In the first and second quarter of 2020, only a few businesses, if any, will manage to achieve anything close to the targets they set at the turn of the year. And, this is likely to be the same for the end of year results, as the world comes to terms with the Covid-19 pandemic, and businesses adjust to the logistics of their Remote Workforce.
More than half of the global population is under lockdown with the rest under curfews or partial lockdown, resulting in a devastating effect on the global economy. Rather than developing infrastructure or investing in education and healthcare, governments are dedicating most of the resources to controlling the spread of the virus.
Businesses, too, have been severely affected. With customers and employees forced to stay at home to uphold the social distancing recommendations, companies have few to sell to or keep operations running smoothly. This is especially so for brick and mortar businesses.
At present, it’s unclear when normalcy will be restored. With this uncertainty, many businesses face the risk of closing down, resulting in the loss of jobs. Five weeks into this pandemic and 26 million Americans have filed for unemployment and tens of millions more at risk.
However, it has not necessarily been doom and gloom for all businesses. Companies have been turning to technology for process automation and enabling their teams to work remotely. This has ensured that operations can and will continue during the pandemic.
What are the Advantages of a Remote Workforce During this Period?
1. Increased Productivity
To ensure operations do not come to a halt, many companies have adopted measures such as only allowing essential staff to report to work or rotational shifts, which have significantly impacted productivity. However, by enabling personnel to work remotely, organizations can keep their employees safe while increasing productivity.
Data from multiple studies indicates that employees are more productive when working from home. While only 25% of onsite workers are willing to overtime, 50% of remote workers are open to doing extra work.
2. Keep Your Employees Safe
Due to the current pandemic, management teams have been forced to address unprecedented dilemmas. Whereas employee safety comes first, profits are still crucial to ensure employees have a job to return to. As much as businesses have set-up many measures to reduce their employees’ exposure, there’s still a great level of risk.
Though enabling them to work remotely does not eliminate the risk completely, it reduces exposure and the risk of a virus affecting many of your employees at the same time.
Automated Approval Routing
Delayed approval of key processes is one of the main factors that cause delays in business operations. When operations are as slow as they are now, it’s crucial to eliminate undue delays. As such, In addition to a remote workforce, automating approval routing is one of the best measures companies can take to mitigate the logistical effects of your remote workforce.
Any delays in decision making and approvals can translate to substantial losses. By automating approval routing, your organization will benefit from:
1. manage an approval and workflow process in a remote and distributed workforce
2. provide Users the ability to work ‘out-of-the-office’
3. reduce/eliminate paper
4. standardize and streamline processes
5. improve process visibility and controls
Technology Is Key
At a time when economies are slowing down and millions are still expected to lose jobs, only businesses that are resilient, agile, and innovative will be able to survive. In this regard, the key is adopting technologies that ensure continuity of operations and increase efficiency while reducing costs.
ISS Group offers seamless Business Process Improvement (BPI) solutions to organizations using the QAD ERP system to ensure continuity, efficiency and accuracy from remote locations. Our solutions significantly enhance QAD by automating business processes utilizing innovative ‘Data-Driven’ Approval Routing and Workflow technology.
Get in touch with us today and see how you can automate processes such as Purchase Requisitions/Order Creation, Unplanned Issues and Receipts, New Item Creation, Sales Order Creation, Capex Budget Requests, Journal Entries, Customer Credit Limit Maintenance, HR & Benefit Requests….. and much more.
