The unprecedented disruption caused by COVID-19 has created a new operating environment globally. Every value chain, value stream and decision-making process has been affected, making this the most significant transition yet from physical-first to digital-first operations. For many organizations, the essence of their value-creation model is being challenged and will need to be re-calibrated.
Organizations that cannot adapt quickly enough to remote-working models will struggle to meet their targets. Without significant operational disruption, they will continue to experience losses in productivity, reduced business agility, delayed operational processing, higher operational costs, a deluge of service tickets and significant declines in sales. Simply put, slow adapters may not survive. Creating an efficient digital workspace in today’s environment is essential for business survival and operational continuity.
Most organizations’ operating models were not calibrated around remote working as the dominant way to work. Through our work with IT and business organizations, we understand that most processes and operating models are currently inflexible, causing increased cost and reduced agility while providing little business value. Though the value of digital channels and operations is now obvious, inefficient processes will hinder organizations’ ability to build productive remote-working and digital-workspace models. We foresee four key challenges:
- Operational preparedness
- Remote working productivity
- Internal communications
- Measuring the success of remote working
Yet there is a pathway from survival to evolutionary growth in this “new normal.” To reach this state, organizations must simplify the experience of working remotely in a way that increases employee productivity and reduces costs.
The first step in this journey is to adapt – and adaptation must happen rapidly. We have created a rapid solution for clients, based on Wipro IP and accelerators, that enables organizations to quickly adapt to remote working.
In essence, it creates the fundamentals of a new digital workspace platform within 10 weeks, with essential value-add features later deployed to increase telework efficiency by eliminating unnecessary complexity. This creates a single window that operates across all devices and operating systems to handle priority employee transactions, collaboration, insights and knowledge.
The strategic roadmap for organizations should move from Adapt (having a minimum viable product deployed in 10 weeks) to Reinvention of the employee experience. This journey, if completed successfully, will be a critical lever to saving 30-40% of OpEx costs from back-office and shared services.
In the current environment, speed is of the essence. Our solution is engineered for seamless deployment on Microsoft or Google Suite stacks, helping companies to leverage their investments in collaboration platforms (Microsoft or Google) and provide a “Single Source of Truth” communication channel for transparent employee communications. It also enables the business to begin measuring and adapting their operational simplicity to promote employees’ adoption of new remote-working processes.
At the end of this journey, businesses can expect:
- An experience platform that cuts across IT, Finance, HR, Procurement, Expenses and Approvals
- A radically simplified omni-device experience, delivered on mobile, tablet and desktop with a digital concierge
- The speed, scalability and re-usability within the existing architecture
- The ability to measure and adapt using digital change-management capabilities and tools
This is a scalable way to move quickly and on-board new processes and features in an agile manner without creating the “bow wave” of large, disruptive change. Once the digital workspace is built, it can be scaled quickly across the organization and accelerate the virtual assembly of remote employees. Using this strategic roadmap response, leaders can address inefficiencies in their processes and ultimately drive simpler experiences, reduced operational costs and increases in employee collaboration and productivity.