5 Truths Shaped by the Pandemic
Organizations are assuming a new posture after months of working remotely during the current environment. Covid-19 has created serious business challenges and led to some enduring truths that will remain with us moving forward.
5 Truths Shaped by the Pandemic
Digital communication skills are essential. All professionals - corporate, academic, government, civic, non-profit, volunteer - need to be proficient in digital communications to be effective. The jarring shift to remote work and collaboration technologies underlined the importance of digital communication skills. Learning how to employ communications across all channels - from in-person to phone to IM to email to social media - demands upskilling and reskilling to maintain currency and keep pace.
Data needs to be a first class citizen. Educating executive teams and organizations on the value of data and how to leverage it is imperative to competing and succeeding as an organization. This has become apparent in the speed of change and the degree of agility present in organizations to pivot and make necessary changes. Data gathering and data management is only growing larger as more and more data is collected and stored. It is critical to move your organization from being a "data janitor" to a "data analyst" by learning the science of data, and more importantly how to make it actionable in the business.
Application modernization is a “must do” priority. Maintaining flexibility to meet the changing needs of the business has never been more apparent than in the current times. The need to improve technology productivity, performance, and velocity to enable growth and the ability of the enterprise to compete and thrive has been underlined by the lack of capability to respond to critical customer demands in the current remote economy. And, in areas like scalability, reliability, capacity, responsiveness, and security, the pressure to perform, deliver and meet demand has never been greater on infrastructure and applications.
Customer experience will witness improvement. The frictionless use and “nice to have” elements of digital experience have become a requirement to attract and retain customers in the current climate. This includes CX (customer experience) and EX (employee experience). As an example, the ability to move from video conferencing solutions like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Canvas and from wifi providers such as Xfinity, AT&T, and Verizon evidences the CX and EX needs, and further blurs the line between home and work, never mind customer, employer, and employee.
Digital maturity needs to be part of professional practice. Organizations and individuals need to embrace learning as a part of practice, and not as a discreet event. No longer are individuals allocated to learning and education at a young age and work as they grow older. To remain current and competitive, learning is a lifelong habit and pursuit.
The time for digital as a norm is now, be it in communications, assessing data and outcomes, modernizing technology and experiences, or re-engineering how we learn and grow. Organizations and individuals cannot put off to tomorrow what is mainstream and integral to their current and future success today.