By Guest contributor |
Every organisation wants to build the next big thing, but turning creative ideas into a reality has never been easy. Today’s teams encounter speed bumps to effective collaboration at every turn, from organisational silos that stoke context switching to the rising tide of administrative upkeep, endless emails and constant meetings.
But now, AI offers a new path forward for more effective, efficient collaboration. When teams embrace AI as a core partner, rather than just another tool, they can leverage these new technologies to overcome many blockers that hinder collaboration and stall momentum.
Together, Miro and Microsoft are committed to enhancing collaboration in modern organisations by creating genuine interoperability between our AI-powered canvas and the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
To better understand the current state of collaboration and how AI can help, we recently surveyed 6,100 global knowledge workers (2025 Momentum at Work Report). Our findings generate new insights into the biggest challenges facing the work that drives innovation. Collaboration is about more than getting great work done – it’s central to what makes work work. In fact, knowledge workers rank collaboration as a top determinant of a good workday.
We find that endless task work is one of the biggest challenges to collaboration – and a prime use case for AI. For every one hour of creative, strategic thought work, knowledge workers spend three hours on administrative tasks, emails and meetings. When these important, yet routine, tasks take over, the projects that rely on human knowledge, skills and experience are put on the backburner. Knowledge workers attribute the rising tide of task work primarily to insufficient tooling: 58 per cent agree that outdated tools and technology are a leading factor, while 43 per cent cite fragmented toolsets and 39 per cent point to inadequate use of AI.
This repetitive maintenance work leaves teams drained and reduces productivity: 62 per cent of knowledge workers agree that these maintenance tasks stall momentum in their organisation.
Alongside pervasive chores, teams must also navigate deeply siloed organisations. Silos interfere with effective collaboration by introducing unnecessary divisions and creating a culture of continuous context switching. We find that the most pervasive silos are: informational silos, where data and knowledge are spread across too many sources or tools; communication silos, with different teams relying on different tools and/or preferences to share information; and functional silos, which interfere directly with cross-functional collaborations.
Knowledge workers are quick to highlight the role of tooling and technology when it comes to silos: nearly half cite outdated tools as a key driver, while over one-third point to the impact of fragmented toolsets. Without access to the right tools and integrations within and across their teams, knowledge workers struggle to overcome these internal barriers. It’s no wonder that six in 10 workers agree that silos stall momentum and slow decision making. After all, nobody can do their best work when getting pulled in so many different directions and shifting gears constantly.
However, most workers are excited about the promise of AI to carve out a more collaborative path forward. Sixty-four per cent believe that AI can reduce information silos in their organisation by consolidating access to data, insights and knowledge. Similarly, 58 per cent say that AI can cut down on information hunting. Nonetheless, nearly half do not yet have the right tools for their current role – and that’s where we can help.
By giving teams the tools they need on a single, shared canvas, Miro’s Microsoft integration suite helps teams finally focus on the creative, strategic work they crave. The Miro agent for Microsoft Copilot enables teams to surface insights faster and then act on them, bridging the gap between the ‘aha’ moment and execution, while the Microsoft 365 integrations eliminate duplicative work and fragmented workflows, offering a powerful antidote to some of the biggest pain points with collaboration. Furthermore, organisations can rest easy since Miro’s integration with Microsoft security solutions ensures enterprise-grade collaboration.
The ways that teams collaborate is changing, yet collaborative work is more important than ever in today’s competitive landscape. To succeed, organisations should return humans to the centre of work, not processes, tasks or even tools. With AI as a trusted partner, teams will be able to push past the historical barriers to effective collaboration, offloading task work and chipping away at silos.
Together, let’s build a brighter, more innovative future where collaboration thrives and teams can do their best and their most human work yet.
Harkamal Singh is the head of technology partnerships at Miro
Discover insights from these partners and more in the Autumn 2025 issue of Technology Record. Don’t miss out – subscribe for free today and get future issues delivered straight to your inbox.