As we recently passed the two anniversary of the pandemic, necessitating those of us who could work remotely to primarily do so, quite a bit has changed. Some companies have begun to return to office work on a hybrid basis, and roughly three-quarters of companies suggest that the path forward will be hybrid.
Whereas in 2019 and years prior, all work was assumed to primarily take place in an office, now there is optionality. Employees have different visions for what works best for them. Whereas one employee may long for more work in the office, others never wish to step foot in an office again, avoiding commutes and maximizing time with family in the process. These differences of opinion run the risk of creating conflict. To alleviate that possibility, a framework can be helpful. That framework can guide employees to determine together when to work in an office. With that in mind, here are five Cs to determine when work is best done together in an office:
A team may choose to connect when team members from different cities happen to be in the same city. This offers opportunities to bond, to break bread and to share experiences.
Connection may also come in the form of a firm gathering. Especially for firms where most work will be done virtually, outside of the confines of an office, some have elected to have all firm gatherings or department gatherings either in a city where an office hub exists or at a destination, such a Miami during the winter or a hiking destination during the summer. These are opportunities for connection that bond teams together. Colleagues can get to know each other outside of the work setting, and the next gathering may be the light at the end of the tunnel that keeps them looking forward to time with the firm.
Given the emphasis on virtual work over the past two years, there has been much call to evaluate where creative collaboration is best done. Most research suggests that when teams are called upon to create they do so best in person. Though online tools such as Miro and Mural offer worthy alternatives to the traditional white board, brainstorming in the same room together continues to offer greater chances to catch lightning in a bottle and draw out the best ideas for the company. True creation often entails developing something new. This might be a new innovative product, for example. Again, bringing together a cross-functional team in the same room where each can easily hear from each other, note all that is happening, and the like is the fastest path to success.
The office setting is often best suited for collaboration beyond creation, as well. One can think about a linear path in the collaboration process. As a new project or initiative is identified, the kickoff may best done in person. This collaboration can help mete out a plan, determine who will be responsible for what, and what sub-teams might collaborate on which details. There will likely be a period where individuals will have solo work to accomplish before the next collaboration is necessary. Thus, through the life of the initiative, it will be appropriate to work independently for a period and then to collaborate in person together. This can be a force multiplier to productivity, as during periods where independent work is appropriate, one can avoid the commute, perhaps leveraging a bit of the time that would have been spent doing so to drive the independent work to its conclusion.
At a time when so many people are leaving jobs as part of the so-called great resignation, it is all the more important to invest in one’s people. Better coaching, counseling, and career planning are key investments to make. An in person meeting is often best to read reactions to guidance provided, praise given, and constructive criticism proffered. These are conversations where trust can be won or lost, and it is best to be in person for more of them, if possible. Ironically, it is often the youngest members of our teams who appreciate the importance of in person career planning least but benefit the most from such guidance. It must be proven to them that these conversations are worth their while with the results that they might garner from more explicit planning sessions.
Last among these factors is the need to celebrate together. During the period of virtual work primarily, where meetings tended to stick to agendas that fit in 30 or 60 minute windows and then each team member spread like seeds to the next series of meetings with other people, many took for granted the need to celebrate all that we accomplish along the way. When a project concludes, when promotions are announced, when quarterly earnings are made public, among many reasons to possibly celebrate, taking the opportunity to do so forges bonds, while also making explicit the accomplishments of the team.
None of this is to say that these five activities can only happen in offices. None should wait for everyone to be in the same place at the same time to happen, of course, but in the balance, these are activities that are best done in the office. The framework is clarifying. It articulates a means of cutting through conflicting opinions of whether to meet in person or not. One can imagine colleagues debating whether an activity should be done virtually or if it rises to the level to warrant a trip into the office. One could determine if the activity aligns with the categories given, and if so, make the call to do so. Hybrid work is tricky as we have the unleveling of the playing field in earnest, but by setting up some simple ground rules together with sound explanations of why the path has been chosen will ensure that you are building trust across the team for the long term.
Peter High is President of Metis Strategy, a business and IT advisory firm. He has written two bestselling books, and his third, Getting to Nimble, was recently released. He also moderates the Technovation podcast series and speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter @PeterAHigh.
