Bridging the Gap Between the Digital and the Physical.

Amazon don’t need to open a physical store to promote these products, they are already the most popular, but the store offers an enhanced purchasing experience for the customer. This is where Amazon hopes to gain a better understanding of how retailing in the physical and digital worlds interact.

This fusion of the digital and the physical, or phygital as it is sometimes referred, is now happening in the workplace. As workers divide their working week between the office and home, and talent is drawn from wider geographical locations, mixed presence digital collaboration is becoming a vital tool to maintain team connection and foster innovation. Similarly with clients, many are eschewing unnecessary travel preferring digital interaction where appropriate. The collaboration experience that both in-person and remote users receive must be of equal quality.

As with Amazon, the default position should always be the optimal one. For Amazon it is their website that delivers the bulk of their revenue. For the workplace, our research shows that in-person collaboration provides the most preferred experience for end users. However, having the choice between physical and digital connectivity gives workers the option to collaborate in the way that suits them best without impediment.