Automation will accelerate decentralization and digital transformation
As the vaccinated population grows, doors reopen, and more people come together again, the reality we find ourselves in will not be the one left behind in 2019. Many long for a return to in-person experiences, but at the same time, have grown accustomed to the flexibilities of a decentralized, digital-first world. As we emerge from lockdown, hitting “rewind” will not satisfy customer and employee needs. Instead, companies must create hybrid experiences that integrate both digital and in-person modalities. In addition, the growing expectations of stakeholders has created unprecedented demand for IT innovation and greater sense of urgency in the post-pandemic world.
Even as more offline activities resume, 2020’s rapid digitalization will have a large and lasting impact on both customer and employee experiences. For example, analysis of global research from Salesforce shows customers anticipate engaging online with companies just as much in 2021 as they did in 2020. That customers expect to maintain this substantial departure from their 2019 patterns suggests that the swing to digital at the height of the pandemic wasn’t purely due to unavailability of in-person channels. Rather, some of these new digital experiences appear to be preferred.
Meanwhile, on the employee front, signs suggest some of the uptick in remote work will be permanent. Harvard Business Review predicts “at least 16% of American workers will switch from professional offices to working at home at least two days per week as a result of COVID-19.” Already, employers like Salesforce, Apple, and Spotify have confirmed that new work-from-home flexibility is part of their reopening plan.
Digitalization of our home and work lives was, in many cases, already underway — but COVID-19 floored the gas pedal, and the velocity of change has been extraordinary. Per McKinsey, within the first eight weeks of the pandemic alone, we vaulted an astonishing five years forward in consumer and business digital adoption.
If necessity is the mother of invention, employees and technologies are what ultimately delivers it. Much of the fast innovation pace has, unfortunately, come on the backs of employees in ways that may not be healthy or sustainable. A May 2020 Salesforce survey found 35% of remote-working employees working later hours than usual, and Gallup reports that burnout rates have soared amidst the pandemic.
However, technology can lift some of this burden. According to McKinsey research, the companies that are strong and flexible enough to execute successful responses to COVID-19 are usually those that surpassed their peers in digital technology pre-crisis. Digital technology is, of course, a broad category. While video conferencing solutions get a lot of the limelight, I’d argue that workflow automation has been equally important in helping companies transition to digital-first customer and employee experiences.
Given their proximity to changing customer needs, customer service provides a helpful window into how workflow automation can increase team’s flexibility, efficiency, and job satisfaction.
