Covid-19 has brought forward unpredictable challenges, threats to livelihoods and has forced organisations to reimagine their work and the role of offices as safe and productive spaces for the employees.
Every industry and organisation is adapting to life and work during a pandemic and many companies have actively safeguarded employees by focusing on flexibility and agility to adapt to a new way of working.
The brick and mortar world as we know it has had a reset with two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months as stated by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The new normal will be that of a hybrid workplace, which will incorporate work-from-office and work-from-home both, rather than one extreme. Until a vaccine is widely available, the office environment will be very different as compared to what it was before the pandemic, social distancing will be the norm and office spaces will have to be redesigned and transformed to ensure proper physical distancing and employees will be required to wear masks. Organisations have rapidly adopted digital tools, and technology has become universal across markets and industries. As for long commute hours and travelling in heavy traffic, workers will try to have meetings online whenever possible to reduce commute hassles and will use the time saved more productively. Service based industries that do not require personal interaction with goods or people will gradually lean towards a work-from-home intensive work model, this will also lead to outsourcing of work to other cities and smaller towns as there will be fewer locational constraints. A clear distinction will have to be made between the work that can be done remotely and the work that needs to be done in-office. Existing practices and processes will have to be redefined and reconstructed to ensure the best of both, work-from-home and work-from-office to ensure productivity and safety.
SMEs and local businesses now have the opportunity to make the optimum use of technology and will go online to stay in touch with the customers and boost growth.
The scope of artificial intelligence, analytical and machine learning has no bounds as online connectivity around the world is a necessity now. The use of artificial intelligence has increased in the pandemic and it is being used at the forefront for managing customer service interactions. These tools will help enterprises adapt to new ways of working while increasing efficiency at the same time. Post Covid-19, the need of the hour will be to form an alliance between human and machine and use it to survive the challenges and scale the businesses to exhibit stronger potential.
This is a good opportunity for organisations to transform themselves and create a better working experience for talent, use new technology to improve productivity, and at the same time reduce costs. This will enable them to create an environment where employees can work comfortably and safely and achieve their personal and organisational objectives.
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