When there's upheaval in the market, small and medium enterprises often take the first hit. And while larger companies have business continuity plans (BCPs) in place, individual teams within those companies often struggle to establish a setup that works for everyone. Why do SMEs, and individual teams at big enterprises, struggle? A lack of preparedness.
Many organizations face hurdles when it comes to equipping themselves to handle emergencies. We're all human, and we're sometimes wary of technology, or just set in our ways. We might prioritize today's deliverables over tomorrow's preparedness. We think "this can wait," but the recent global crisis has taught us that the perfect time to prepare never arrives.
While having a business continuity plan is a whole topic in itself, for an SME that's already been hurled into the remote work world, or for a leader heading a core team, here are some tips to help you steer clear of productivity pitfalls:
Stay focused
While letting your teammates know what you've done and what's pending on their end is important, some people can go overboard and wind up just talking shop. How do you ensure task continuity? Simple. Use a workflow automation tool to run your process. Your tool will automatically notify you on what you need to do, and if you're a manager, it will help you keep a tab on all your team's work items.
Capture every detail
With processes come task dependencies, and dependencies aren't just limited to human resources. For a process to flow smoothly, all the information about the process, like the requestor's name, its priority, and related documentation must also be shared. When you're all sitting one desk away from each other, getting what you need is easy. Unfortunately, that's not the case when you work remotely. Missing important documents, or sending outdated ones is a risk, and it might not be discovered until much later. A workflow management tool, in addition to running your processes, will also help document all the details of every task passing through the system, and make it accessible for everyone involved.
Leverage work insights
In your office, all you had to do to stay up to date was ask your team members what they'd done, and record work progress on spreadsheets. But that can be a time-consuming task, especially if the entire team is working remotely. Well, now's the perfect opportunity to map out all your processes into neat workflows and begin running all of it using a workflow automation tool. This way, you know everything that's going on with your team—how much is pending, and who's doing what—so you can allocate work accordingly. The exhaustive process data, performance insights, and custom reports provided by your tool will make tracking and reporting much easier.
Work from mobile
Trying times lead to revelations. Many jobs that were previously not possible from a "work from home" situation have suddenly become remote-friendly. This has given businesses the opportunity to revisit their policies and think of efficient ways to enable remote working. What better way to do it, than to switch to a tool that lets you track your work right from your phone? If you could simply use your phone to get notified of something that's come your way, or to retrieve pending tasks, then you're truly empowering your business and your workforce.
Ensure business continuity
If you're a leader, you might manage a business, product, or service. But you're also responsible for the team of people working with you. Analyze risks, identify solutions, and implement security measures for every functioning unit of your team—starting from data backups to ensuring workarounds for things you usually get done by working together. Having every possibility thought out and prepared for will benefit not just your business, but also your workforce. Remember, loyalty is hard-earned.
For organizations that can't go remote
Hospitals, insurance companies, banks, essential commodity suppliers, transportation and shipping companies, media and telecom companies—what do all of them have in common? The nature of their work doesn't let them go remote, or cease operations. How can such industries ensure their work goes on unhindered during emergencies?
Here's how a tool like Orchestly can help essential services stay prepared:
Define your communication command center, and establish emergency communication lines to keep staff informed.
Make all the latest emergency preparedness materials accessible from a single location.
Quickly onboard new staff, and retrain or cross-train existing staff.
Record and keep track of all employees, equipment, issues, services, and processes.
Expedite purchase requests for essential equipment.
Conduct quality testing for manufactured/purchased equipment.
Ensure automated and on-demand sanitation and disinfection services within your premises.
Integrate Orchestly to run in sync with your usual applications—HIS, AMS, MRP, TMS, and ERP—so you can run your processes effortlessly.
During dire times such as this, you need to have all your systems in place to ensure work goes on uninterrupted—and for this, you can count on Orchestly.
If you're ready to adapt to these changes, adopt Orchestly and empower your business and workforce to run smoothly, regardless of where you are.
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