As society and business gradually go back to normal after worldwide COVID-19 restrictions, the question arises whether businesses will return to usual business conduct. With major employers like Twitter, Dropbox, and Coinbase allowing their employees to work from home permanently, businesses are continuously considering revolutionary solutions to strategically respond to the current situation. Strategic choices, like the aforementioned, are inseparably linked with providing digital solutions to foster the change. Hence, firms must carefully consider the implications of changing business conduct.
To start, firms must ensure that employees have the necessary technological resources to work remotely. A McKinsey study showed that more than half the workforce has little or no opportunity for remote work. Thus, firms need to create the possibilities. By recreating a proper work environment at home, firms can assure that employees are not constraint by the lack of hardware.
In addition to providing the hardware, firms ought to adopt or update internal digital systems. As physical communication is unlikely to remain the sole way of communication, digital environments must be up to date and capable of handling an increase in usage. This includes increasing processing power, moving towards a completely cloud-based system, or acquiring an internal collaboration system like G-suite and Microsoft SharePoint.
At last, firms should establish a technical support team that possesses extensive knowledge on all systems adopted by the firm. This technical support team should consist of certified technicians that are able to solve any technical issues remotely with programs like Team Viewer.
Switching from a physical work environment to a (partially) remote work environment comes with various obstacles for firms. The three aforementioned solutions form a resolution for most obstacles. Hence, adopting these will positively influence the transformation many firms will undergo.
References
McKinsey. (2021). What’s next for remote work: An analysis of 2,000 tasks, 800 jobs, and nine countries. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/whats-next-for-remote-work-an-analysis-of-2000-tasks-800-jobs-and-nine-countries
Robinson, S. (2020). 7 Microsoft SharePoint alternatives to consider. SearchContentManagement. https://searchcontentmanagement.techtarget.com/tip/7-Microsoft-SharePoint-alternatives-to-consider
Harvard Business Review. (2021). How to Build Digital Dexterity Into Your Workforce. https://hbr.org/2021/10/how-to-build-digital-dexterity-into-your-workforce
