The evolution of the workplace has accelerated since the start of 2020. Many companies started the year with plans to gradually introduce new technologies and flexible working routines. Yet, out of nowhere, countless organisations ended up implementing new concepts overnight.
The sheer speed of the transformation that occurred this year will cement 2020 in the records of history, as one of the most disruptive ages in recent memory. As the year unfolded, countries had to adapt to social distancing and new working models. Yet, out of this crisis, companies also began to learn new things about how to explore home working.
According to Cisco and Freeform Dynamics’ latest study, 6 essential lessons stand out most in this new environment. These are:
- Learning what business agility really means
- Discovering the value of modern technology
- Understanding workforce productivity
- The essential social interaction
- The future of wellbeing and health
- Extended opportunities for talent
The result of all this learning is that 74% of today’s companies say that their business will emerge from the crisis stronger in many ways.
Rediscovering Agility
The first lesson highlighted by the latest study focused on agility, and what it means. According to the report, agility is a word frequently overused, which refers to the ability to respond rapidly to changing conditions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic showed many companies that they weren’t as agile as they thought.
Companies can’t just hold agility as a loft ideal or abstract concept. Organisations must put behaviours and systems in place to support agility and overcome barriers to change. The significance of becoming a genuinely agile company has become essential for companies. Today’s businesses know that they need to begin moving a lot faster. This is evidenced by the report statistics that showed only 13% of respondents saying that ramping up remote working was “very easy”
The Value of Modern Technology
Aside from adapting the correct mindset and culture in the agile business, companies also need the correct technology. Covid-19 highlighted some of the constraints that today’s companies suffer from. The result is an increase in companies that understand and appreciate the true value of cloud technology. Around 67% of respondents said that the pandemic accelerated their adoption of cloud communication tools.
Another 58% of the people in the study said that people are actually using the tech that was available to them already, but often went ignored. These findings demonstrate how crucial it is for business leaders to really take advantage of the right tech solutions in the current environment. It’s not enough to just have the right tools in place, employees need to be comfortable using them.
This is particularly true in the case of collaboration tools, which have become the “new normal” for countless companies.
Rediscovering Workplace Productivity
Another lesson highlighted by the study was the ability to rediscover the nature of productivity in the workplace. Employees new to home working found that they were much more productive without the distractions of the physical office. This introduces companies to the idea that they might not be creating environments that are most valuable to productivity.
Around 48% of people in the study said the biggest issue that they discovered in response to the pandemic was some disruption of processes and workflow. 28% of respondents said they experienced a lot of this problem. Similar issues arose with day-to-day coordination of staff. However, many businesses also saw just how productive their employees could really be when working from home.
This introduces companies to new best practices, like enabling flexible working hours, which 49% of teams said they will continue to implement. Another 53% of businesses said they would be trusting their employees more long-term.
