Digital Business: What It Looks Like In 2021 And Beyond?

In 2020, everything changed. Almost overnight. Specifically, digital business was thrust into the limelight like never before. Before March 2020, the IT focus for businesses looking at business continuity probably focused on disaster recovery initiatives. Previously, you made sure that you could restore data from backups. Then, 2020 introduced threats to productivity that many businesses had never considered. Suddenly, businesses that refused to consider teleworking were enabling remote workforces. Curbside service and delivery dictated where we would shop. Luckily, we rose to the challenge. So, what does this mean for digital business going forward? I see many areas that will be impacted including HR, IT, and Customer Service.

Digital Business And HR Changes

For many, teleworking was hugely successful. A distributed workforce requires digital business technology to monitor and manage productivity. We stayed busy in 2020’s second quarter, supporting clients securing access for their new mobile workforces. Many infrastructure and human changes were observed during the adjustment.

On the human side, companies that observed a successful transition to teleworking can now source prospective employers from anywhere. This has far-reaching implications, including how states court companies looking to relocate. Historically, states courted large employers because the presence of that large employer would mean additional jobs, increasing that state’s tax base. If employees aren’t required to live near the company, then the state’s incentive shifts focus to courting employees, not employers. This could involve policy shifts at all levels geared to appealing to individuals, not tax breaks.

Further, while employers still demand a granular understanding of how employees use their time, monitoring technologies allow a degree of management without human oversight. I think we will continue to see outcome-oriented evaluation as opposed to task-based evaluation. You can design digital solutions to identify bottlenecks. Business Process Automation allows work to be queued with timestamps. This goes hand in hand with more flexible work hours as companies have increased insight into the challenges of work-life integration, considering employees managing school and family care during traditional business hours.

Digital Business And IT Changes

On the technical side, one of many challenges this year was accessing information on local networks, applications, and computers. Large companies weren’t new to secure remote environments. Now, even small companies need to consider secure remote access to information and applications. This is not without a price, no matter the size of your company. Large companies often reserve this technology for certain work segments. The options available to access internal resources demand a balance of cost and security.

Cloud-based storage and infrastructures allow access without the risk of exposing your network. It also empowers your employees with the information they need.

Going forward, companies should encourage minimal use of local storage folders on workstations. Storing files that way is inherently local and traps information in silos.

It’s often difficult to provide access to on-premise applications, which may drive more companies to adopt either cloud applications, or a cloud infrastructure.

Digital Business and Customer Service

Many people who maintained that they had to do certain things in person changed their tune in 2020. I never thought I could outsource my grocery shopping. New apps mean you can do a lot of different things in off-hours, and chatbots can be available 24 hours a day. Consequently, expectations about response time have changed. I believe using technology to automate some communication sets an unrealistic expectation for customer service across the board. Hence, companies need to be proactive about their timelines for exception handling when decisions require human understanding.

And In The Future …

No one can predict the future. We can, however, predict that things will change. With that said, it’s best to maintain a flexible and agile mindset. Going forward, whatever the changes look like, you can anticipate the need for change management and policy around it. A robust digital infrastructure allows for this flexibility. If you think you’re too small, or simply too stuck, we can help. With a logical remote technology roll-out you can continue to focus on your business. Contact us if you’re struggling with your next steps.

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