This past weekend marked the two-year anniversary of our living in quarantine. For those who had the option to work remotely, most made the move on roughly March 13 or 16. For a while, many executives bruised their shoulders as they vigorously patted themselves on the back for having successfully transitioned from in-office work to virtual work in March of 2020. They expected major issues, but fewer than expected arose. Of course, this is not to minimize the dramatic increase in cyberattacks that spawned as the threat landscape moved from offices to people’s homes, for example, but most businesses had employees who traveled, working from client sites, hotel rooms, on flights, and in a variety of other settings. This had been the case for years, and companies’ tools supported this model, for the most part.
What has begun to emerge as hybrid work begins in earnest for many companies will be much more difficult. Let’s begin with optionality. Prior to March 2020, 95% or more of all work was done in offices. Though business trips were a regularity for many, one’s primary work was done in an office. Therefore, switching jobs meant switching from one office to another and it would often necessitate moving from one city to another. There was not a lot of optionality in that scenario. Requests to primarily work remotely were easily rebuffed because it was not the norm.
In March of 2020, if you were in a job that could be done remotely, you did not have an option. You worked remotely for your own safety, the safety of your loved ones and the safety of your colleagues. Therefore, the playing field went from being largely even to, in some cases, more even, as everyone was remote rather than having some straggler business travelers dialing in to a group meeting in a conference room, say.
What has begun and will continue in earnest in 2022 will be the unleveling of the playing field. As offices open up, some are drawn to them and others are repelled from them. The employee in an efficient apartment with a spouse and a young child cannot wait to get back to an office full-time. The colleague who has a large house with a dedicated workspace separate from distractions may not ever want to commute again. Every flavor in between can also be found among an employee base. What approach will work best for productivity? What approach will work best for employee morale? What approach will amplify culture in the right way?
The future is likely to be hybrid. Most companies agree with this, and most are acting upon that hypothesis. That said, as a leader, whatever the going in hypotheses you have about the complexion of the future of work, it is critical to note that some will be wrong. Prepare your team for this inevitable conclusion. Two disciplines that must be focal are change management and communications. The former recognizes that changes will need to continue to happen and have a strong discipline in place to facilitate that change will be necessary. The latter ensures that formal and informal communications are in place to continue to provide updates to employees on what is working, what is not, what might be tested next, why, and so forth. It is best to err on the side of more rather than less communication during times of great change and uncertainty.
The last thing you want to do is go through any one-way doors in the decisions you make. If you tell employees that they will never have to come back into an office again, this will be difficult to walk back if the data and your company’s performance languish because of this decision. You will have given your employees a right that they will not take kindly to losing. Even if you are inclined to try virtual-only work beyond the period in which it is necessary for health reasons, best not to call it out as the solution for the long-term but rather that the company reserves the right to tinker with the model as time passes if the situation dictates.
Employees’ opinions should also be weighed throughout, of course. Many executives did not adequately take this point into consideration as initial plans were laid out relative to what the future of work might entail, and many paid the consequences in higher attrition rates. Engaging employees to understand what works best for them and why is a prudent measure to take, even if it is impossible to make everyone happy with the conclusions that will be made. The extent to which the communications plans can be frequent, transparent and bi-directional, all the better.
One must also lean on one’s ecosystem for insight. We are all going through these experiments at present, and if you poll ten executives at ten different firms about what the future of work will entail, no two will be exactly alike and some will be dramatically different. Remain in close contact with your ecosystem to understand what is working and why, what is not, and why, and judge your plans against what you learn. You may stick to your plans in the face of some of this data, but it is important to be open to changing your mind.
Lastly, as employees leave, and they will, of course, evaluate why they are doing so. Are your policies at all a consideration? Is the company an employee is leaving to join offering some sort of benefit or way of working that you might consider. This data is crucial to ensure that a trickle of departures does not become a flood.
The months ahead will be treacherous, but by forming a plan, continuing to test plans and developing open and honest dialogues with employees, a better future can be defined.
Matthew Schmidt contributed to this article.
