What effect will the hybrid workplace have on digital transformation?

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What effect will the hybrid workplace have on digital transformation?

It is now well documented how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the uptake of new digital technologies and as someone working in the legal sector you will no doubt have been part of this.

We can now expect further change as major economies get to grips with the management of COVID and life begins to return to normality. It is inevitable that permanent shifts in working patterns will result – particularly for people commuting to large cities, and those with families who, having experienced flexible working benefits, will not want to lose them.

Legal firms need to embrace hybrid working to maintain access to talent and attract the best trainees. This will mean not just offering flexible working patterns and the technology to enable it – but also a culture built around it.

Other good reasons for firms to invest in enabling a hybrid workplace include: potential costs savings from reducing office floor space, removing travel costs, a potential to reduce salaries – and the chance to spread geographical reach without adding significantly to operating costs.

Many firms’ partners will already consider themselves to have invested in remote working – the purchase of laptops and home office equipment and an increase in the use of video conferencing being two of the primary areas of spend. Whilst this may have enabled a temporary period of home working during the darkest days of the pandemic, the real challenge of permanently integrating remote and office-based work is now coming.

The need to build a consistent, integrated working environment and culture

As a leader of a technology business it may come as a surprise that I believe that the biggest element of this challenge is not going to be an investment in the technology itself. In my view the biggest challenge firms will face is building a working environment and culture that integrates the technology and the way of working and is consistent for both office and remote staff.

To illustrate the point, consider a team meeting where six members of staff are in the office in a meeting room and four people are remote. You have some good quality big screens and a camera for your video conferencing software which everyone uses now. If the meeting is free flowing how involved would the remote staff be? It’s human nature to engage better with the people face-to-face rather than on the screen, so fundamental changes to the way meetings are structured and the technology is used need to be made.

Technology must align the experience of remote workers with that of office-based staff

The gap can be closed by using technology to bring the digital remote experience closer to that of the office – and video will play a big part in this. But inevitably changes to the workplace environment will also be necessary.

And the elephant in the room is of course ensuring this new approach is delivered securely. Keeping the wheels of the business turning has been the greatest challenge recently and where the focus and investment has been made. However, there are serious risks around operating computers processing confidential client records in insecure and unregulated home IT networks. With the average time it takes to uncover a cyber breach being over two hundred days, we are yet to see the real impact of this.

Successful transformation to a hybrid, digitally-enabled workplace

The first step should be identifying the technologies you wish to use to enable your business. Undoubtably this will include messaging and video systems, and supplying the office with the equipment to use them. This software has become commonplace during the pandemic but is often poorly implemented and integrated – so ‘pressing the reset button’ and starting afresh (with more time to plan) is recommended.

You should also be reviewing business systems to see how they integrate teams in multiple locations. Take your case management system as an example. Does it have easy-to-read dashboards so you can keep track of what your colleagues are working on? Does it contain or integrate with messaging systems so colleagues can easily comment on cases?

The critical next step is ensuring everyone uses systems consistently. During the pandemic many people have found themselves ‘siloed’ whilst working from home and have developed their own way of managing workload and using communications tools. You should have company etiquette for using the likes of Teams, Zoom and Slack. This can help you deal with the ‘hybrid meeting’ conundrum I referred to earlier.

Re-engineer your business processes around this and – the most difficult part of all – ingrain it into your culture.

Whilst this may seem like a significant challenge the investment is worthwhile. Firms that successfully achieve this transformation will have high-performing, motivated teams and ultimately have an edge on their competition. ■

Bruce Penson

Bruce Penson

Managing Director

Pro Drive IT