OOH MEDIA
oOh! Media: The impact of COVID-19 and digital innovation
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
DIGITAL REPORT 2020
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oOh! Media: the impact of COVID-19 and digital innovation
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Steve Reid, Chief People and Culture Officer, oOh! on the company’s digital strategies and the impact of COVID-19 on workplace culture and operations
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teve Reid has worked within HR, people and culture, and learning and development roles for 27 years. During his career
he has worked for the likes of Three as Head of HR and organisation capability; Vodafone as General 04
Manager HR; and Bankwest as Head of Human Resources and Head of Organisational Capability. Today, Reid is the Chief People and Culture Officer at oOh! Media, taking pride in the company’s ethos to treat people the way that we’d expect to be treated ourselves and its drive to be a positive contributor to people’s mental health. “Early in my career, I found a very strong purpose around helping people to be better. I think as an organisation, one of the things that I aspire to is that our people, whether they decide to stay or to leave and go elsewhere, are better for having been here.”
COVID-19 - WIDESPREAD DISRUPTION Since the outbreak of COVID-19 - whether large or small - industries around the world have experienced disruption from the impact of the
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coronavirus. From a revenue perspec-
highlights that on two fronts oOh! Media
tive, Reid details that the Out of Home
has had to look both commercially
media industry has been hit incred-
and financially at how it can keep the
ibly hard, which he says is “no surprise
organisation going to get through this
when you are in a lockdown situation.
period. “We are starting to see improve-
Most people were working from home
ments since implementing measures
and not travelling or out and about as
following the outbreak, including asking
much, therefore our audience declined
employees to work reduced hours or
along with our revenues. For example
take extra annual leave to try and sup-
our airport business, with flights coming
port the company. But for me, success
to an almost standstill, have seen rev-
is about doing this in a way that consults
enue fall significantly along with in many
and engages employees, ensuring that
cases our retail, office tower and public
they feel valued throughout the pro-
transport businesses. As a result, Reid
cess and understand why it is critical for
the business. However, it can’t be just
employees and more contractors in
employees who bear the brunt of this.
the future. I think there’s been a lot
As a business we have had to make
of discussion around how our future
some big commercial decisions in rela-
workplaces will change.” However, per-
tion to how we can cut down costs or
sonally Reid hasn’t seen the industry
reduce our expenditure.”
evolve at the pace that it could have or
Since the outbreak of COVID-19,
that people expected it to. “One good
Reid has witnessed some massive
thing that has come out of this global
adaptations and massive learnings
crisis is that it has forced people to
that he hopes organisations will take
think differently. One clear change has
away from this disruption. “In par-
been the adoption of working from
ticular, there’s been talk for some
home. Prior to COVID-19, the idea of
time about workplace flexibility and
everybody working from home would
the move to a gig economy with less
have been dismissed by many people,
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Steve Reid Title: Chief People & Culture Officer
Company: Ooh! Media
Industry: Advertising
Location: North Sydney
Joining oOh!media as Group Human Resources Director in 2014, Steve played an integral role in oOh!media’s 2014 ASX listing as well as recent acquisitions and integrations. Steve’s focus is on identifying and developing talent to maintain oOh!’s distinctive philosophy of engaging its people and delivering on strategy. With 26 years’ experience in human resources, learning and organisational development in both consulting and internal roles, Steve has a track record of building highly commercial and innovative HR teams to drive culture change. w w w.o o hme di a . com . a u
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“ Technology and how we use it has definitely been a game-changer during the pandemic, particularly with so many of us working from home”
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— Steve Reid, Chief People & Culture Officer, Ooh! Media
however we have proved that people can be just as or more productive working from home. I think employees and leaders have realised that you don’t have to sit in the same room as your employees to ensure they are working. One of our key learnings from this pandemic is that good people step up and do good work, no matter the circumstance, if they’re in an office or if they’re at home, they still do great work because that’s what they do.” As a result of this, Reid believes that this has helped people’s perspectives rapidly change when it comes to flexibility and working from home. “I think there’s been a real recognition that there are some roles and even more roles than we first expected that can work flexibly. I believe this has been partly driven by how we are using technology. Prior to COVID-19, people who joined a meeting via phone or video call would typically have a poorer experience compared to the people in the room due to suboptimal use of the technology. However, with everyone working remotely there has been a greater focus on how we can use the technology to make meetings work more efficiently. I’ve heard
oOh! Signature Series — June 2020 CLICK TO WATCH
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some great feedback that one of the
how it can be applied to those working
consequences of doing a lot of online
in an office along with those working
meetings is a sense that we’re getting
from home to ensure that everyone’s
a broader range of opinions from peo-
work experience is positive, rather
ple online who may be less vocal in a
than just going back to the old ways of
room with other people. Typically, in
operating. “The next challenge will be
any meeting you have dominant peo-
implementing really good processes
ple who talk more and others who are
and agreed rules that better support
more quiet and don’t feel as safe to
this way of working.”
