The spread of COVID-19 led to many unprecedented measures, where countries implemented nationwide lockdowns, enforced their citizens to stay at home, and halted non-essential business operations. Despite accelerated efforts to develop a vaccine to the virus, a vaccine will likely take at least 18 months to go to market.
Where then does this leave businesses leaders and the companies that they lead? Unsurprisingly as it turns out, the advent of remote working, video conferencing tools and technologies have become a boon that enabled business continuity during times of crisis.
Virtual events have become the norm, and even global leaders have taken to video conferencing to conduct high profile discussions, such as the G20 Summit.
As we emerge from this crisis, we predict three trends will come to define an entirely different way of working in a post-COVID-19 world:
Prediction 1: Businesses continuity planning will prioritize operational agility
Organizations were asked to transition to work from home (WFH) on short notice – having to figure out how to optimize employees’ productivity and put in place the necessary tools, equipment and infrastructure to ensure seamless communication and collaboration within their workforce.
Transitioning back to an office environment will take time, as workers are already getting used to the “new norm” of working from home.
With the past couple of months under their belts, businesses now have a better understanding of how to adjust operational states in order to ensure business-as-usual as best as possible. Business operations will be less divided in terms of function, but instead on overall business continuity needs: How can operational needs be optimized to be able to handle future pandemics, for example. Mondays may no longer be viewed as the start of the business week, just as the ability to get things done when it is most expedient i.e. with flexibility in mind, also means that productivity need not be confined to the traditional 8-hour work day.
Business can operate optimally with the right planning and tools, even with a dynamic workforce rotation.
Prediction 2: Remote-work will become a job requirement, and not a perk
Trust is in; presenteeism is on the way out: Physical presence in the office will no longer go hand in hand with expectations of productivity. With COVID-19 having thrust most organizations into WFH arrangements for the foreseeable future, the unintended silver lining is that many have come to realize that ‘place’ is less important than ‘purpose’, and employees can be enabled to stay productive and connected with the right tools, whether working from home, or in the office.
Offices may be seen as an ‘on-demand model”, where the bulk of employees will work from home and meet in the office only when they need to. This new idea of the office will need sufficient space for privacy, for virtual collaboration, and of course – space to work for those who show up. Matters of office and personal hygiene will be paramount, especially in the post-COVID days.
As such, the ability (or potential) to work remotely will be built directly into the job description, instead of being dangled as a perk of the job. They will need to show that they are able to get work done even if away from the office, with the company responsible for enabling the employee to do so with the right tools and tech support.
While critical meetings will still happen F2F, video conferencing will become an essential part of every worker’s technology stack. Examples of companies that have made remote working work: Software developer GitLab had already adopted an all-remote workforce, even prior to the pandemic.
Prediction 3: Despite budget constraints, IT investments especially in collaboration tools will still be a priority
According to a survey by Enterprise Technology Research (ETR), global companies were planning to cut technology spending this year by as much as 4.1%. However, that reduction in spending could be less than initially feared as a number of organizations had also indicated an increase in tech spending as they ramp up their “work from home” infrastructure, from an increase of 1% to more than 30% in their annual IT budget.
Case in point – at Poly, we have already seen a steep increase in demand for both personal and group collaboration solutions since February, especially in industries such as banking and finance, manufacturing, and education.
Equipment that was “just enough to get by on” in the early days is turning out to be not good enough for real business and productivity. The user-experience, as well as the ability to manage these technology solutions remotely matters to organizations and IT administrators.
Business-grade equipment is designed with productivity in mind, and be able to withstand the rigors of day-to-day business. These investments are for the long-term. To enable a remote workforce to be more productive, IT departments need to invest in business-grade professional audio and video devices for employees, as well as on supporting enterprise infrastructure such as VPNs and relevant cloud services.
This will ensure that the business is operationally ready to accommodate a more globally distributed workforce, and more importantly, the inevitable spikes in connected workers working remotely when the need arises.
In this Next Normal, we are seeing more businesses open to experimenting with, and assessing, new ways of working. There is no time like now for businesses to invest in the right tools and platforms to help their employees stay at the top of their game, whether working from home or in the office.
