Feature
The combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and interoperability is solving a challenge of the hybrid workplace by making collaboration easier regardless of location, platform or individual needs.
How AI Improves Collaboration and Meeting Equity
AI is making collaboration more inclusive. Instead of just making meetings more efficient, it's turning platforms into intelligent work hubs. AI improves both the quality and inclusivity of the workplace experience, said Stacey Cadigan, a partner at ISG.
This inclusivity is seen in several ways:
- Real-time translation breaks down language barriers, allowing global teams to communicate in their native languages.
- Intelligent camera framing and speaker tracking help remote participants hear and see the meeting better.
- Accessibility features such as closed captioning and noise suppression help include employees with disabilities.
The result is a more equitable experience for all participants, regardless of language, location or communication style.
AI’s impact goes beyond individual features to reshape how organizations function. AI is dissolving traditional silos by enabling "catalytic-collaboration," where technical and non-technical teams work together to create new organizational structures, said Paul McDonagh-Smith, a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan.
The technology powering this shift is increasingly sophisticated. Speech recognition and translation now provide real-time captions and multilingual subtitles. Machine learning algorithms improve audio-visual quality by filtering background noise and auto-adjusting video. Intelligent meeting assistants transcribe discussions, summarize key points and ensure quieter voices are heard.
Why Interoperability Is Critical for Hybrid Work Success
AI’s potential is limited without interoperability. The enterprise uses a mix of collaboration platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Webex, requiring cross-platform collaboration.
Employees rarely use just one tool, Cadigan said. Interoperability removes the friction that occurs when moving between different systems. This helps hybrid teams more easily share documents and collaborate in real-time without delays.
Sean Cavaliere, CTO at The Predictive Index, frames this as a productivity issue. When platforms connect smoothly, the focus shifts to the quality of the interaction, not the technology. This reduction in platform friction makes distributed teams more productive.
Interoperability also helps vendors make more money. When collaboration platforms "shake hands," people spend less time worrying about which app to use and more time connecting, McDonagh-Smith said, creating a larger market for providers and a better experience that attracts new users.
The AI Tool Integration Challenge
As organizations adopt AI tools, a deeper interoperability challenge emerges. Micha Kiener, CTO at Flowable, calls it an "underestimated barrier." Many organizations implement AI tools without an integration strategy, leading to isolated tools that don’t help the company overall.
The technical fragmentation is more complex than platform preferences. AI tools often "speak different languages" due to proprietary data formats and black-box models, Kiener explained. Components may be brilliant, but they can’t work together. The root cause is a lack of architectural planning, with AI often implemented in silos by individual teams for narrow use cases.
This creates risks for the organization, including fractured customer experiences, redundant automation, conflicting AI outputs and governance issues. Without interoperability, AI becomes a "patchwork of isolated solutions, impossible to govern or scale," Kiener warned. This can introduce blind spots, where decisions are made without traceability or accountability, leading to compliance risks, especially in regulated industries.
Barriers to Scaling AI-Driven Collaboration Solutions
Tthe biggest barriers are not technical, but organizational. Scaling collaboration tools across locations and regions is more complex than licensing more users, according to Cadigan. Operational challenges arise from misaligned infrastructure, cultural differences and other organizational hurdles.
Adding to the complexity is incompatible software versions, inconsistent network connectivity, varying compliance requirements and cultural resistance to change. Scaling requires harmonizing different workplace approaches and communication styles, which makes a standardized approach difficult to implement, Cadigan said. Employees may resist adopting new tools and processes, which limits the return on investment. A successful rollout requires change management procedures and training.
Scaling is an organizational hurdle, not just a technical upgrade, agreed McDonagh-Smith. One challenge is ensuring robust infrastructure everywhere, as network quality and regional standards vary. The solution requires a comprehensive organizational transformation, which creates a connected company where collective intelligence and innovation spreads through its networks.
Build Meeting Equity
Underlying all technical decisions about AI and interoperability is the goal of meeting equity, so remote and in-person participants have equal experiences and influence.
Meeting equity is a challenge in the hybrid workplace, Cavaliere said.. Companies that invest in tools to provide an equal experience for all participants show they value every voice. These tools, along with practices that encourage remote participation, are important for engagement, inclusion and employee retention.
The stakes go beyond meeting satisfaction. If remote participants feel disconnected, their motivation and collaborative efforts will suffer, McDonagh-Smith warned. Organizations recognize that every team member should have an equal opportunity to contribute, regardless of their location.
This pursuit of equity through AI and interoperability is rebalancing technology investments. While quality hardware is still needed, the strategic value increasingly lies in intelligent software and integration.
Reliable hardware is necessary for any AI solution to work, Cadigan said. However, AI-powered capabilities are increasingly embedded in platforms such as Teams, Zoom and Webex, which improves the experience without spending more money on hardware,
Instead, the trend is toward smarter, software-driven solutions, Cavaliere said. Organizations are realizing that the most value comes from intelligence and integration, such as AI-driven transcription, analytics and workflow automation.
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AI features improve even modest hardware, McDonagh-Smith said. For example, noise-cancellation software makes a low-cost headset perform like a high-end one, and auto-framing software makes a basic webcam feel like a studio device. This helps organizations avoid the "over-investment trap" where expensive hardware doesn’t get used.
Intelligent, Connected Enterprise Collaboration
Doing this, however, requires treating interoperability as a priority and using AI to improve integration.
Organizations that thrive are those that understand how AI and interoperability work together to create collaboration experiences that are more intelligent, more inclusive and more scalable. They will build connected enterprises where collective intelligence flows freely across platform boundaries, geographic distances and organizational silos.
The future of work is not about choosing between AI and interoperability, but about getting them to work together. In this future, technology becomes invisible, in favor of the human connection.
Editor's Note: How else is AI changing our workplaces?
- The Rise of Meetingslop — AI is turning bad meetings into worse ones, where bots, not people, fill calendars with noise instead of meaningful collaboration.
- Can AI Systems Police Themselves? The High-Stakes Gamble of AI Oversight — AI makes mistakes faster than humans can catch. Some pit LLMs against each other to spot errors, but relying on that alone is dangerous. Here's the alternative.
- Better Work or Better Cover? The Double Life of AI in the Workplace — We're using AI to prop up a culture that prizes being quickly right over slowly wiser. Here's what to do to make sure it accelerates human potential.