At the beginning of 2021, Metis Strategy highlighted key areas of focus for the future of work. The environment has evolved significantly since then, and indeed continues to change, as organizations navigate major shifts in economic and workforce dynamics. At the heart of many discussions has been a company’s most valuable asset: it’s people. Amid a fast-changing business landscape, we have seen a renewed focus on employee health and wellness, re-thinking talent strategies, and enabling productivity in a hybrid work environment.
While it remains uncertain how 2022 will unfold, one thing is clear: organizations must be nimble in order to respond effectively to whatever change is coming. Technology leaders are well positioned to be a catalyst for this enterprise agility. Almost 75% of attendees at the December Metis Strategy Digital Symposium noted that creating a culture that embraces uncertainty and has the ability to pivot quickly would have significant business impact over the next six to 12 months.
As organizations look ahead to an uncertain 2022, technology leaders will continue to drive agility while placing additional emphasis on talent and employee experience. In an era of unprecedented change, an iterative, test-and-learn approach will be key. Below are a few areas of focus:
Health and wellness continue to guide return-to-office plans
When we wrote our first article in early 2021, vaccines were not yet approved and there was little knowledge of the variants that extended the health crisis. Amid continued uncertainty about the path of the pandemic, health and wellness considerations still take priority while planning for the future.
Many companies have pushed back return-to-office timelines to minimize health and safety risks. According to a survey conducted by Gartner, over two-thirds of organizations have pushed back their return to office dates, including Google, Apple, and Ford. Some companies have opted to go completely remote, while others have announced they plan to return workforces to the office when it is safe to do so. Across all of these examples is a growing embrace of flexibility as companies discover and adapt to new ways of working.
No matter their return-to-office philosophy, leaders must remain up to date on new developments and recommendations from health officials while maintaining regular and open communication with employees about expectations moving forward. Firms that embrace agility will be able to flex quickly and communicate clearly when the unexpected occurs.
Organizations broaden their horizons for talent
Across industries and job functions, competition for top talent continues to grow. As a result of “The Great Resignation” or “Great Reshuffle,” companies have seen a shift in the makeup of their workforces, with more than 20 million people leaving their roles in the second half of 2021 alone. With an estimated 65% of employees actively looking for new opportunities, the competition to attract and retain talent has never been higher, giving leaders an even stronger imperative to find and retain the best people.
Organizational agility is the common thread among companies that have found success. During a recent event, Asurion CIO Casey Santos explained that her team is connecting to the talent market by emphasizing the strength of their culture and technology, becoming more flexible, and relying on less formal recruiting techniques.
Ralph Loura, the CIO of Lumentum, highlighted the need to focus on engagement and “think of people as people.” Roughly 35% of CIOs at the December Metis Strategy Digital Symposium chose reskilling or upskilling as their talent development priority in 2022, followed by enhancing the employee experience. In addition to attracting new talent, finding new and creative ways to engage existing colleagues can contribute to organizations’ success within the dynamic talent market.
Loura also noted that the war for talent is no longer based primarily on geography. Seeking people in different locations or creating positions that allow for permanent remote work can broaden the talent pool.
A new era of flexible work brings new opportunities for talent recruitment and development, but it is not without its challenges. Many leaders continue to grapple with the best ways to build and reinforce a cohesive culture when teammates have few opportunities to collaborate in a single space. As organizations continue to adjust their talent strategies and allow for greater flexibility, expect a renewed focus on culture building and employee development.
Taking an iterative approach to find the optimal hybrid model
In addition to building a cohesive culture in a hybrid environment, organizations must also find new ways to promote productivity and ensure teams are able to collaborate effectively. Doing so starts with providing an effective operating model.
Organizations should take an iterative, test-and-learn approach to find the model that best meets the needs of the business and its stakeholders. Some organizations are sampling the four-day work week, piloting meeting-free days, or encouraging flexible hours in an effort to increase flexibility and productivity. There have been few definitive lessons from these experiments as yet, and approaches vary based on the company implementing them. Nevertheless, this nimble approach allows teams to quickly test new frameworks and find the appropriate balance.
New collaboration models continue to evolve as well, particularly as organizations test a mix of remote and in-office teams. Providing an environment that fosters collaboration between in-person and remote employees is key to ensuring success in hybrid environments.
