Just over a year ago we heard about a new virus that took another unheard place by storm. But it was far away and what was the possibility of that influencing our lives? Forward 12 months and we are all acutely aware of the answer.
In an extremely short period businesses had to adapt or die. Those who have invested in ICT had an easier task in carrying on “as usual” than businesses who heavily relied on office space and more conventional operations.
Our normal now looks a lot different from 12 months ago.
Companies with efficient ICT systems are capable of managing and monitoring productivity, which is always of vital importance but more so when staff works remotely. This can result in the survival or downfall of a company.
By now we are all more than familiar with Zoom or Teams meetings. With a whole new dress code going with this new “normal”. I still meet with “faceless” screens. And maybe this is where we lose some of the effectiveness of the former way of meeting. That energy meeting face to face with colleagues or clients gets lost in these meetings.
We have all realised that this can be a much more effective way of conducting business and saving a huge amount of time and money by not traveling to meetings and back. But we need to invest more in really making that personal contact with staff and colleagues.
We are social creatures by nature and many people struggle without physical interaction with other people regularly.
For this reason, companies now need to pay extra attention to keeping in contact with employees and fellow workers. We need to take a holistic approach to the care of staff members.
So yes, some companies succeeded to adapt fairly successfully to the “new normal”. But we need to be aware that “dead” space can form where interaction and emotions are involved and we need to be very aware of the risk that can pose for our businesses. Our staff is after all the ones who drive the ITC systems in our companies. Without them, we are still nothing.
Alma Darlington
CEO
Excel Recovery Services