Post Covid-19 and the future for SME working practices?

Sage 50c Accounts, Microsoft 365, Cloud ERP and our changing working practices after the Covid-19 pandemic

As the recent pandemic eases and we look to the future, should we consider work trends from the last 12 months that are likely here to stay?

Let’s Consider….

This Garner article from last year suggests that following the recession of the Covid-19 pandemic, around 48% of workforces will work at least part of the time on a remote basis.

Some businesses are revising their model of employing only full time staff and are increasingly contracting an element of contingent workforce that can be scaled in line with skill demands to provide more resilience overall.

Businesses are also increasingly seeking to re-evaluate what have traditionally been accepted as critical roles and reviewing the importance of successfully fulfilling the essential workflows that keep their businesses trading profitably.

 

Gartner states:

Before COVID-19, critical roles were viewed as roles with critical skills, or the capabilities an organization needed to meet its strategic goals. Now, employers are realizing that there is another category of critical roles — roles that are critical to the success of essential workflows.

This statement appears to encourage businesses to enable staff to increase their skill set to not only enhance their own career opportunities but to provide business owners with a more interchangeable staff structure.  The end goal is to ensure there is sufficient skill within the business rather than sufficient skill attached to a single role or individual so that essential workflows can always be fulfilled, regardless of where they are based and whether they are employed (and their historic job title/description) or on a contract.

 

What does the Gartner article highlight for UK SME’s and their approach to HR?

  • Remote working is here to stay for most UK businesses in varying degrees.
  • Resources that support Essential Workflows will be in part from permanent employees but may be also found via contractors.
  • Permanent employees should be encouraged to be adaptive and flexible to acquire cross-function knowledge.

What impact might these HR concepts have on your business solutions infrastructure?

  1. Ensuring smooth and reliable remote access to your system applications is key.
  2. Expanding your data collection is crucial.  With resources working from home and in many cases using their own devices your business will need to be able to monitor performance and ensure you have appropriate security measures in place, especially if the use of contractors is likely to remain and/or increase.

Questions to ask yourself and answer honestly:

  • Is my current remote access provision sufficient for a future that is going to require it as a permanent fixture?
  • Am I using the right level of Office 365 licensing to ensure I can protect my business data if a device and its content becomes ‘at risk’?
  • Are the applications I use for essential workflows easily accessible to individuals who will be working cross-functional roles?
  • What are the road maps for my current software solutions, and will they meet my changing needs?
  • Do I need to consider a single database SaaS Cloud ERP to support all my accounting, manufacturing, and sales functions?

Thought for the Day.

Qi can give you advice on Sage 50c, Sage 50 Manufactring, Cim50 MRP, Office 365 licensing levels and introduce you to Microsoft Cloud ERP to help you build the right IT strategy for the post Covid-19 future.  Get in touch?