Another Metis Strategy Digital Symposium is in the books. Thank you to all of you who joined the session and to the global CIOs, CEOs, and entrepreneurs who shared their insights. More than ever, it is critical for leaders to tap into their ecosystem of peers and advisors for information, wisdom, and support as organizations navigate this complex and uncertain environment.
Below are a few takeaways from the event. Check out our YouTube channel and the Technovation podcast in the coming weeks for recordings of individual panel discussions.
Culture is key in the transition to hybrid work. Nearly 60% of attendees noted cultivating a strong culture among teams as the greatest risk to operating in a hybrid work environment. With many return-to-office plans in flux and a new wave of employees joining firms without stepping inside an office, executives continue to place a strong emphasis on employee experience, creating new norms around equity, inclusivity, and productivity, and creating new ways for teams to engage in a hybrid setting. For technology leaders, that also includes managing a growing ecosystem of collaboration tools and emerging technologies to find the mix that works best for their organizations.
Just as CIOs helped pave the way for remote work, they also will have a role to play in helping peers understand the art of the possible regarding the future of work. The road ahead is far from clear, but today’s technology leaders are adapting people, processes, and technologies to help create organizations that can pivot quickly in the face of change and seize new opportunities as they arise.
Innovation comes from empowered teams. The ability to innovate at scale continues to rise in importance as organizations work to future-proof their operations and drive enterprise agility. To do so, a number of executives said they are exploring how to democratize innovation capabilities across their companies and unlock the full potential of their teams. Debra King, SVP, Chief Information Officer and Chief Transformation Officer at Corteva Agriscience, discussed how she and her executive team developed a culture of ownership across the organization in which team members at any level in the company were empowered to come up with an idea and execute it. The leadership team then focused on removing roadblocks and providing resources where needed.
Similarly, Tim Dickson, Chief Information Officer at Generac, discussed how the company’s first hackathon spurred new ideas while revealing pent up demand for employee upskilling. Sixteen teams participated, and over half of the ideas presented have been implemented as production deployments, Dickson said. Generac also launched a digital center of excellence that helped scale the internal capability to bring new ideas to life quickly. These new ways of working made employees feel as if their voices were being heard, while providing an avenue to develop those ideas into new products and services for the company.
Security is critical to creating strong customer experiences. Technology leaders are taking greater responsibility for the ways their organizations’ products and services impact the customer experience, and security is an increasingly critical element of that. Mickey Boodaei, CEO of Transmit Security, which received the largest-ever Series A funding round for a cybersecurity company, shared his perspective on the move toward a passwordless future, the evolution of identity and authentication, and the fine balance between security and user experience.
For consumers, identity is critical to processes such as account opening and credential validation. Too little focus on security and vulnerabilities or compliance risks may arise. Too many security measures and the user experience becomes an obstacle. As authentication technology advances and passwords continue to pose a security threat to consumer accounts, Boodaei anticipates organizations will make a concerted effort to go passwordless.
Companies scale up AI efforts. As companies continue to refine their data strategies and identify opportunities to turn data into actionable insight, significant analytics and AI deployments are only expected to grow. Nearly 40% of respondents said they expect analytics to be their greatest area of investment in the year ahead.
Machine learning and AI, paired with an increasingly sophisticated understanding of customer needs, is powering new waves of innovation across industries. Barbara Lavernos, Deputy CEO for Research, Innovation, and Technology at L’Oréal, described an experience that crunches data to provide customers with personalized advice on their beauty routines. The company is also using AI to mine its extensive store of historical data as well as real-time consumer information to deliver cutting-edge products. For example, L’Oréal has trained an AI algorithm to read the thousands of online customer ratings and reviews of the company’s makeup products. With real-time insight, research and innovation teams can then make relevant product changes and target advertising more effectively.
At Johnson & Johnson, new technologies have enabled the company to reimagine consumer health and deliver care for patients in new ways. Augmented reality and virtual reality, paired with AI, have helped train surgeons eight times faster by combining digital imagery with insights about how to perform the best surgical procedures. AI and digital twins have helped Johnson & Johnson accelerate enrollment in COVID-19 vaccine trials and improve batch production of vaccines, from one batch every two weeks to two batches every half week.
