Remote Ecosystems for Digital Operations – A Shift from ‘Choice’ to ‘Necessity’

The ideal face of living has changed. From following the traditional norms of working on weekdays to socializing on weekends, everything today seems to have been statued. The viral outbreak of the COVID-19 has forced everyone to stay behind their doors, isolate them, and practice something that we call social distancing. 

Considering the fact that the pandemic has caused tremendous damage to both, life and living, the decision to halt all activities is unquestionably the best that could be done. However, one could not deny the fact that limiting all activities would have serious repercussions.

Where at one end, people are running out of cash and finding it hard to survive, the corporate sector is grappling with infrastructural boundaries to reinstate their services. And the only way out is to adapt to the changing times and look for business alternatives. But this is not so easy.

Challenges due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Maintaining the productivity

Maintaining social distance is very much needed right now. The safest way to achieve this is – working from home. While working from home seems like an interest concept as it gives you the privilege to stay at home with family & work, there are several disadvantages of it. If you won’t maintain a strict routine and workable environment, it will affect your productivity adversely.

Also, for businesses, temporary closure of several industries must be causing decrease in work and revenue, which means you have to find new clients, search through new verticals and so on.

In both cases, businesses and individuals need to work with extra discipline.

High-speed Connectivity

Not everyone has high-speed internet setup at their home, and getting the connection setup done in the middle of pandemic isn’t easy either. But as soon as one can, broadband or any medium that enables you to leverage high-speed internet, must be configured so that you could work smoothly.

Need for Sudden upgradation in skills or potential

As entire world is now suddenly depending upon the technologies, you might end up getting more opportunities to work as a business than you were thinking of. Obviously, a few ways are closed, but more than that, new ways are opening. Digitization is more than required now. So, this will increase the need for upgradation of skills and potentials to fetch work in today’s time.

Learning to live with COVID-19

No one was ready for Coronavirus, but we have to learn to live, love & survive into the new definition of professional life. That’ll be tough but not impossible. Understanding the essentiality of this new lifestyle for everyone’s safety, accepting this truth will make things easy for all of us. Hope for the vaccines soon!

Even with all these challenges, things are not that bad for businesses. The need for distancing has opened up new ways for digital ventures, specially. A little understanding of how to deal with it will help you for sure. Here’s what you can learn:

What The Top Tier Organizations Are Doing?

Before we move ahead to see how digitization is playing poker with the businesses today, let us have a look at what the top scale companies are doing or what solutions have they adapted to survive in the current times of uncertainty.

1.     Setting up WFH Culture: As all industries, organizations, and offices are shutdowns, businesses are facing its tool. To deal with, organizational leaders have instructed their employees to set up a remote work culture. Every employee is equipped with the needed hardware/software to work from their home, eliminating the distancing barrier, and embracing the digital ecosystem.

2.     Virtual Teams: While work for home happens in a standalone environment. How do these people collaborate? The leaders have a solution for this too. Online channels and digital platforms are being used to set up meetings, conferences, and webinars. This ensures all members of the team are on the same page, enhancing productivity.

3.     Remote Training: Organizational institutions have also leveled their approach to imparting knowledge. Thousands of educational organizations are now leveraging cloud platforms to host virtual classes for students worldwide. This helps them keep up with the norms of social distancing and also facilitate learning.

Pretty fascinating, right?

Amidst all of these, one thing that remains common is a remote team. Whether it is in the educational segment, businesses, or corporate offices, remote teams are what make digital interaction possible and apparently successful.

So what is a remote team?

Defining the Trend: Remote Teams

Remote teams could be anyone from an architect to a consultant, an employee to a project manager, a development agency, or a digital solution company. In the lamest way, the remote team comprises people that are all working as per their convenience from their homes. What makes them a team is their virtual interaction and collaboration with each other on a timely and regular basis.

All of the members have the same end goal. Suppose that you have a team of five members working on a project. Each of you has a separate task assigned to take care of. At the end of the day, all of you connect over a call to share the progress of your work and communicate information that you consider important. This real-time collaboration acts as the fuel to remote working.

Why Remote Teams Are Growing?

Besides being hit by the pandemic and being forced to go digital, remote teams have a plethora of features and benefits that account for their widespread acceptance.

1.     Enhanced Productivity

The first and most important one is the rise in employee productivity. As employees have the ease to work at their own pace, and at times suitable for them, the work quality dramatically increases. Remote work gives them the space to choose their work hours and strike a balance between all. 

2.     Time Utilisation

If done effectively, remote working adds more hours to everyday work. When you have teams at different and distant locations, you can keep your business running 24/7 without interruption.

3.     Help Maintain A Work-life Balance

Adoption of a remote work culture gives employees the freedom and flexibility to balance their life with work. This leads to rise in employee satisfaction and as it goes, a happy employee is the best asset of an organization.

Stridely's Take on Digital Ecosystem

Running behind the crowd does not good. Setting up a remote team and instructing our employees to work again has no fruitage. To successfully act upon the situation, our team is focused on addressing the following concerns:

a)     Motivating Teams

Even though WFH sounds interesting and engaging, some complain that they aren't comfortable working at home. The atmosphere there is different and concentrating is tough. We agree to this and hence, lay our focus on motivating our employees to work at their own pace. A healthy mind can only reap in profits.

b)    Preparing For WFH

The remote work culture has penetrated deep and it is going to stay for long. And it is important to educate and train employees to work remotely on a long term basis. A balance needs to be maintained and in a harmonious way.

c)     Man Vs Machine

Automation has been on the roll for quite a long time and few are afraid that they would lose their job, once caught in the man Vs machine race. To an extent, technology is bound to transform the business space however not replace human interaction. We strive to have a smart combination of tools and manpower, so as to maximize productivity.

Conclusion

Having said all of the above, it might seem that remote work culture is the new normal and definitely it is. However, in order to unleash the true potential of your remote teams, constant vigilance is required. As much as these tend to be fascinating and effective, they are vulnerable to an array of challenges.

Given the current face of business, every organization is expected to embrace the remote work ecosystem but while doing so, they must be careful in how they deploy the solution. Along with seamless interaction and timely collaboration, security should be a top concern. So, be wise before you rise.