of a percentage point, a double-digit efficiency gain is a striking figure that warrants investigation.
But the driver of this growth is legitimacy. Unlike SMS, which often originates from cryptic short codes that bad actors easily spoof, RCS operates on a framework of verified identity. Respondents to the survey cited “trust-building capabilities” as the primary differentiator. When a consumer receives a message featuring a verified sender logo, a specific brand color palette, and a “verified” checkmark, the cognitive load of assessing risk is removed.
It’s hardly a bold claim that trust is the foundation of every successful customer relationship. RCS aspires to offer verified sender information and secure, personalised interactions.
For the CISO, this elevates RCS business messaging from a marketing luxury to a security imperative. Meanwhile, for the CMO, it ensures brand integrity remains intact at the point of delivery.
The Apple Factor and Market Ubiquity
While the Twilio data highlights the engagement benefits, the broader market context makes the timing of this shift critical. For years, the adoption of RCS was hindered by the “green bubble” divide, as these rich features were broken when sent to an iPhone, reverting to standard, pixelated MMS.
However, with Apple’s recent integration of the RCS standard into iOS, the fragmentation that once plagued enterprise messaging strategies has largely evaporated. This interoperability means that brands can now design rich, interactive experiences with the confidence that they will render correctly for the vast majority of their customer base, regardless of device. The unification of the ecosystem has transformed RCS from an Android-specific feature into a universal channel.
The findings of Twilio’s survey felt like a reaffirmation of RCS’s nascent promise.
Beyond “Texting”: The Operational Pivot
While the marketing applications are obvious, the deeper value of RCS business messaging lies in operational efficiency, naturally a key concern for COOs looking to streamline customer service costs. The survey highlights that enterprises are moving beyond simple notifications, with nearly a third of active users deploying the channel specifically for customer support and service.
Consider the operational difference in a standard utility outage scenario. In the legacy SMS model, a plain text informs the customer of an outage. The customer, frustrated and wanting details, immediately calls the support line, which drives up wait times and the cost per contact.
In the RCS model, that same notification might arrive with a branded map visualization of the outage area embedded directly in the chat. A carousel of interactive buttons provides immediate options, including “View ETA,” “Report Hazard,” and “Chat with Agent.” The customer gets the information they need without leaving the messaging app. The result is not just a better experience, but call deflection. The shift from passive reading to active resolution is where the true ROI resides.
The Knowledge Arbitrage
Despite the clear operational and reputational benefits, the market remains inefficient. The research reveals a significant “adoption gap” that agile organizations can capitalize on. Nearly half of the professionals surveyed cited a lack of organizational knowledge as a barrier to entry, while another significant portion pointed to slow internal policy shifts.
This sluggishness in the broader market signposts an arbitrage opportunity. While competitors debate the technicalities of migration or remain stuck in the inertia of legacy SMS contracts, forward-thinking organizations can establish a presence on the channel before it becomes crowded.
Final Takeaway on Twilio’s Survey and the RCS Business Messaging Hype
For the last decade, “meeting the customer where they are” meant sending a text because everyone had a phone. That logic is now comfortably outdated. Today, the customer resides in a headspace of skepticism. They are wary of unverified links, tired of generic blasts, and protective of their data.
If your fraud team is losing sleep over phishing, and your marketing team is losing sleep over engagement, they are likely searching for the same solution. RCS business messaging is a prominent upgrade to the carrier network, yes, but it is also a digital handshake.

 

