Preparing for the New Normal in Business

Drastically increased remote working and the need to ensure flexible and adaptive communications isn’t a temporary COVID-19 problem. It’s the new normal in business. How your organization responds to this new way of collaborating and communicating will determine its future level of success, both directly after the coronavirus and in the long term.

With the right tools and perspective, your organization can stay connected with customers, tune in to changing customer needs, and facilitate effective collaboration among your remote teams. You’ll also be ready to adapt when the next crisis occurs and challenge the existing order. Let’s examine what this new normal will look like and what steps your organization can take to ensure you’re ready for anything.

What Will the New Business Normal Look Like?

Right now, your organization may be experiencing a lot of disruption. Factors ranging from uncertain compliance regulations to supply chain issues are upending the normal day-to-day workflow.

Even more dramatic of a change is the shift to remote work and the impact this is having on communications. With social distancing requirements and recommendations in place, your workforce may be operating from home. This remote model is one of the moves that will be an enduring part of the new normal in business, in part, because of the productivity and cost-saving benefits it offers.

According to a recent survey conducted by Gartner, many executive decision-makers are planning on using the remote work model permanently for some of their employees. The survey found that 74 percent of CFOs expect to shift at least 5 percent of their on-site employees to remote positions.

The other change that will persist is a shift to greater adaptability. If there’s one thing COVID-19 has taught businesses across industries, it is that you have to be ready for the unexpected. By gaining efficiencies and flexibility with cloud services and applications, companies in industries ranging from manufacturing to financial services will be able to pivot whenever they need to.

Staying Connected Despite Distance

How can people stay connected in this new normal for business? No matter what industry your organization is in or how your company adapts its processes, there are two essentials you’ll need to prepare for – employee collaboration and communication with customers.

It’s critical your organization has the right tools in place for:

• Ensuring employees can communicate and collaborate from anywhere, whether they are working remotely or otherwise
• Maintaining crystal clear understanding of customer needs and ensuring communication channels with customers and prospects are still open

Fortunately, with today’s technology, it is possible to stay connected no matter how physically disconnected people are.

A new normal for collaboration

Virtual meetings are a great way for remote teams to stay connected, but your organization will need more tools to empower effective collaboration. Your employees should be able to share information through a variety of channels. When they can securely log into a single dashboard from any device and access the most appropriate communication tools, collaborating from anywhere becomes easy.

With unified communications, they can call, instant message, share files, and talk face-to-face with video chats. Look for a platform that offers key features for better collaboration, including presence indicators so it’s easy to recognize who’s available and easy and secure file sharing capabilities. You also want to give your teams the ability to clearly see and hear one another in groups with multi-use HD video functionality.

A new normal for connecting with customers

If you’re used to communicating with customers in person, in the office, or traveling to their work locations to stay connected, the idea of making the jump to pure online communications may feel overwhelming. However, once your business has the tools you need for clear communication, staying connected and ensuring your customers’ needs are met becomes simple. In fact, for some industries, this shift to seamless, fluid virtual communications channels can lead to saved timed, lower costs, and better outcomes.

For customer communications, businesses need a phone system that will route calls as needed and enable employees to call stakeholders from their business number, even if they’re working from home when calling. A VoIP phone system makes this possible. Employers can safely send and receive faxes, text messages, and business calls, no matter where they are. It’s easy to keep in touch because there aren’t any barriers to communication.

Get Your Business Ready for Tomorrow

The tools are out there. The technology is available, easy to set up, and affordable. And the expert support you need is ready and waiting to help.

You don’t have to do an IT infrastructure overhaul to prepare for the new normal. You don’t even have to be back in the office to get set up. You can get started today. Contact the Intermedia team today, and we’ll help you access the solutions your business needs.

Scott Anderson

Scott Anderson is Intermedia's Chief Marketing Officer, and is responsible for Intermedia global marketing, including product, brand, direct, channel, demand, and digital marketing, as well as internal/external communications.