Research
Below are highlights from company research. The full archive of research papers can be reviewed here.
01 - Communication Challenges
What a Team Needs
A team’s performance is influenced by its ability to communicate and capacity to stay focussed. It should be possible to instantly reach a colleague without distraction and it should be easy to communicate a message to them with clarity.
Spontaneity
There are moments when we just need to ask a quick question. In an office, we can lean over to a colleague and say what we need. In a virtual environment we have to open a chat, explain what we need and wait for a response. This delay prevents spontaneity, causing our ideas to fade and innovation to suffer. Fig. 3 shows how an idea in our short-term memory deteriorates if we can’t discuss it instantly. Fig. 4 shows the average call setup times for noc™, WhatsApp, Google Meet and Zoom.
Understanding
We communicate messages most effectively by combining language, tone of voice and body language. Without these elements, we’re often misunderstood. Leading psychologist Albert Mehrabian states that only 7% of a message’s meaning is communicated through our choice of words. This reinforces communications expert Nick Morgan’s statement that written messages are misinterpreted 50% of the time.
Focus
When we speak to somebody face-to-face, we see who we’re talking to. This uninterrupted view allows us to focus on the moment. However, if something appears in our peripheral vision or we hear something unexpected, our Fight or Flight response draws focus away from the chat to assess it. Fig. 5 shows how existing video communication tools fill our peripheral vision with notifications, controls, buttons and selfie views, all of which reduce our ability to focus. Distractions during personal conversations damage the social bond between people, which leads to isolation, anxiety and depression.
Fig. 3 Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve
Fig. 4 Average Call Setup Times
Fig. 5 Interface Distractions
02 - Market Trends
Remote work is here to stay
Since the pandemic, a significant proportion of the UK’s workforce has continued to work in a remote/hybrid style. Fig. 1 uses data gathered by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) to show the proportion of the UK workforce that work remotely at least once a week.
Despite expectations that workers would gradually return to offices, the very latest data shows a slight upturn in remote/hybrid work, with 40% of the UK workforce working remotely in Q1 of 2023.
Internet Use & Screen Time is Rising
Fig. 2 shows results of a survey by Global Web Index (GWI) of 1,717,699 internet users aged 16-64. It revealed that people spent on average nearly seven hours looking at screens in 2021. The following year (2022) saw a cyclical dip, but the overall pattern shows growth.
The global number of internet users is also rising. This year is expected to pass the 5bn mark.
Fig. 1 Proportion of UK labour force working remotely
Fig. 2 Global average screen time & internet use
03 - The Fundamental Need
This is what noc™ solves. It is for this reason that we have letters of intent from several firms, 25k+ pending users, an invitation to meet with Close Brothers plc, InnovateUK funding, a white label partnership with Supernova, backing from UCL, Cambridge and Bristol universities and over £150k of pre-seed funding.
Contact us
hello@knock-me.uk