In a post-pandemic workplace, what will be the norm? Would employees come to the office and in-person meetings will be back? Or will remote working continue? These are the questions that are becoming more important than ever in the business world. As per a Microsoft survey, 73% of workers want flexible remote work options to continue while 67% want in-person time with their teams.
Say Hello to the Hybrid Work Model
“In the post-pandemic future of work, nine out of ten organizations will be combining remote and on-site working”, according to McKinsey.
The pandemic has paved the way for flexible and hybrid work models, giving your employees the freedom to choose their work timings and place of work. The pattern would continue, and there will be an increase in hybrid work model adoption, wherein employees will work remotely and in the office. But as alluring this model seems, it comes with its own set of challenges. Here are some of the key bottlenecks that you might have to deal with:
High dependency on IT for centralized content – With most employees working remotely, there will be an increased demand for centrally managed secure content platforms. The platforms should be able to integrate with business applications supporting various needs, such as customer-facing self-service apps and collaboration apps, etc. This, in turn, implies a lot of IT requests and an overworked IT team.
Rising information security concerns – Here’s food for thought, there has been a 238% increase in global cyberattack volume during the pandemic. For your employees to work effectively and ensure uninterrupted services, they need access to the organization’s information, including customer data, financial records, operational data, etc. However, ensuring the security of the shared information is critical.
Lack of collaboration – According to a survey, ” While working remotely during the pandemic, workers are spending less time in meetings, communicating more by email, collaborating more with their strong ties as opposed to their weak ties, and exhibiting patterns of communication that are more siloed and less stable.” This presents a strong case for investing in collaborative tools and applications
Low visibility and control –The hybrid model involves increased participation of your This might result in low control over what’s happening, and your supervisors may not get a clear picture.
Enabling Hybrid Work Model with Low Code
Low code application development may be the answer to combat the above and other challenges related to the hybrid work model. A digital transformation platform with low code capability allows you to rapidly automate the toughest business processes, integrate content and applications, securely manage enterprise content, and deliver a superior employee and customer experience.
Let’s see how a platform with low code capability can help you thrive in the future.
- Empowered IT team – According to Forrester, low-code development platforms have the potential to make software development as much as 10 times faster than traditional methods. While working in a hybrid environment, your employees need to access many applications that enable them to collaborate, serve customers, access information, and more. A low code platform empowers your IT team to fulfill all these requests by rapidly developing and deploying applications and integrating them with content services
- Secure and seamless information sharing – A digital transformation platform with low code capability, backed by an enterprise-grade content management system, can enable information security through data and password encryption, extensive audit trails, SSL/HTTPS secure transmission, access permissions, and more.
- Support for a variety of business needs – IT developers can easily develop portal, web and mobile apps, automate workflows, extend collaboration apps, build communication frameworks, and do much more on a single platform, ensuring business continuity and seamless collaboration
- Bridging silos and enabling customer journeys – Integrating data across an enterprise is key to eliminating operational silos. A low code platform offers master data model capability and ready-to-use adapters, which allow seamless data integration with legacy systems, third-party databases, applications, and processes. It reduces operational disconnects by bridging process, content, and communication silos and giving a 360-degree view of the customer profile, thereby allowing you to deliver a consistent customer experience across various channels
- Flexibility to change – An application outgrows itself over time due to the changing market dynamics. You need to assess your applications and determine if they are relevant in the current situation. A low code platform offers analytics capability, allowing you to understand how users are using the system. Also, it provides flexibility to evolve and refine the applications to improve customer experience and success metrics
To Conclude
With over 40 percent of the workforce considering their next move, embracing extreme flexibility will be critical in retaining and attracting the top talent. When we think about the future of work, there is a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity, emphasizing the need for well-planned actions. But as you adopt the hybrid model, various opportunities and challenges will unfold. However, to stay afloat, employee-friendly, and ahead of your competition, choosing a comprehensive digital transformation platform with low code application development capability is what your enterprise needs.
(Arvind Jha, Senior Vice President, Software Development, Newgen Software and the views expressed in this article are his own)