Meta Reportedly Set to Axe 10% of Reality Labs Jobs

Meta is reportedly preparing to cut around 10 percent of staff in its Reality Labs division – with Metaverse and virtual reality teams expected to take the largest hit.
The move, first reported by The New York Times highlights how the company is pivoting toward artificial intelligence and away from immersive VR projects – a shift that mirrors broader changes across the tech industry.
Reality Labs, which employs roughly 15,000 people, has received extensive investment over the years.
Despite this, it has struggled to achieve mainstream consumer adoption.
Sources familiar with internal discussions say the layoffs could be announced this week.
AI Ambitions Reshape Meta’s Reality Labs Strategy
The reported cuts come as Meta increases investment in artificial intelligence.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly redirecting funds to data centre build-outs, advanced computing infrastructure, and the recruitment of top AI talent.
Executives are said to be tightening 2026 budgets to free up resources for AI initiatives.
These initiatives include work by Meta’s advanced research unit, TBD Lab, which focuses on building next-generation AI systems.
This strategic shift reflects a larger trend in the tech sector.
Companies are prioritizing AI and cloud technologies even when it requires scaling back long-term moonshot projects like fully immersive virtual worlds.
Within Reality Labs, AI is increasingly the primary driver of investment decisions, product development, and workforce planning.
Transitioning resources from VR to AI signals a recalibration of what Meta considers the future of computing and social interaction.
The Metaverse Struggle Continues
Meta’s metaverse projects have encountered repeated adoption and growth challenges.
Despite billions of dollars spent on VR hardware and virtual social worlds, consumer uptake has remained limited.
Analysts have questioned the long-term return on investment, with metaverse budgets already scaled back in 2025.
Earlier Reality Labs reductions included cuts to VR gaming teams and internal studios, highlighting a scaling back of projects that have struggled to find sustainable audiences.
Meanwhile, augmented reality and wearable technology teams, such as those working on Ray-Ban smart glasses with integrated AI assistants, are reportedly less affected.
Those devices have seen stronger market adoption and are emerging as Meta’s more commercially viable hardware platform.
The contrast between VR struggles and AR/wearable successes highlights a strategic shift.
Meta appears to be moving away from immersive, resource-intensive VR worlds and toward AI-powered wearables that integrate more naturally into everyday life.
This could position Meta to compete more effectively with Apple, Google, and other tech giants in the emerging AR/AI wearable space – while also mitigating the high costs and limited adoption that VR projects continue to face.
In addition, wearable devices may help Meta generate revenue faster while keeping the metaverse concept alive in smaller, more manageable steps. As a result, the company may maintain long-term consumer engagement without over-investing in underperforming VR projects.
Tech Industry Layoffs Show a Wider Trend
Meta’s reported layoffs are part of a broader wave of workforce reductions across the tech sector as companies adjust to changing markets and AI-first priorities.
Microsoft announced two rounds of layoffs in 2025. The first round cut about 6,000 employees, focusing on efficiency and prioritization of AI and cloud services. Later that year, the company implemented an additional 9,000 job cuts – roughly 4 percent of its workforce – to further streamline operations.
Amazon also announced significant cuts in 2025, reducing around 14,000 corporate roles in what the company described as a push to eliminate redundancies and accelerate AI-driven automation across its business.
Earlier in 2025, Meta itself conducted layoffs within Reality Labs, affecting teams tied to Oculus Studios and other VR projects as part of initial structural adjustments. In addition, Meta confirmed cuts affecting over 300 employees at its Menlo Park, California headquarters in 2025, connected to shifts within its AI and superintelligence research units.
This reflects a wider trend in which tech companies are reducing headcount in traditional or underperforming divisions while redirecting investment toward AI, automation, cloud and other high-priority technologies.
Data tracking suggests that tens of thousands of tech jobs were eliminated across software, hardware, cloud and services sectors in 2025 as businesses adapted to cost pressures and strategic shifts, with analysts predicting this pattern will continue throughout 2026.
Meta has said it is not abandoning the metaverse entirely – but the layoffs suggest a serious strategic recalibration.
For employees, particularly those working on VR projects, the message is clear – AI-first initiatives now dominate the company’s strategy, and projects without a direct path to scale or profitability are under increasing scrutiny.
UC Today contacted Meta for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. 

