As lockdown measures begin to ease there is a strong sense of optimism regarding Covid-19 recovery plans. For many organisations, there is no going back to ‘how things used to be’, with a permanent shift to a more flexible approach to work, thanks in no small part to the rapid adoption of new technology.
However, flexible leadership and a collaborative mindset are as important as the tech, explains RGS CEO Rob Holmes.
Flexible Leadership
Albert Einstein once said: “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change”. This certainly is the case with organisations that aim to grow and change as they recover from the pandemic. Our present circumstances have highlighted the importance of flexibility.
According to this report, organisations with high business agility outperform their peers by 2-3 times in terms of revenue and profitable growth. (1) And there’s a clear reason for this: nobody knows what is just around the corner, so having the mindset to bend and adapt processes and priorities allows you to remain at the forefront of future developments and upcoming trends. Looking at things with an open mind and willingness to change will allow advancement, innovation, and increased collaboration.
This is true not only of your leadership and business model but also of your technology…
With our agile methodology, we’re able to create bespoke software solutions that are flexible and responsive to external forces. Whether you have time to prepare or need to react more rapidly, working with an agile team that can flex your IT to adapt to changing circumstances has never been more important.
A Collaborative Mindset
Virtual collaboration has provided the perfect opportunity for businesses to be more flexible; making it easy to communicate with internal and external teams no matter their geographical location. These types of technology investment will be high on the list for leading organisations in their response to the pandemic.
Virtual meetings have been around for a while, with software such as Webex created as early as 1995. However, virtual connectedness has been rapidly developing since then, and the interruption of Coronavirus only accelerated this already developing field. Thanks to recent developments, it takes almost no time or cost to hold a conference or a last-minute meeting, meaning decisions can be made quickly with wider access to senior teams at the push of a button.
Interestingly, Microsoft Teams has made this part of their PR strategy with this advert, which highlights the power that virtual collaboration has to take our collaborative capabilities to the next level. In their recent advert, Microsoft pushes the message that Hasbro can now test games with different groups of people around the world with ease, bringing a whole new dimension to their testing processes.
And this is the same for every business. There is a huge opportunity to be found in this new technology.
We’ve always believed in the importance of collaborative tech, but it has to be embraced from the top down. Senior managers can have full visibility of their team’s focus and output if the technology is correctly applied, allaying concerns about productivity loss.
Advanced Technology
To make room for enhanced collaboration and facilitate increased flexibility, we suspect that the following tech, underpinned by automation and an increase in artificial intelligence, will be employed to keep organisations stable, resilient, and sustainable – no matter what happens next.
Curated Ecosytems
Technology will continue to develop at an increasingly rapid pace. The prevalence of technology in our everyday lives will be a catalyst for greater agility, rapid innovation, and more organisational resilience as software facilitates more efficient and organised approaches to previously insurmountable problems. Leaders will undoubtedly look towards building ecosystems of curated software to generate better quality data insights, overhaul traditional business models, and create new value.
Existing Software Growth
With flexibility and virtual collaboration now an increased priority, we’re already seeing a rise in new business operating models which make better use of the tools at hand. For example, Zoom is already being used to develop inexpensive and professional quality TV productions, leading to a new trend in content channel providers. It’s undeniable that companies will begin to look at the software already available and find new, creative ways to use it to their advantage.
Increased Automation & AI
We’ve been excited about the power of AI and its business applications for years, and as the availability of data continues to increase, it can be combined with automation technologies such as robotic process automation, robotics, and 3D printing to create more ways to augment human capabilities; increasing the flexibility of workplace processes.
Enhanced Network Connectivity
Over the past year, we have seen 5G slowly being introduced into various large towns and cities. With networks like these optimised to process high volumes of data with minimal delays, operations that require near-real-time access to rapidly changing data are on the rise. This could lead to completely new ways of achieving tasks and enhanced customer insight.
With developments in such computer networks, we expect to see magical possibilities arising such as holography and remote surgery.
Organisational Twins
Increasing automation and digital data will allow companies to visualise how effectively and quickly their organisation works, collaborates and innovates. A digital organisation twin may sound a bit sci-fi, but it is a great tool that allows businesses to model how they’re working so they can plan and predict how they will change over time.
For organisations to become more flexible and collaborative, becoming insight-led with increased data will be critical, and generating actionable plans from these insights may, in some instances, require an organisational twin.
Are You Prepared?
Does your organisation have the right technology you need to collaborate effectively? Do you have flexible and future-proof business models and agile processes? Are you harnessing your data insights to proactively enhance your customer and employee experience?
We’re here to help your organisation thrive by being at the forefront of the latest technology developments that will allow you to level up your organisation, efficiency, and automation in response to the pandemic. Get in touch with our imaginative engineers to discuss your bespoke tech solution.
(1) CGI, Adapting to an accelerated workplace reality (2020)
