Future-proof your workplace for post-COVID 19

After the S&P 500 has wiped out all of its 2020 gains, fears of a recession are once again omnipresent. The index dropped 12 percent Monday, while the Dow lost 13 percent.

But what is lost is usually gained back, even if the U.S. market should slide into recession. Looking at crises over the last 70 years in which recessions occurred, the speed of recovery has mostly — if not always — been swift. After the most recent economic downturn, the Great Recession of 2007 and 2009, recovery was quicker than average, and the S&P 500 had gained back 68 percent just one year after leaving the trough and 84 percent two years later.

Source: statista.com

What’s important is to look at emerging themes because of the current recessionary environment and be prepared to ride the upswing when it comes.

Two significant themes that are emerging because of the current pandemic driven recession are:

1. Changing User Behavior: Change in workforce user behavior towards the adoption of collaboration technologies that enhance remote working capabilities.

2. Nationalization of Essential Services: Governments will invest in building critical infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities that are required for running essential services (airlines, hospitals, transportation, and communication) required during such events if they recur in the future.

There are a few technologies that will see rapid adoption and innovation because of user behavior changes driven by current necessity:

Digital conferencing: The likes of Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams have already seen a spurt in usage. However, these applications enable remote meetings that address a single-dimensional need when it comes to remote collaboration.

Source: yahoofinance.com

Digital conferencing when augmented with “knowledge management” and “project/task management” will be the way forward in increasing the productivity of remote teams.

Knowledge management — Knowledge management (KM) is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to the access and use of a company’s knowledge and information assets.

Every company has different needs and purposes for their information, and knowledge management software can be used both internally and externally to meet those needs.

Internally, you can use it to manage employee access to information, facilitate training, and foster collaboration. Externally, use these systems to create self-service knowledge bases (such as FAQs or forums) that allow customers to efficiently find answers to their questions (the quickest and most cost-effective customer support method)

Convergent PM Applications — Multiple project management tools exist today. However, every industry/function has a specific way of dealing with their projects, and a one size fits all approach rarely works. Functions within an organization tend to be at loggerheads when a particular PM tool is imposed on them (e.g. Jira which is a tech PM tool is not adopted well by the operations team and vice versa in case of apps such as Asana or Monday). Convergent PM applications that allow various project management applications to talk to each other will be required to enable smooth collaboration within remote teams.

During these unprecedented times, we strongly believe that proactiveness towards future-proofing your business by adopting technologies that help collaboration amongst remote teams will go a long way in ensuring business success.

We at StrategyConnect would be more than happy to talk to you and guide you through the multitude of options available. Feel free to visit strategyconnect.co and kick start a virtual engagement to get a first-hand experience of working with us remotely and effectively.

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