 

The End of ‘Busy’: How to Use Task Management Apps to Improve Team Productivity

Task management apps used to be straightforward: digital to-do lists where you’d write down what needed doing and tick boxes when it was done. But walk into any modern workplace and you’ll find something quite different. These platforms have become the backbone of how teams get work done, particularly for leaders juggling distributed teams, infrastructure projects, and vendor relationships.
The challenge isn’t finding a task management app—there are dozens of solid options. The challenge is using one effectively. Because while these tools promise to make teams more productive, plenty of organizations find themselves drowning in notifications, buried under status updates, and somehow busier than before they started.
So what’s changed? And more importantly, how do you actually use these apps to improve team productivity rather than just adding another layer of digital noise?
The Real Problem: Too Many Tools
The average knowledge worker now juggles up to 11 different applications daily, and every switch between these tools costs time and mental energy.
As Zeb Evans, CEO of ClickUp, put it during the December 2025 launch of ClickUp 4.0:
“Work sprawl is the silent killer of productivity. Teams are drowning in disconnected tools and workflows.”
The numbers back this up. Context switching between applications costs teams roughly 2.1 hours per day—over 10 hours per week lost just navigating between platforms. For UC&C teams managing everything from infrastructure upgrades to vendor contracts, this fragmentation is expensive.
How to Actually Improve Team Productivity with Task Management Apps
Stop Managing Work, Start Automating It
In 2025 task management apps largely stopped being passive and became active participants in getting work done.
“We are in a perfect spot for customers to change how they work and actually do work for them instead of just managing it,” Casey George, Chief Revenue Officer at Monday.com, explained during the company’s Q3 2025 earnings call.
But what does this look like in practice? Instead of manually updating project statuses, configure workflows that do it automatically when tasks are marked complete. Rather than writing meeting summaries, let the system generate them from your video conferences.
Put Everything in One Place
This sounds obvious, but most teams still don’t do it. They use one app for chat, another for tasks, a third for documentation, and wonder why information gets lost.
Zeb Evans argues the era of specialized tools is ending: “We believe the future of work is convergence—where you buy all software and AI from one platform.”
Conduct a tool audit. Map where your team stores information, tracks tasks, and communicates. If you’re using separate platforms for different functions, you’re creating friction. Consider consolidating them.
This is particularly important for UC&C teams managing rollouts across multiple time zones. When vendor contracts, deployment schedules, and technical specifications all live in one place, cross-functional collaboration gets significantly easier.
Protect Time for Actual Work
Task management apps are supposed to make you more productive, but they often just make you busier. Dustin Moskovitz, CEO of Asana, addressed this in an October 2025 interview with Stratechery, arguing instead for “structured workflows where AI acts as a filter”.
“The structure makes you more successful,” Moskovitz explained. Well-designed workflows mean you’re not constantly responding to notifications—the system handles routine matters and only surfaces what genuinely needs your attention.
Measure What Actually Matters
Most teams measure productivity wrong. They count tasks completed, hours logged, tickets closed. But these metrics just encourage people to look busy.
At Atlassian’s Team ’25 conference in April 2025, co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes challenged organizations to rethink their approach.
“We must kill the ideas and processes that no longer serve us to free up energy for what’s next.”
Instead of counting how many tasks individuals complete, track how long work takes to move through your system and use your platform’s reporting features to identify these bottlenecks.
Getting Implementation Right
Start with objectives: Before rolling out a platform, define what productivity actually means for your organization. Is it faster project delivery? Better resource utilization? Improved visibility? Your answer will determine which features matter.
Keep it simple: Excessive customization creates confusion. Establish standard workflows first and let teams customize later once they understand the basics.
Fix your notifications: Default settings are almost always too aggressive. Most teams need far fewer notifications than they think, so configure yours to respect focus time.
Integrate properly: Modern platforms connect with Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack. Use these integrations so task updates flow naturally into your team’s existing communication patterns rather than creating yet another place to check.
What Good Looks Like
Monday.com reported customers are “saving 1.5 billion minutes every year by automating 380 million tasks.” Your team likely won’t operate at that scale, but the principle holds: effective task management should demonstrably reduce time spent on administrative work.
The organizations succeeding in 2026 aren’t necessarily using the fanciest tools. They’re using their tools strategically: consolidating platforms to reduce friction, automating administrative work to reclaim time, protecting focus periods for deep work, and measuring system performance rather than individual busyness.
Task management apps can deliver significant productivity improvements, but only when deployed thoughtfully. The shift required is from doing more to doing what matters. For leaders managing the complexity of modern communications infrastructure, that distinction makes all the difference.

