Are You Just Meeting Or Collaborating?

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred the largest work-from-home experiment in the world. Once the pandemic ends, remote work would still be here to stay. The Indian government’s recent policy changes to reduce the compliance burden on IT and ITES companies further support this trend.

As alternative ways of working transform the work cultures at small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the Indian IT/ITES sector, three prominent trends emerge. Even once the pandemic ends, these trends will not be disappearing anytime soon.

Remote work: The new normal

2020 was the world’s largest experiment in remote work. The pandemic pushed companies worldwide through cultural and technological barriers that previously hindered remote work.

For many industries, going remote was the key to survival. For instance, the events industry had to adapt to virtual events and onboard digital platforms almost overnight. Even courts and compliance-heavy businesses such as law firms had to switch to virtual communication platforms to remain functional.

The remote work experiment has reaped several benefits for most service-based business, from advertising agencies to accounting firms. Going remote levelled the playing field by making the location or size of the office space irrelevant. It also enabled small businesses to hire talent from anywhere, regardless of the location.

After experiencing the perks of remote work, companies would be reluctant to go back to the way things were before the pandemic. Instead, they would look for a blended or hybrid work model that brings the best of both worlds.

95% of Indian companies plan to continue with remote work for the next two years. TCS has already announced that 75% of its workforce will work remotely over the next five years. One of the main reasons is to ensure that every project gets staffed with the right talent, regardless of their location. Wall Street investment firms such as Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo also approved remote work for their back offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Moreover, a survey of employees at InMobi, an adtech firm, revealed that 75% of the workforce prefer a hybrid working model.

Until vaccines are widely distributed, and the dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic subside, remote work and more recently, hybrid work is here to stay.

A mindset shift from meeting to collaborating remotely

As hybrid work becomes mainstream, companies must move beyond conducting meetings. Instead, they should focus on building a culture of remote collaboration using virtual communication tools. It’s the key to making collaboration-heavy activities such as building new relationships, onboarding new employees and customers or strategic decision-making as seamless and real as possible.

The first step is to develop a collaboration-first approach requiring constant asynchronous communication and culture of diligent documentation and knowledge sharing. While remote work has helped boost productivity, it can become isolating. That’s why companies should emphasise conducting regular catchups using digital communication tools to keep everyone in the loop and to improve morale. With the mindset on point, the next step is to pick the right digital tools.

The role of technology in taking virtual collaboration to the next level

Before rushing to pick the software, it’s important for businesses to identify the problems they want to solve. One example is that of advertising agencies and management consulting firms, which invest heavily in acquiring clients. Previously, the process involved several rounds of in-person meetings at the office of the agency or consulting firm. Another is that of IT services firms that conduct monthly or quarterly townhalls with thousands of employees dispersed geographically.

Both situations require a digital platform that facilitates remote communication, collaboration and experiences that surpass in-person meetings. A unified communications suite with high-quality video streaming across all devices would be a major game-changer for these businesses. That’s where an offering like the TTBS Zoom Solutions Suite comes into the picture.

With Zoom, companies can host virtual events with up to 100 interactive video participants and 10000+ attendees. Moreover, they can record and upload all meetings on the cloud, ensuring that every participant or attendee has access to all the right information. Zoom comes equipped with unlimited meetings and live transcriptions, which help overcome language and context-related barriers.

Zoom offers a dedicated events platform for event management firms that simplifies everything from tracking event registrations and attendance to running multi-session events featuring international speakers, consultants and thought leaders.

Additionally, the Zoom solutions suite from TTBS comes retrofitted with enterprise-grade security and complies with data protection and privacy regulations, which takes care of any security or privacy-related concerns.

The way forward

As evident by now, remote work will remain the norm in the near future. Besides, disruptive events such as pandemics, natural disasters, trade disputes and cyberattacks will become more commonplace.

So, companies that gear up for better remote collaboration with the right mindset and technology will turbocharge their growth and stay resilient when dealing with the next disruption.