Lakshmi Raj, co-founder and co-CEO of Replicon, a time intelligence company.
getty
The past two years have been all about preparing for a remote and hybrid workforce, accelerating digital transformation, adopting automation and AI and building a resilient enterprise. The next few years don’t seem like they’ll be any different. According to the results of a Gartner CFO survey, 74% of the respondents said that at least 5% of their previously on-site workforce would move to permanently remote positions. Global business leaders continue to modernize their legacy applications and move to the cloud to support this new remote and hybrid workforce.
In this journey, executives and managers are going to face many challenges, which they'll have to overcome to future-proof their business operations and global workforce. Here are three things that businesses should consider doing to build the resilience needed to meet these challenges.
1. Build an integrated tech ecosystem.
An enterprise’s tech ecosystem typically consists of both legacy and cloud applications. To achieve the true benefits of digital transformation and build resilience against disruption, business leaders must ensure that all their applications are tightly integrated. A fragmented technology landscape created by disparate point solutions no longer makes the cut.
In the past, it was common for businesses to use multiple solutions to meet unique business needs. For instance, traditionally, global companies chose regional vendors to meet local language or currency customizations. But a major disadvantage of this approach is that it creates data silos. And without a comprehensive view of business information, it's difficult for business leaders to make course corrections or build an agile work environment.
When businesses use a unified platform that integrates with other applications in their tech stack, critical business information can be shared seamlessly across departments to optimize processes. In addition, the synergy of applications provides a competitive advantage by helping create better customer and employee experiences.
2. Choose a secure vendor.
Cyberattacks are a growing threat to companies of all sizes. Your business can take a major hit when critical applications such as time and attendance tracking solutions come under attack. Without complete information about your employees’ time, accounting teams can’t process payrolls in time or bill clients accurately. This inconvenience can cost your business millions in terms of lost revenue and reputation.
To protect your organization’s data and ensure business continuity, it’s essential to carefully evaluate the reliability and security standards of the vendors you choose. During the product evaluation stage, you should inquire whether the vendor has a security recovery team and contingency plans in place to avoid and reduce the damage in case of a breach. In addition, proof of regular audits, periodic security awareness training and security certifications demonstrate the reliability of an application.
3. Be proactive.
Organizations always need to stay ahead and be prepared to navigate through the next disruption, whatever it might be. Digitization of business operations with a scalable solution is the first step you can take to achieve this goal. Evaluate your tech ecosystem to assess the gaps and prioritize investments.
Best-in-class solutions help business leaders anticipate challenges and solve them. For instance, an advanced time tracking solution can provide a single source of truth, helping organizations gain real-time visibility into projects, employee time, compliance and resources across multiple locations to identify potential problems quickly. A global solution that meets local business requirements around payroll, employee leave management and labor compliance can help reduce operational overheads and potential non-compliance risks.
The Way Forward
Building a more resilient digital workplace requires organizations to look beyond their traditional tech ecosystem and embrace innovative technologies to drive business stability, customer satisfaction, employee experience and profits. A comprehensive digital strategy that considers potential uncertainties and emerging challenges helps identify process bottlenecks and technology gaps. Implementing configurable and global solutions can enable enterprises to achieve both the speed and agility required in the face of disruption.
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