 

Google and XREAL Deepen Partnership to Bring Android XR to AR Glasses

Google is doubling down on extended reality, and this time it’s doing so with a familiar name in AR hardware.
The tech giant has announced a multi-year extension of its partnership with XREAL, officially naming the AR glasses maker a lead hardware partner for the Android XR ecosystem.
The move signals Google’s clearest push yet to bring Android XR beyond headsets and into lightweight, optical see-through smart glasses designed for both consumers and enterprises.
At the centre of the announcement is Project Aura, XREAL’s upcoming Android XR-powered AR glasses, slated for a consumer launch in 2026.
While Aura has been known for some time, Google’s renewed commitment elevates the device – and XREAL’s broader hardware roadmap –into a cornerstone of Android XR’s future.
Android XR Meets Optical See-Through AR
Android XR is Google’s answer to a fragmented XR landscape, aiming to unify augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR) development under a single platform.
Until now, much of the attention around Android XR hardware has focused on immersive headsets, with Samsung emerging as an early flagship partner.
By naming XREAL a lead hardware partner, Google is explicitly expanding Android XR into optical see-through devices – glasses that layer digital content directly onto the real world rather than blocking it out. This is a crucial distinction.
Optical see-through AR is widely seen as the long-term future of spatial computing, particularly for productivity, navigation, industrial workflows, and everyday wearable use.
In a joint statement, the companies said the extended partnership aligns XREAL’s “long-term hardware roadmap with the Android XR platform,” and commits both sides to bringing Android XR to wired XR glasses and other optical see-through form factors.
Project Aura: XREAL’s Flagship Android XR Glasses
Project Aura is shaping up to be the most ambitious device XREAL has built to date – and potentially the first optical see-through AR glasses to run Android XR.
The glasses feature a 70-degree field of view, the largest optical see-through display XREAL has ever delivered. That wider FOV is key for immersive mixed reality applications, enabling larger virtual workspaces, more natural media viewing, and spatial interfaces that feel less constrained.
Under the hood, Aura uses a distinctive split-compute architecture. The glasses themselves house XREAL’s proprietary X1S spatial computing chip, while a separate, tethered compute puck contains a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 processor along with the main battery. This design allows XREAL to keep the glasses lightweight and wearable, while still delivering high-performance XR features.
The system supports 6DoF tracking, hand and eye tracking, and spatial mapping – capabilities typically associated with much larger headsets.
XREAL CEO and co-founder Chi Xu framed Project Aura as a milestone not just for the company, but for XR as a whole:

“Project Aura is designed to be the perfect canvas for developers to build the future of consumer and enterprise XR experiences. This is the proof point that high-performance XR can be delivered in a portable form factor that fits naturally into people’s lives.”

Gemini AI and the Android App Ecosystem
One of the most significant aspects of the Google-XREAL collaboration is deep integration with Gemini AI.
Project Aura is designed to leverage Gemini for adaptive assistance in mixed reality tasks, from contextual information overlays to AI-driven productivity workflows.
For developers, this means access to Google’s rapidly evolving AI stack within a wearable AR form factor – something few platforms currently offer at scale.
Aura will also provide access to millions of apps via Google Play, lowering the barrier for developers to bring existing Android experiences into spatial environments.
Google and XREAL say tools for Android XR development are already available, with dedicated developer kits rolling out later this year, well ahead of the 2026 consumer launch.
Why This Partnership Matters
The XR industry has long struggled with a trade-off between performance and wearability.
High-end headsets deliver power but lack practicality, while lightweight AR glasses often fall short on capability. Google and XREAL are betting that split-compute, optical see-through devices can bridge that gap.
For Google, the partnership strengthens Android XR at a critical moment. Apple’s Vision Pro has raised expectations around spatial computing, while Meta continues to push aggressively into both VR and AR wearables. By anchoring Android XR to multiple hardware partners—including Samsung for headsets and XREAL for glasses – Google is positioning its platform as a flexible, hardware-agnostic alternative.
For XREAL, being named a lead hardware partner is a major vote of confidence. The company has steadily built credibility in the AR market, and this designation places it alongside Samsung as one of the primary faces of Android XR hardware.
More Hardware on the Horizon
Project Aura isn’t the end of the story. XREAL has hinted that the partnership with Google will extend to additional Android XR devices, including other wired XR glasses and optical see-through products.
At CES 2026, XREAL also revealed a separate collaboration with ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) on a pair of AR glasses aimed squarely at traditional gaming. That device is said to feature an eye-catching 240Hz refresh rate, underscoring XREAL’s intent to span productivity, entertainment, and gaming use cases across its lineup.
While many details remain under wraps – including final pricing and a precise launch date – Google says more information about Project Aura will be shared later this year.

