What Does “Normal” Mean?
Let’s just come out and say it: as terrible as the pandemic has been for so many, it has also given businesses some very strong motivations to adapt and innovate. Really, most had no choice if they wanted to remain open in the long-term.
This led to many businesses finally adopting the modern solutions that enabled productive and secure remote work and collaboration.
So, the question remains: what exactly do we expect to happen before we consider ourselves at a “normal” point once more? Does that mean the way things were pre-COVID-19, or some new standard that reflects what we’ve learned? At Aspire, we’re firmly in the latter camp, that the most successful businesses will be the ones to carry on with the strategies that have allowed operations to continue safely and securely. Let’s consider some of the larger impacts of these shifts, and why we think these shifts are going to prove permanent.
Improved Productivity
Regardless of what kind of disaster strikes a business, it will become important that the business is able to use what resources they do have to the fullest. With modern IT solutions in place, this benchmark can be attainably pushed higher.
This is due not only to the improvement in technology’s efficiency, it also has to do with its portability. In addition to your team being able to spend more time in the office that isn’t taken up by their repetitive tasks, they are also no longer confined to doing their work while in the office. Thanks to today’s increasingly mobile solutions, productive work can be accomplished from anywhere a secure Internet connection can be established.
As a result, time that once offered no opportunity to be productive to a business can now be used more effectively to help reach the organization’s goals.
Seamless Collaboration
Without the metaphorical water cooler to gather around and chat during the workday, many companies have rolled out the means for their employees to virtually socialize with one another as well as work productively on shared goals and ideas. These efforts have been very successful and have actually shown some improvements in internal company cultures. Because certain people would tend to socialize exclusively with certain coworkers throughout the day, the workplace could become clique-y, biased, and exclusionary.
However, once collaboration and such communications were rendered digital, many of these divides could be bridged, allowing for a more inclusive work process.
Equalized Opportunity through Tech
With more and more jobs opening in the digital space, companies will need to have fingers on the keyboards. As a result, former job requirements like education and proximity to the business will be considerably less important to hiring managers. Really, it’ll be more of a matter of who can deliver upon their responsibilities, regardless of age, race, or any other “unofficial disqualifier.”
So no, it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll ever really go back to the way things were in many industries. After all, the business world is all about progress… it would be a shame to sacrifice all the progress that the pandemic has forced upon us once it is over.
Regardless of how your business is operating, now or in the future, Aspire can help ensure it is doing so with reliable and efficient technology. To learn more about the services and solutions we offer, give us a call at (469) 7-ASPIRE.
