Covid-19: Distributed Knowledge Assets, new norms
Shashidhar Nookala
Delivery Partner helping organizations deliver outcomes using digital technologies
Over the last few weeks, many of my colleagues and others in IT services organizations have strived hard to execute Business continuity of operations, to enable employees to connect remotely. Such massive movement on war-footing was never imagined and the initial reports indicate that this exercise has been successful and must watch out for qualitative metrics on impact to deliverable. There is no visibility on how long this ‘new norm’ of working from home aka remote service delivery will continue.
This pandemic has challenged us with new scenarios and will require us to improvise our working methods.
One of the major considerations for corporations to operate from One office premises (co-location) is the availability of Reliable high bandwidth secured connectivity. In the new situation, we will need to ponder if such investments in common office are justified. Home office will become the focal point. Knowledge assets and knowledge workers will be distributed. Homes will be designed to make a mandatory provision for office ecosystem. Governments & corporations will provide incentives by way of tax rebates and allowance to encourage adherence to this new norm. Daily routines and lifestyles will need to undergo a change to bring in discipline and work-life balance.
In the new norm, the conventional definition of Global Delivery Model will need a revised positioning, wherein levers of geography will be superseded by time zone. Seamless supply of talents/services will be the need of hour. Demarcation of onsite/offshore/near-shore will lose its relevance. And consequently, billable rates will be associated to seamless value delivery with currency arbitrage losing its sheen. Time & material-based contracts will be thing of the past and emphasis will shift to outcome-based models.
As managers we have been spending substantial amount of bandwidth on physical interaction/supervision of knowledge workers. Under the new norm, focus will shift to ensure employee productivity is not diminished, and goals for each team member will be measured against the outcomes delivered and not against the time logged in. Increased methods for Governance, monitor/track, service assurance/compliance will evolve. RACI matrix will go under microscopic lens and deviations will have monetary impact.
In the current situation, distributed knowledge workers are in an unfamiliar zone missing out the benefits of co-located teams, suddenly finding themselves working in isolation and there is an associated psychological and emotional stress. Going forward there will be transparency and visibility into the individual contributions, and hence greater need to stay abreast with latest trends. Upskilling & reskilling will be mantra. Focus will shift to emotional well-being requiring improvised Employee engagement practices. Agility and embracing change will be the hygiene skill.
To quote Charles Darwin “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”
Are we ready?
Disclaimer: All views expressed on are my personal and appreciate that many of us will have their own perspective.
Business Coach | Helping Entrepreneurs Build 100 Cr Businesses | Unique Growth Strategy for each Business
4 年Great Article Sashi. "Focus will shift to emotional well-being requiring improvised Employee engagement practices". Very true I am sharing my related article here => https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/remote-workforce-management-six-strategies-yk-kishore-yasarapu-/
Well written Shashi, this Black Swan event has put forth may questions that we will need to think through and ability to work remotely. Multiple hypothesis will tested during this time including ~75% team working offsite/ connectivity resilience/ Remote communication/ Water cooler conversations/ handling cyber security/ emplyee empathy will be thought through and evolved. Interesting times and new normal...
Head of Global Payroll
4 年In my opinion the current Covid19 situation has only helped the organisation's across the globe to practically test their BCPs and if they were able to provide seamless services. With regard to productivity it may not be true that all parts of IT services organisation's had similar success... and i say this because for those sectors of businesses which were badly impacted due to Covid-19 will have direct correlation. Further, I do belive that in future most of the organisation's might encourage work from home. On an average, I expect 50:50 proportion between office and home for each position. This will also have an impact on how the offices needs to be designed with no permanent desks to start with. As a consequence organisation's may save on their real estate and administrative costs by atleast 35 to 40%. Over all Post Covid-19, we are bound to see a new world and significant changes in every walk of life and IT services organisations will be no exception.
Principal consultant - Agile Coach at Infosys Ltd.
4 年Nice post Shashi ! To add on this is where organisational agility comes into play. Orgs who have imbibed an enterprise level agile way of working will quickly adapt and thrive while "old school" or "traditional" orgs will find the going tough. Enterprise Agility has never been more important than now !
Director - Digital
4 年Good one Shashi. This situation has thrown us completely unforeseen challenges and calls ror new way of remote working. IT and non-IT companies should enable more work force on home working and do away with office desk approach. Go for more fkexi desk and lesser office space