Android XR Smart Glasses: What to Look Out For in 2026

 

Workday Release Paradox Conversational ATS to Accelerate Frontline Hiring

Workday has announced the launch of Paradox Conversational ATS, a new applicant tracking system on its platform designed to help organizations hire frontline workers more quickly and efficiently. The solution eliminates traditional hiring bottlenecks by replacing complex login processes, lengthy application forms, and manual administrative steps with streamlined, text-based conversations.
This represents a simplified and modern approach to how companies can manage high-volume hiring for industries where frontline roles dominate recruitment efforts.
The announcement builds on Workday’s October 2025 acquisition of Paradox and follows the launch of the Workday Paradox Candidate Experience Agent. By integrating this conversational technology into its platform, Workday is positioning itself to address one of the most persistent challenges facing retail, hospitality, manufacturing, and other frontline-heavy sectors: the need to hire at scale without sacrificing candidate experience or operational efficiency.

Digital Transformation Is Rewiring HCM for the Long Game

How Paradox Conversational ATS Changes the Hiring Game
At its core, Paradox Conversational ATS reimagines the entire candidate journey. Rather than navigating multiple web pages, creating accounts, and filling out extensive forms, candidates can search for jobs, apply, schedule interviews, and complete onboarding through short text message exchanges. This conversational approach mirrors how people naturally communicate, making the hiring process feel less like paperwork and more like a simple conversation.
Workday reports early adopters using Paradox are cutting the time spent managing these tasks by up to 90%, with an average time-to-hire of three and a half days. This speed matters particularly in frontline industries where rapid staffing can directly impact business operations and customer service quality.
Beyond speed, the system maintains high candidate satisfaction throughout the process. Once hired, offers and onboarding documents are automatically delivered via text message, helping achieve a 95% candidate satisfaction rating in 2025. This automated delivery ensures new hires receive critical information promptly without requiring HR teams to manually send documents or follow up on outstanding paperwork.
By meeting candidates where they are and eliminating follow-up tasks for HR, the system removes friction that might otherwise cause qualified applicants to abandon the process midway and delay onboarding.
Addressing Critical Staffing Challenges in Frontline Industries
The frontline workforce represents roughly 80% of the global labor force, yet this sector has historically received disproportionately low technology investment compared with white-collar environments. This gap persists despite frontline industries consistently experiencing some of the highest turnover rates in the job market, often exceeding 50% annually.
The combination of high turnover and limited technological support creates a perpetual staffing challenge. McKinsey reported in May 2024 that approximately 2.5 million more job vacancies existed than job seekers in frontline sectors. While the world is now operating in early 2026, the fundamental staffing shortage remains largely unchanged. The gap between available positions and qualified candidates continues to strain organizations that depend on frontline workers to deliver core services.
Traditional hiring systems were not designed with frontline hiring patterns in mind. Frontline workers typically apply in high volumes, need to start quickly, and may not have easy access to desktop computers or quiet spaces to complete lengthy applications. When the process demands significant time and multiple steps, organizations inadvertently screen out capable candidates who cannot manage administrative complexity while juggling other responsibilities.
By streamlining hiring, Paradox Conversational ATS helps organizations fill positions faster and lessen the impact of high turnover.
While the solution does not solve underlying retention challenges, it helps companies maintain adequate staffing levels by significantly shortening the time between identifying a need and getting someone started. In environments where being short-staffed directly affects service delivery and employee workload, even small improvements in hiring speed can have a meaningful operational impact.
An Integrated Platform for Complete Frontline Workforce Management
Workday’s strategy extends beyond improving the hiring process. The company is building an integrated platform that supports frontline workers and their managers throughout the employment lifecycle. Paradox Conversational ATS handles the front end of this experience, while Workday plans to launch Frontline Agent in spring 2026 to address ongoing workforce management needs.
Frontline Agent will enable managers and workers to manage time tracking, absence requests, and scheduling changes through text messages, similar to how Paradox handles applications and onboarding. For managers juggling schedules across multiple shifts and locations, this efficiency can free up substantial time for more strategic work, such as training and employee development.
As organizations continue to navigate tight labor markets and high turnover, technologies that reduce hiring friction while maintaining quality will become essential tools in a frontline HR professional’s workflow.

