technology COVID-19 Business Requirements by: Harry Bridger, CEO, InLigo
T
he COVID-19 crisis may not be over yet, but its initial winds have blown through Fortune 500 companies and smaller Bay County businesses with similar effect.
As the dust settles and public health concerns continue to add
care with a large portion of our team working from home.”
Operational Assessments
pressure to businesses operations, the questions facing large
So, what would Phase-2 thinking mean to you? Now is the time
and small companies are similar when it comes to how to move
to assess what is working and what needs to improve; ask
forward after these first 3 months of changes wrought by the
your teams which part of your operations worked well after the
pandemic. We will call these considerations a “Post-COVID” or
transition and what did not. Now is a good time to inventory the
“Phase-2” mindset. After pivoting to meet the immediate challeng-
workloads you moved to a virtual office environment and rate
es of lost revenue and workforce upheaval created by the pandem-
them. Documenting them to pinpoint areas where improvement
ic, two important questions are emerging:
is needed will be helpful. Are these activities your team needs to
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What changes has our business already made that need to be adopted and normalized as new routines?
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How much more change is needed to help the balance sheet improve (for the remainder of 2020 and beyond?)
Many businesses have already implemented new technologies that enable a virtual office, and their employees have, by now, learned how to work from home. A good example of this Phase-2 thinking comes from Ohio-based Nationwide Insurance. In late April, Nationwide announced a permanent transition to a hybrid operating
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us that we can serve our members and partners with extraordinary
conduct face to face in the same room or is the required collaboration possible in a remote or “virtualized” work environment? By workloads, we mean repetitive (and we hope – reliable and effective) processes like invoicing, accounts payable, vendor management, sales pipeline management, or service scheduling assigned to and managed by your employees.
Staffing Assessments Once your workloads are defined, consider your staffing needs also because this might be your best opportunity in years to shift to a more flexible contingent or part-time workforce. Written prior
model that entails closing 5 regional offices, including the com-
to the Covid-19 crisis, Intuit’s 2020 report on small business noted
pany’s Gainesville, FL facilities. This enormous cost saving move
that up to 30% of America’s workforce is contingent (ie. works
was made possible because the company had made technology
on a contract basis) and that 80% of large corporations plan to
investments that enabled remote workers to continue servicing its
increase their use of a flexible workforce substantially in coming
customers and because the employees rose to the occasion and
years. The pandemic will undoubtedly accelerate these trends.
remained efficient under the new operating model. CEO Kirt Walk-
The same report predicts small businesses will create their own
er said, “Our associates and our technology team have proven to
“collaborative networks of contingent workers,” minimizing fixed
BAY B I Z / S U M M E R 2020