Embracing change and becoming nimble is more important than ever. Of the tips IT leaders shared about sustaining a competitive advantage in the current environment, the most common was the ability to be nimble. That means being able to pivot quickly when the market changes, seize opportunities as they present themselves and stave off issues as they arise. Indeed, more than 75% of attendees said creating a culture that embraces uncertainty, as well as the ability to pivot quickly, would have the greatest business impact over the next six to 12 months.
Companies are making a number of changes to make their organizations more nimble, including transforming their operating model, adopting new technologies, upskilling employees and bringing in new talent, and driving innovation through partnerships.
Nimbleness is at the heart of many of today’s technology transformations, including the shift to embrace cloud, APIs, and other technologies, said Bernadette Nixon, the CEO of Algolia. These modern software architectures ultimately allow organizations to move more quickly and evolve their systems to support market shifts, further empowering teams to become more efficient and nimbler in their processes.
We hope you’ll join us for our next Metis Strategy Digital Symposium on December 9, 2021. Stay tuned to our website for more details.
This article is part of an ongoing series exploring the ways in which companies are can prepare for a post-pandemic world of work.
Tiffany Jenkins, Mac Connolly, and Yucca Reinecke co-authored this article
In the post-pandemic world of work, flexibility will be key. Our conversations with technology executives suggest that many companies expect to maintain a hybrid working model, in which some employees work remotely, others work primarily at the office, and many move back and forth between the two. More than 80% of executives polled during the January 2021 Metis Strategy Digital Symposium expect either a 50/50 split between remote work and the office or for most employees to work remotely beyond the end of the pandemic. And just this week, Salesforce.com said it would give employees three ways to work, even once it is safe to return to the office: flex, fully remote, and office-based.
In this article, we will explore four key dimensions leaders should consider as they evaluate the people, process, and technology changes needed to enable hybrid work for the long term, including:
A shift toward a long-term hybrid working model requires a major rethink of day-to-day operations. While many changes were made at the peak of the pandemic, including, in many cases, a massive shift to remote work, companies should now build upon the experiences and learnings to date while developing a sustainable operating model that supports these changes long into the future. That means rethinking existing ways of working, scheduling meetings, current employee practices, and the policies that govern daily operations.
An important first step is to assess which jobs will require a return to the office, which ones can be conducted fully remote, and which require a mix of both. In order to answer that question, companies may need to look at jobs from different points of view, including functional responsibilities, type of work performed, and the skills and preferences represented in certain jobs. For example, some companies are experimenting with having groups of employees return for a few days per week or bringing together certain teams on specific days when these teams are expected to engage in collaboration or discussions that benefit from co-location and in-person interactions.
For jobs that will be largely remote, leaders should think about whether those workers will be required to be located within a certain proximity of the office or other work-related physical location, if compensation changes based on employee location are warranted, and other policies that will impact future decision-making.
An operating model fit for a hybrid work environment should also anticipate the new, often more complex, ways in which colleagues will collaborate, over virtual collaboration and communication tools or even across time zones, and how that impacts productivity, employee experience, and company culture. Determining how and where teams will be expected to work together can further influence decisions around technology and real estate investments, as we will explore below.
Companies are placing renewed focus on employee experience as teams adapt to major changes in their work habits. While a shift to largely remote work during the pandemic led to increased productivity at many companies, the new setups also showed remote work’s potentially adverse effects on well-being as employees balanced the demands of work and home. Indeed, many employees’ greatest challenges stem from the physical and emotionally blurred lines between the workplace and their personal or family lives. As one of our executive partners recently said, “we no longer work from home, but we live at work”. Left unaddressed, these challenges could lead to difficulties retaining talent long term.
To that end, it is increasingly critical to invest in an employee experience that balances productivity and employee well-being. Fortunately, most organizations have realized that well-being, productivity, employee satisfaction, and retention are more closely intertwined than they were pre-pandemic and should be addressed in unison. Doing so can lead to higher engagement, and ultimately better business outcomes. A Gallup Study found that engaged employees are 21% more productive, 22% more profitable and score 10% better on customer ratings than unengaged employees. Companies that consider all these factors are more likely to retain talent and, in some cases, may become a more attractive employer now and during the gradual return to the ‘next normal.’
