And Breathe…
The last 3 months have been a rollercoaster for all of us in one way or another. Many have had to embrace remote working and digital transformation at break neck speed, and in a small number of weeks implement change that would normally have taken months. Now that the essential business changes needed to continue operating have been completed, I suggest that now is the right time to draw breath and look ahead.
In the post-COVID world, remote working and online capability will continue to be more important that they were previously, and we need to consider the part they will play long term and the impact this will have on our businesses. There are 5 areas that I think are important to include as we do this. It’s worth noting that for some businesses there may be little (if anything) to do in some of these areas. I recommend you still consider each so that a ‘do nothing’ decision in a particular area is deliberate and not by omission.
Our Customers
During the first 2 months of COVID a number of businesses struggled to support customers and had to work hard to address this. Think about how you interact with your customers and how to maintain or improve customer experience through tool and process change. Keep customers at the heart of your planning.
Our People
To retain and recruit top talent we need to balance business need with the psychological needs of our teams. This means that we may need to review how we manage their expectations, performance, and well-being. Managers will need access to tools and guidance to help them manage remote teams effectively.
It also means that we need to understand team and individual preferences for working environment. Working remotely in the short term is very different to working remotely long term, so we need to find ways to accommodate those who need the social contact and sense of connectedness they get from an office environment.
Our Processes
All business run on 2 types of process; formal and informal. Often, informal processes ‘grease the gears’ of formal processes, making them work more effectively. Remote working affects both types, but is likely to have a greater impact on informal processes because they tend to rely on ad hoc communication. It’s important to consider how both will be affected by new operating models.
Consider setting up forums to ensure team members’ knowledge can be included in planning. Use this knowledge to define the framework, but empower teams to define their own local working practices to meet their specific needs. This also helps teams feel listened to and trusted.
Our Support Functions
Functions such as Finance, CISO, and HR which are not directly related to revenue generation and customer experience will need the same focus as customer facing functions. Ensuring employees in these functions can work effectively will be key to ensuring future business performance. If you haven’t already done this I suggest giving HR a seat at the heart of your business planning. The human aspect is more important now than ever and shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Remote working and increased online presence will also change your security perimeter and may increase your exposure to cyber threats. Keep your CISO at the heart of your planning to ensure your information security policies and procedures are updated. Consider additional training for your teams to help them understand what they need to do differently to protect your business.
Our Systems
In many cases businesses are now relying on consumer broadband and collaborations tools such as Zoom due to the speed with which the move to remote working has been forced on all of us. As part of our planning we should consider the solutions being used to ensure they are appropriate long term, can be incorporated in business continuity planning, are cost effective, and sufficiently protect business data. Important factors to include in the review are:
the use, resilience, and capacity of network, VPN and collaboration services,
the security of end devices and cloud storage solutions,
ease of use and reliability of tools,
user authentication / access control,
remote access to strategic systems,
remote support arrangements.
I strongly suggest that if your business is moving to remote working for the first time you arrange a cybersecurity penetration test to confirm that you’ve not inadvertently exposed your own or your client’s data to the open internet.
Once you have your plan for the next few months, you need to implement it quickly and effectively. In my previous blog (The Wood for the Trees...) I discuss how to do this and ensure change stays aligned to business need. While business planning needs (where possible) to be able to predict and not just react to ongoing change, considering each of the areas above will help ensure you’re as well positioned as possible to meet whatever the next few months holds.
Having experienced, objective support sitting alongside you to help work through the current challenges can make a significant difference. At Pragmatist Consulting we specialise in exactly that. We provide a tailored service to help you overcome your challenges, so contact us to find out how we can help you.
Pragmatist Consulting provides a pragmatic, emotionally intelligent business and change consultancy service which we tailor to fit your need. We focus on helping you turn your business problem into a success story.
22 JUNE 2020