It’s “Where team bonding happens”, but what is it and what are the benefits? Eliga Services’ Application Developer, Luke Burton-Sterry, explains how Mibo has helped bring Eliga team members closer in the new remote working climate.
As an employee in a rapidly growing hybrid working company, it can be challenging to build connections and relationships when you are not meeting up with teammates regularly.
“Before Covid-19, many of us thought remote working sounded blissful. Now, employees across the world long for chats by the coffee machine and the whirr of printers” – The Guardian
Mibo is one of the ways Eliga Services is combatting this issue.
For those that work from home in some capacity, as I do, virtual calls over Zoom, Teams, Skype, etc, is the norm. These calls can offer a great way to interact with your colleagues on a day-to-day basis; they allow for video and audio communication.
This can be key for helping to understand conversations more fully, by a person’s body language or tone of voice, for example. However, the atmosphere is restricted, and it is hard to replicate the level of immersion that we are used to in person.
“In February 2022, 84% of workers who had to work from home because of the coronavirus pandemic said they planned to carry out a mix of working at home and in their place of work in the future.” – Office for National Statistics
Despite commuting from my house in Wales to the office a few times per year, it can be a challenge to bond with teammates when working from home. That was, until Mibo.
A success story; how Mibo recognised room for improvement
Mibo is an online, 3D, browser-based, proximity chat app that allows its users to fully immerse themselves in a first-person perspective universe.
“We envision a world where anyone can be together with others in a way that feels free, fun, and authentically social—whether you’re remote or not.” – Mibo
With Mibo, you can increase team bonding by partaking in tic-tac-toe, beach ball, pool and other beachfront games, throw virtual parties in the woods, and even promote collaboration by screen sharing to one of the in-world projectors.
Mibo can cater for your team from as little as no cost (depending on your plan) and allow your members to interact virtually without the need for VR headsets at home or long commutes to the office.
Used by companies such as Microsoft, Google, Nike, Netflix and LinkedIn – Mibo helps teams stay connected by using nothing more than your webcam, microphone and browser.
The distance-based proximity audio means that you can walk around and mingle in groups, only hearing those nearby just as though you were meeting up in person. While on stage, microphones allow for your voice to be heard further throughout your team’s metaverse – great for team announcements and collaboration.
“Frustrated by the limitations, coldness and callousness of Zoom, Skype, Meet and other online meeting tools, we have built something new. A kind of first-person social, where the webcam and microphone of video calling are combined with walking around in a virtual world. This makes meeting remotely with a group of people really fun.” – Q42
How Mibo excels pasts the limitations of standard video communications software
Throughout the project I am currently working on, my team and I have taken part in social activities. One time, we gathered over Zoom to take part in a quiz where two teams battled against each other. While this was fun, it was evident that it was hard for everyone to take part.
Picture 20 people split into two teams, shouting out the correct (and occasionally the wrong) answers over one another. It’s hard to hear the right person and even harder to get a word in (especially if you’re an introvert).
If you compare the above example to an in-person pub quiz, these problems would be mitigated by each team huddling at their table and talking to one another without other teams hearing their agreed-upon answer. The quiz master would call out the questions using a microphone over some light background music in the scene of a homely bar.
This is exactly how our social meetings play out at Eliga now. Equal voices are heard no matter how big or small, collaboration is inspired around the campfire, bonds are built over drinks at the metaverse bars, and this translates into a better work output because as we all know, happy employees are productive employees.
“Feelings of employee isolation reduces productivity up to 21%” – TeamBuilding
Final thoughts
“Worldwide, 2500% more organisations are investing in virtual team building in response to COVID-19” -–TeamBuilding
I am a huge advocate of working-from-home and hybrid working. There are far too many benefits that come with working from your own space to ignore.
However, over the years I have realised that elements are lost in the absence of physical presence.
With Eliga staying ahead of the curve by using Mibo, I once again feel the added social benefits that you can’t get over a Slack conversation or a conference Zoom with tens of people all listening to one voice – by being totally immersed in conversation and laughter with teammates around a virtual environment as if it were real.
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