On this blog, we regularly discuss the new technologies and innovations which might initiate or accelerate the digital transformation of organizations. This is really a must in these times of accelerating evolution and telework linked to the lockdown. Nevertheless, after the outbreak of the pandemic, companies have been forced to imagine new working methods by making telework widespread. However, these new processes and the associated technologies have often been deployed as a matter of urgency, without a well-considered strategy, particularly in terms of safe access to information and collaborative tools.

Recruitments and trainings

Since it appears that telework won’t disappear soon, the time has come for the organizations to stop and think about the best procedures to follow in order to structure this telework.

This way, the shift from physical presence to digital culture has created a feeling of isolation among the employees or has even led to the fact that their managers don’t listen to them anymore. Hence the need to come up with solutions in order to better supervise the employees, to allow them to collaborate online just as efficiently as face-to-face and to promote the company culture. The aim is to retain the staff and to create a sense of trust, both at employee level and at management level, since presence has now become less important than performance or productivity. Moreover, the sense of responsibility must be sharpened so that the employees could enjoy greater autonomy and establish a better balance between their private and professional lifes.

Furthermore, companies will have to review their recruitment and integration procedures, since the physical location isn’t as important as it used to be. Besides, the pool of potential valuable candidates should considerably be extended since the commuting distance is no longer such a decisive criterion (in the past, we had already seen certain profiles hesitate about or even refuse positions too far away from their place of residence or more difficultly accessible). And this pool of talents could even transcend national borders...

Furthermore, it will be a matter of emphasizing more than ever additional training or retraining, preferably as personalized as possible, a decisive element for IT professionals whose technological skills tend to quickly become obsolete. These trainings can and shall be provided remotely, especially because the intensive use of the cloud, of outsourcing and of agile methods in particular, not to mention the growing importance of security, has considerably complicated the work of IT specialists.

Listening

Companies will have to listen to their employees in a business and IT world becoming more volatile than ever. Ideally, competition should be replaced by collaboration. As a result, behavioral and interpersonal skills (soft skills) as well as organizational skills will prevail over pure technical know-how. In this context, women could get some opportunities, especially in an IT world which is still too largely dominated by men, even more so since women can also benefit from their capacity for empathy. Besides, greater diversity - and not just in terms of gender - can only be positive for the IT department.

Finally, the general management will have to listen more closely to its IT department when it comes down to security; not only data access security, but also data security through a continuity plan and a disaster recovery plan within the framework of a controlled risk management, if possible with security by design.

In the long term?

Will this normality imposed by Covid-19 and the lockdowns impose itself as the ‘new normal’? Initially at least, the new digital technologies have shown that an organization can perfectly work remotely and perform very well. However, many changes must still be performed… and accepted at all levels.

In order to make these changes truly sustainable, the organization will have to digitize its processes as much as possible; it’s the only possible path towards more flexibility, responsiveness and resilience. Moreover, an agile model will ensure maximum adaptability and the capacity to quickly integrate any new innovation.

Supporting companies in their transformation: that is Aprico Consultants’ mission. This support is both strategic and technological. In order to support its strategy, Aprico has developed an original work methodology articulated around three axes: smart, lean and agile. Aprico’s transversal approach combining business, technology and methodology, all of this associated with its requirement standards, is one of the key factors to success.