 

Will VR Sickness Prevent Headsets from Replacing Monitors?

VR sickness has been a common concern for business leaders and employees ever since immersive devices began entering the workplace. As the market for extended reality has grown, companies in virtually every industry have started discovering the benefits of immersion.
With VR headsets, business leaders can rapidly enhance workplace collaboration, improve training sessions, and foster higher levels of creativity and innovation. As a result, some early adopters are even beginning to consider VR headsets as a replacement for the traditional computer monitor.
Unfortunately, the side effects associated with using immersive devices could prevent this transition. As more companies adopt VR, new research highlights various issues.
Let’s explore whether VR sickness will prevent immersive headsets from becoming the ultimate monitor replacement.
VR Sickness in the Workplace: The Latest Research
VR sickness is the sense of nausea and unease many experience after being exposed to an immersive experience for an extended period. Research has already shown some people are more susceptible to this issue than others. For instance, women, and people over the age of 50, are generally more likely to feel unwell after using a VR headset.
However, recent research reveals that VR sickness could be an issue for the entire workforce. According to one study, some symptoms experienced by VR users are similar to those we feel when sitting at a desk or monitor all day. These include neck and shoulder pain, eye strain, fatigue, and headaches. However, the nature of VR can also introduce new avenues for discomfort.
The research found information overwhelm and disconnections between reality and digital content can lead to significant issues with nausea, reduced focus, and memory retention. Around 80% of VR users now report mild to severe short-term side effects after using headsets.
Not only are these symptoms of VR sickness detrimental to employee wellbeing, but they could harm productivity too. In the report above, many participants said the side effects of VR made it harder to complete basic tasks like writing and reading emails.
Can Employees Overcome VR Sickness?
Though the symptoms of VR sickness can be severe, they’re not insurmountable. Similar to tackling issues like motion sickness, employees and their employers can tackle the problem of VR side effects.
Calibrating a headset properly can reduce visual discomfort caused by VR screens. Taking regular breaks and entering the VR landscape slowly can be beneficial too. However, one of the most effective ways to reduce VR sickness is to reduce exposure to virtual reality.
Most experts recommend reducing the length of virtual reality sessions to minimize discomfort. This might be difficult in an environment where headsets replace the standard monitor. After all, eliminating the traditional monitor would make employees reliant on their headsets for every activity.
Fortunately, innovators in the VR and extended reality worlds are taking measures to reduce user sickness and side effects. This could mean future devices are more suited to replacing the standard monitor than previous products. Modern solutions include:
1. Improved spatial tracking
Sensors capable of tracking movement in virtual reality can significantly reduce symptoms of VR sickness. Some of the first headsets on the market only featured 3-degrees of freedom tracking. This prevented users from moving around a landscape and seeing the space transform.
6-degrees of freedom tracking and advanced spatial monitoring give users a greater sense of movement within a virtual environment. This reduces the feeling of disorientation which can cause nausea, minimizing conflicting brain signals.
2. Enhanced user interfaces
Another factor that can influence VR motion sickness is using certain types of controllers. Handheld controllers cause a disconnect between what we’re physically doing and the environment we’re seeing. This sensory conflict leads to disorientation and discomfort.
Companies like Apple, with the Apple Vision Pro, are introducing new user interfaces that don’t rely on controllers. These headsets allow users to interact naturally with content using their hands, gestures, and eye movements. Moreover, pass-through technology can let users look down and see their hands in a virtual space.
3. Reduced latency
Latency is another major contributor to VR sickness. The more time it takes for a device to register in-app movements and actions, the more confusion your brain feels. Innovators like Meta and Nvidia are investing in new technologies to help minimize latency.