A key driver of employee engagement efforts is providing employees with the tools and support they need to do their jobs successfully no matter where they work. These can range from technology such as laptops, collaboration tools and video-conferencing applications to perks that support health and wellness, from gym reimbursements to subsidized childcare and access to therapy and mental health support.
Several organizations have also begun to experiment with virtual and digital tools that attempt to replicate the social interactions that typically occur in a physical workplace, such as virtual “water coolers.” While not intended to produce concrete outcomes, these social interactions have shown to lead to greater team cohesion, trust among team members, and generally higher levels of employee motivation. However, it is also important for leaders to help employees know when to log off or when it may be best to disconnect from more rounds of video conferences. Leaders should continuously solicit feedback and measure outcomes of these efforts on productivity and perception of well-being.
Putting people first by ensuring that they have the support they need, communicating early and often, and creating new opportunities for learning stands to boost both engagement and productivity no matter what comes next. As Verizon CIO Shankar Arumugavelu said in a recent interview about the company’s pandemic response: “We all have business resilience plans. At the end of the day, what stood out [at Verizon] is the human resilience. That really made the difference here.” As the company develops its post-pandemic plans, the company is taking the opportunity to rethink how things are done for the betterment of customers, employees, shareholders and society.
Several of the organizations we work with have addressed the new realities of virtual work by making it easier – and in some cases even explicitly welcome – to have family members join certain meetings, for example, or by otherwise supporting employees who are exposed to the logistical challenges of co-managing professional and personal lives.
As noted above, enabling a successful hybrid workforce means ensuring employees have access to the technology and tools needed to carry out day-to-day operations. In our conversations with IT teams, we have found that reliable and secure video conferencing, instant messaging, whiteboarding and visualization tools that can be accessed in and out of the office have often been deemed essential.
Rather than attempting to fully replicate the workplace in the remote environment, companies should first assess the digital tools and capabilities that have best supported a remote-first workforce. Firms can then assess how those tools may enable collaboration in an in-office and hybrid working environment and think through the process changes that may be required to do so. Many IT teams we have spoken with have adopted new interactive whiteboarding tools, for example, and companies have invested in the training needed to ensure teams are well positioned to use them.
Of course, simply implementing the needed tools will not lead to greater collaboration. Leaders also must be intentional about driving adoption. Slack or similar communication tools will not improve effectiveness if only a few people use it. Conversely, with deliberate and widespread adoption, the use of real-time communication tools can address the fundamental need for accessibility.
At a recent Metis Strategy Digital Symposium, Comcast CIO Rick Rioboli noted that the pandemic has created an opportunity to completely rethink the physical office. The company now is approaching its offices “not as what we go back to, but rather as what [our offices] can do for us.” Similar conversations are happening across industries as leaders consider how best to use physical office space once it is safe for employees to return.
Often, those conversations include thinking about how to weave digital capabilities that currently serve remote employees across the physical office environment and how to reconfigure existing space to maximize the potential for productive collaboration in a post-pandemic, hybrid world. A workplace intelligence report by global technology leader NTT Ltd. found that 31% of companies are implementing additional creative thinking spaces, while 30% will provide more meeting places and 27% will reduce individual desk space.
Turning the office into a digitally enabled, collaboration-first environment will be critical to enabling a hybrid workforce. As companies seek to create a safe, collaborative, and efficient space for their employees, we have observed a few common practices:
In addition to layering digital tools onto the digital space, there are some design changes that can benefit hybrid employees as well. Among them:
As companies begin to formulate and test hybrid operating models, continued investment and careful strategic planning are necessary to maintain effectiveness and resilience. While reports of increased productivity are reassuring, the next question to ask is how to make that productivity is sustainable over the long term. By adapting your operating model, investing in employee experience, empowering employees with needed tools and technologies, and rethinking the purpose of physical spaces, companies will set themselves up to tackle the changes brought on by a new world of work.
Mac Connolly, Tiffany Jenkins, Nick Reasner, Yucca Reinecke, and Matthew Schmidt contributed to this article.
