Today, digital transformation has automated every aspect of our lives and jobs. The digitization of business processes has resulted in an emphasis on efficiencies, increased stock valuation, and an increase in customer success rates. However, it is undeniable that only since 2020, the digital transformation rate has accelerated to a disruptive level and has received a new focal point. Businesses are being forced to adapt to an ever-changing work environment, where the workforce is dispersed across geographies and communication is taking place beyond physical boundaries.
New Normal, New Challenges
In those early months of 2020, employees working from home were yet to realize that they were not going back to their physical office spaces for some time now. They were rather busy getting settled with makeshift home offices, work nooks, and managing efficient communication over virtual calls, with their teams, not to mention dealing with the pandemic itself.
Organizations now were on their toes to facilitate a workforce that was no longer under the same roof. IT and HR departments had to come together to mitigate some of these common challenges that were being faced by the remote workers:
- Adaptability to digital tools
- Security of devices and networks
- Seamless sharing of files and data
- Virtual calls and messaging
- Secure cloud access
- Employee engagement
A large majority of Indian workers want to return to their office cubicles, believing a cubicle work environment is more conducive to productive work. In addition, respondents believe a hybrid work model keeps work-life balance intact.
From Brick-and-Mortar to the Cloud
Organizations realized that in order to survive the pandemic, cloud solutions are the only go-to option. Thanks to cloud-based platforms, people were scheduling and conducting virtual meetings and speaking over instant messaging spaces that were built specifically for corporate needs. These challenges can be tackled by building time-to-time scheduled meets and accessing and sharing documents, files, across teams, using the cloud. It was cloud technology that kept the show running and ensured that seamless collaboration was established. Again, from OpEx POV, it was much more feasible for companies to have SaaS/PaaS solutions that were easier to scale up/down as per the need and requirement and without making additional investments in infrastructure. Contracts and agreements with cloud providers gave a far greater degree of flexibility. It was also the time that cloud solutions redesigned, or packaged their solutions to suit the growing demands of this neo-normal era. All this was however easier said than done.
Enterprises born in the IT era have been well versed with technology since their inception. But legacy organizations were still structured around old infrastructures and were finding it difficult to change with the fast processes.
To make modern collaboration a seamless process and most practical, Google workspace ensured that employees and their teams break down silos and work together in new ways, even if their organization still relied on legacy productivity tools that weren’t built for the hybrid era of work. There was no need for a new email address, file conversions, new plug-ins, or desktop software. All of the tools in it will work quickly and easily within the existing environment. And because Google Workspace is designed to operate in the industry-leading cloud foundation, it provides encrypted and secure access to files, helping keep users safe and their information private.
Businesses, employees and customers earlier were restricted to one means, but now they have the liberty of choosing between going the traditional way or the digital way. Digitalization has made data keeping and processing easy for both big and small businesses. Work environments for employees and businesses are optimized in their own best way by going digital and keeping things precise. There are now multiple channel options available for businesses to use for their digital services at a reasonable price and make their work convenient. Google Spaces and Chat have helped businesses adapt to hybrid culture conveniently in recent years. This has also increased the adoption of cloud services across companies. The pandemic times of 2020 and the months to follow are behind us hopeful. But the new era of digitization is here permanently.
As a result of the recent changes, the opportunities for entrepreneurs and small companies have never been higher. A good workspace that enables you to be productive and expedite work is the need of the times.
Author:
Punit Thakkar – CEO – Shivaami Cloud Services
