The New Normal?
The advantages of adopting a modern workplace strategy, one that allows employees to collaborate securely and access information on any device, anytime from anywhere, are clear and well-documented. Countless studies from leading consultants are available to support the benefits for employees – better work-life balance, more flexibility, less time (and money) spent commuting – and for organisations – increased productivity, cost savings on office space, access to a wider pool of talent, lower environmental impact.
However, despite these clear and compelling benefits, to date we’ve typically seen only more mature or advanced organisations prioritising the development of secure modern workplace strategies. Less mature organisations have struggled to win the fight for leadership mindshare – and budget – versus projects that are deemed higher priority.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, commentators everywhere are talking about the “new normal” in our working lives. With around half of the world’s population in lockdown, organisations, and their employees, are taking part in what I describe as the biggest remote working proof-of-concept ever undertaken.
In this article, based on direct feedback from some of our most valued clients, I will outline four factors that illustrate the power of the COVID-19 crisis to accelerate a lasting move to the new normal, and by extension the modern workplace.
The Urgency of Now – Delivering Critical Priorities
Many of our clients throughout Europe have responded to the crisis by accelerating digital transformation projects that have been in the planning phase but were previously further down the CIO’s priority list. These projects share one common theme; they are now critical to the ability of the organisation to continue to deliver services to clients through an extended lockdown period.
As an example, one client of ours, a national government department, has been working on a plan to facilitate remote sessions between probationers and probation officers. This requires a huge investment in tens of thousands of mobile devices which must be equipped with the necessary management and security software to track them, limit their capability, and report back necessary data. The project has been in the planning phase for over 12 months, and as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis, the client is now looking to roll the project out within six weeks.
Digital Transformation – The Genie is out of the Bottle
Many projects, like the one outlined above, will unquestionably bring lasting benefits to customers, employees, and the organisation itself. With regards to the aforementioned project, all of these parties will benefit: the probationers from time and cost savings, the probation officers from more flexibility, less travel time, and a higher degree of safety, and the government from higher productivity, lower rates of probation officer attrition, and improved digital data.
Where projects like this are accelerated, we expect clients, even those at the lower end of the digital maturity curve, to adopt a fundamental change in strategy post-COVID-19. With the digital transformation genie well and truly out of the bottle, these projects and benefits will help IT managers to make a strong business case for continued investment in remote working capabilities, from making more applications and data available remotely, to updating security policies and tools.
A Temporary Mindset is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
All companies, but particularly those in the hardest hit sectors, are in cash conservation mode right now, and this means difficult decisions must be made on cost reduction across all areas of the business, including IT spend.
For many organisations this has meant postponement of longer-term strategic projects to fund short-term, tactical, and urgent spend on rolling out remote working solutions. The 400% year-on-year increase in Zoom’s daily active user count and a 12 million rise in active Microsoft Teams users in one week are both evidence of this in action.
However, organisations who approach the Covid-19 remote working challenge with a simple “get it working” attitude risk being left at a competitive disadvantage. Employee frustration, reduced productivity, poor client experience, and unforeseen security vulnerabilities all present very real risks. What’s more, this approach is predicated on the assumption that we return to some form of normality within a matter of months – far from a given.
Culture Doesn’t Eat Strategy – Both are Key to Long-Term Advantage
COVID-19 will unarguably be a catalyst for change. All organisations are having to understand and simultaneously adopt new technologies so that they can work effectively – they simply have no other choice.
But let’s remember that there are also significant drawbacks to enforced remote working. Lack of human, social interaction, the blurring of personal and professional boundaries, the risk of burn-out and mental health issues are just some of the reasons that many individuals and organisations are yearning for a return to some of the old normality.
Learning from an experience like this requires reflection, that’s difficult when your immediate concern is who to furlough, how to make the next payroll, and keeping the business solvent. But organisations need to start collecting feedback from their employees now on what is and isn’t working in this enforced experiment, as well as continuously evolving best practices and evaluating the opportunities for more permanent change.
“Lasting change will only be achieved by those with a clear strategy, the agility to recognise and act upon new opportunities, and a supportive organisational culture.“
Those with the right ingredients will be able to leverage this period of forced adoption to gain a competitive advantage. Those without will find it hard to hide as the difference between the adopters and the laggards becomes increasingly pronounced.
As restrictions lift and a new normal continues, businesses should consider how they are embracing these themes. While we must tackle the challenge of now, we should also look to embrace the opportunities of the future. In doing so, only then can we move from surviving to thriving.
“Lasting change will only be achieved by those with a clear strategy, the agility to recognise and act upon new opportunities, and a supportive organisational culture.“
Ronan Murphy, CWSI CEO