The COVID-19 pandemic spurred a wave of digital acceleration, drove a rapid shift to remote work, and underscored the critical nature of business continuity and resilience. As companies continue marching toward a new version of normal, technology leaders find themselves balancing a mandate to drive digital transformation efforts forward while enabling teams to thrive in a new world of work.
In the coming weeks, Metis Strategy will share its perspectives on five areas where CIOs are focused in the new year. Building on conversations with hundreds of technology executives in recent months, this series will highlight strategies and tactics to help organizations win during times of uncertainty and emerge from the crisis stronger than before.
COVID-19 will go down in history as a great digital catalyst. More than 70% of attendees at the Metis Strategy Digital Symposium noted that their digital transformation efforts accelerated as a result of the pandemic, with 42% noting a significant acceleration. Crisis response generated a boost in productivity and innovation at many firms as they experimented with new business models and transitioned to remote work forces. As we look to the year ahead, companies are figuring out how to sustain those efforts while navigating an uncertain economic landscape and adapting to new ways of working. This article will explore examples of pandemic-driven digital acceleration and discuss the ways in which firms that maintain investment in digital capabilities can emerge from the crisis in a position of strength.
In recent months, firms have expressed growing demand for a strategy that guides management and structure of data at enterprise scale. At Metis Strategy’s October conference, 25% of attendees said they were implementing a version of their data strategy, while 64% noted they were developing a strategy. Many executives we speak with say they are working to move beyond traditional descriptive analytics and toward predictive or cognitive capabilities that can further optimize decision making and automate business processes.
Getting to that stage requires a holistic view that ties data to business strategy, and requires a number of changes that impact people, processes, and technologies inside an organization. This article will explore how to assess your company’s data maturity and readiness to manage data and metadata at scale, and share critical first steps to crafting an effective data strategy.
Many companies have long been on a journey to the cloud, but the pandemic has sped up the process significantly. A major driver of cloud adoption is increased agility, which allows firms to pivot and respond quickly in the face of tremendous change, a critical asset as firms navigate the pandemic and improve their competitive positioning. Indeed, some companies now are embracing a cloud-first mentality to better compete with cloud-native firms. Research firm IDC also identified the shift to the cloud as the number one technology trend for 2021, noting that by the end of 2021, “80% of enterprises will put a mechanism in place to shift to cloud-centric infrastructure and applications twice as fast as before the pandemic.”
Yet for all the benefits cloud can provide, the journey is not a simple one and it continues to grow in complexity. This article will explore the primary benefits and key risks posed by cloud and discuss best practices for driving enterprise adoption.
Read the article.
Prior to the pandemic, the phrase “hybrid workforce” usually referred to companies with a handful of fully-remote employees and a somewhat flexible work from home policy. Now that roughly 40% of the working population has been working remotely full time, however, that definition has changed. Even after a vaccine is released and widely distributed, the world of work will not look the same as it did in February 2020. A Gartner survey finds that 82% of company leaders will allow their workforce to work remotely at least some of the time as employees return to the workplace, with 47% reporting that they would let employees work remotely full-time. Furthermore, employees say they want more flexibility in the post-pandemic working world.
This article will discuss specific steps companies can take to create outstanding employee experiences and sustain employee engagement in a new world of work. It will also explore the new tools and technologies that will enable teams to collaborate effectively in a hybrid environment and share key considerations for CIOs implementing these technologies across their organizations.
Cybersecurity has always been a priority for technology leaders, but increasingly sophisticated hackers and a broad shift to remote work has introduced security concerns on a much larger scale. On a recent episode of the Technovation podcast, Lenovo CISO and Motorola Mobile Business Group CIO Jason Ruger said the pandemic has spurred a 3X increase in cyberattacks against the company. As recently as a few weeks ago, news emerged of a monthslong cyberattack that hit a number of U.S. federal agencies and some of the world’s largest businesses, prompting greater scrutiny of software supply chains as organizations race to determine the extent of the fallout.
In this piece,we will address the new cybersecurity concerns that leaders have been forced to confront as more employees work from home and the security landscape becomes more complex. We will also provide a framework that allows leaders to assess their overall cybersecurity maturity and chart a path forward.