Headsets are launching with much faster displays, capable of rapidly responding to eye movement and gestures. As the industry develops and new screens and solutions are introduced, latency issues will likely decrease. Using AI and 5G in the XR landscape could also reduce the disconnect between VR headsets and their software.
Is VR Sickness the Only Challenge Facing Developers?
Innovations in headset design, software development, and new tracking technologies are tackling the issue of VR sickness. This could mean companies can eventually replace monitors and traditional devices with wearable headsets without harming team well-being.
However, it’s worth noting that VR sickness isn’t the only challenge developers and teams must overcome. Other problems include:
Social Consequences
One of the biggest use cases for VR in the business world is immersive collaboration. Headsets and software can effectively bring teams together in a unique virtual world. This is crucial when remote and hybrid work is becoming more common.
However, VR can create a disconnect too. The less realistic and human the virtual experiences accessed by a user are, the more isolated they’re likely to feel. In some cases, headsets can make connecting with people in the real world harder. Companies like Apple are exploring this issue, introducing features like “EyeSight” to improve collaboration.
Psychological Issues
VR sickness might not affect human beings on a physical level only. Even as companies invest in more realistic avatars for the “metaverse,” many users feel an “uncanny valley” effect when interacting in VR. This can lead to anxiety and stress among users.
VR used in training sessions might lead to an increased level of stress when users are exposed to worrying situations and simulations. Additionally, the more time users spend in a virtual world, the more likely they feel disconnected from the real world. Some studies suggest users with mental health issues should generally avoid VR headsets.
Security and ethical risks
As virtual and extended reality technologies grow in popularity, new ethical and security risks are emerging. The rise of criminal activities in VR environments has even prompted an increase in organizations like the Metaverse Standards Forum.
VR environments could increase the risk of social engineering attacks in business environments. Plus, if headsets and software lack general privacy control standards, this could lead to compliance issues. Some applications may collect and store sensitive data that damages a company’s security standing. Specific headsets can even capture biometric data, impacting user privacy significantly.
Should VR Headsets Replace Monitors?
Using a compact VR headset instead of a standard monitor can be appealing. With a VR headset, users can access a virtually infinite environment for productivity. There are no restrictions regarding screen size or what kinds of content can be accessed.
Plus, VR provides users with an immersive environment to collaborate effectively with their colleagues. The right technology can bring teams together, improve the retention of training data, and contribute to innovation. At the same time, with a VR headset, users are less likely to be exposed to distractions in the outside world.
However, there are some downsides to using a headset as a replacement monitor. VR sickness is one clear issue experienced by many users. Even as headsets become more advanced, most people can only briefly use VR before experiencing symptoms. Eye strain, nausea, and general discomfort could all impact employee productivity.
Moreover, there are other challenges to overcome, from issues with ethics and security to problems with social connectivity and psychological well-being. These problems will need to be addressed before we find ourselves living and working in the metaverse.
Overcoming VR Sickness and Headset Issues
While there are various issues to overcome before VR headsets can replace monitors, solutions are on the horizon. VR sickness is something many developers and innovators are targeting on a broad scale. Additionally, government organizations are beginning to propose guidelines for mitigating the side effects and issues of VR.
For now, the research suggests VR headsets won’t replace monitors and traditional devices soon. However, the situation may change if companies can continue to innovate in the virtual world. We may quickly find that many of us can spend more time in virtual reality than ever.
In the meantime, business leaders investing in VR headsets will need to be cautious about how much they force their teams to rely on these devices. VR will likely remain a complementary part of the workplace tech stack rather than replacing monitors entirely.