contribute. In the online world, I think
Other technological trends Reid has
more people feel safe to offer an opin-
seen emerge due to COVID-19 are
ion” Something that oOh! is keen to do
the use of collaborative tools, “where
as it transitions back to office work-
people before were more inclined to
ing, is to look at the mixed model, and
use hosted drives, I think there has w w w.o o hme di a . com . a u
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“As an organisation, one of the things that I aspire to is that our people, whether they decide to stay or to leave and go elsewhere, are better for having been here” —Steve Reid,
Chief People & Culture Officer, Ooh! Media
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“ We pride ourselves on being the company in our industry that drives innovation forward and invests ahead of the curve and ahead of our competitors” — Steve Reid, Chief People & Culture Officer, Ooh! Media
DIGITAL INNOVATION STRATEGIES AND TECHNOLOGY TRENDS When it comes to digital innovation strategies Reid states that the company prides itself on being leaders in the space. “We pride ourselves on being the company in our industry that drives innovation forward and invests ahead of the curve and ahead of our competitors. Firstly, because we think that’s where the future is going and it is good for our company, and secondly because we also think that is where the industry is going, and it is good
been a massive uptake in the use of
for the sector. In terms of our strategy
Microsoft Teams and collaborative
around this, it is envisaging the future
tools where multiple people can work
and what will make the biggest differ-
on the same document at the same
ence for our customers, and investing
time, making work easier and more
early, to ensure we are at the forefront
efficient.” While these tools are not
of the innovation – leading, not follow-
new, Reid explains it is the impact
ing.” With this strategy in mind, oOh!
of COVID-19 which has forced the
Media then identifies its competitive
behaviour and understanding that this
advantages from a technology stand-
new way of working can be efficient,
point. “These are the innovations that
perhaps even more so than before.
we invest heavily in and look at internal
“It takes 28 days to create a habit, and
resources to make sure we have the
we’ve certainly had that time dur-
IP and knowledge internally to drive
ing lockdown to change our habits.
these innovations, as well as identify-
Hopefully they will continue as we
ing where we should leveraging best
return to the office.”
practices from external partners - such w w w.o o hme di a . com . a u
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as Harbour IT - because we’re either not going to have the resources, time or capacity to develop everything we need ourselves. With innovation comes the challenge of juggling what we should develop internally and what we should outsource. However, our partners are not just delivering a service they join us in our vision and what we are trying to achieve to deliver something of value.� While COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of certain technologies, especially when it comes to collabo-
1989
Year founded
$650mn Revenue in AU dollars
500+
Number of employees
rative tools, due to the need of rapid adoption of this technology, acceleration and development in other technological areas has been delayed for the time being. “I have seen some continued investment in technology during COVID-19, but when your revenue is hurting across the board there is naturally a pullback on the level of investment in non-critical projects. However, I believe this is just a pause not a stop. I think people will be naturally cautious as we return to the new normal, in terms of technology investment levels and timelines. I believe it will be a couple of years before we return to pre-Covid investment, especially for the more cutting-edge technology. However, there will be some businesses eager to get the jump on their competitors who will see investing in technology as a clear advantage and enabler of new ways of doing business.�
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