Digital Dave’s COVID Nightmare

In 2013 I took on a leadership role in Accenture Digital when the new business unit was created.?I was very excited to embrace, envision and maximize the opportunities digital advances would provide business development in Canada. ?Considering where we are today as a society, it’s interesting to reflect on the early years of Digital. Although there were many advocates for change, I often had discussions with ‘change blockers’, receiving comments such as “do not spend time on digital - it is not going to be relevant”, “there is no digital in government” and “how will I manage my people if they’re not in the office”.?

Look at us now.?Digital solutions and remote work kept our economy and society progressing through a very difficult period.

My “Covid nightmare” Halloween costume, refers to being locked in my digital box for 2 ? years and the potential personal and organizational growth we might miss if we don’t apply learnings from the last few years.?Here are a few items for us to ponder to continue digital advancement:

1. Future Workforce Models must balance the @home and @workplace:?Yes work from home is convenient and provides flexibility in our personal lives. However on the work front, we need to break the “digital box” and introduce a more healthy mix of in-person and virtual workspace.?Countless studies reference the positive impact of being physically together on innovation, team building, mental health, socialization, etc. ?Let’s build the new workplace and work culture!
2. Continue to drive a healthy pace of change:?The digital and consulting sector was sprinting across all industries during the pandemic.?We saw government contact centres being stood up in a matter of days and Covid tracing solutions in production in a matter of weeks.?Let’s continue the momentum to drive real Digital Transformation at a pace that realizes “in year” results and quantifiable value while managing departmental/corporate and human risks.
3. Partner to build upon new skillsets, mindsets and behaviours: Organizations big and small teamed with consultancies to move solutions at pace working in a different way.?These projects brought increased exposure to new skills (e.g., Cloud, Security, Data) and new ways of working (e.g., Agile deployments).?With scarce ‘hot skills’ in the market, there is an opportunity to continue these partnerships to work together to address up-skilling and shifting mindsets and behaviours on how digital can be implemented.

As the Government of Canada moves forward to address the Digital Ambition, let’s make sure we bring our collective lessons learned from the past few years.?We need to leverage this opportunity to address our future workplace and workspace vision of where enhanced technology and digital solutions, deliver better employee, client and user experiences, and an up-skilled digital workforce that is ready for the challenges of today and delivers at pace for tomorrow.?