The COVID-19 pandemic has made adjustments in all spheres of life, with a particularly acute impact on business. The reaction of specialists to the crisis was the development of new technological trends, one of which is the lack of location binding. The new Anywhere Operations IT operating model is designed to support customers in any part of the world, while also empowering employees to manage service deployments geographically independently.
What should businesses focus on today?
Most companies are working hard to go digital. The introduction of innovative technologies that makes it possible to perform all the necessary operations anywhere in the world is the main trend of modern business.
Anywhere Operations is a business process model that provides both communication with customers and employees, and the sale of goods/services, regardless of the physical location of each. The basic level involves the creation of conditions for remote work and the organization of delivery. However, in practice, everything turns out to be much more complicated than it seems at first glance. When moving to this model, it is important to balance online and offline. Thus, a business needs to pay attention to 3 key points:
- focus on customer requests;
- location independence;
- fast and uninterrupted delivery or providing services remotely.
As a result, it's essential to study the requests of potential customers and focus on them, ensuring the possibility of remote interaction.
Remote business process management: the basics of efficiency
Controlling business remotely, constantly interacting with employees and customers online, may be challenging when it comes to the effectiveness of such a business.
First of all, it is worth considering the current state of business processes:
- Autonomy - being independent of certain personalities and specific conditions. The higher the dependence on specific people or processes, the lower the autonomy. Thus, if a certain person leaves or conditions change, efficiency will also decrease. This state of affairs means that the level of autonomy of the process is low.
- Flexibility is the ability to change according to certain conditions. A process is considered flexible if its replacement due to a change in location or service algorithm occurs quickly and with minimal resource consumption.
- Dependence on direct control. If the manager often makes decisions independently and approves many actions, then such management is called manual. In this case, the process is not actually controlled, since it directly depends on the opinion of one person.
Remote control requires everything to operate efficiently anywhere.
Decision-making system
All decisions must be made based on KPI. Such a system of interrelated indicators should reflect real life. It makes it possible to understand at any time what and where went wrong. The KPI system is considered the dashboard of the business itself.
Communication
Making business at a distance does not negate constant interaction with all participants of the process. At the same time, the communication system should be convenient for everyone. The effectiveness of the system lies in the timely receipt of relevant information in full. Business process management in a company largely depends on the quality and rapidity of communication.
Principles and culture
Processes determine "how to do", and culture and principles determine "why to do". It is the answer to the last question that gives an effective solution to the problem when it goes beyond the usual.
Like-minded people
There must be at least one person in every place who can be trusted. Remote control requires not only smart people but also reliable ones, who can be trusted.
Quick reaction
When a new task comes from the center, the reaction to it should be appropriate. A response problem is an indicator that a particularly remote location is disconnected from the entire organization.
The technological foundation for the transition
To use the new Anywhere Operations business model effectively, it's essential to do the following:
- apply remote solutions for meetings with employees;
- move to cloud infrastructure;
- track the company's activities remotely;
- automate remote operations;
- provide secure remote access.
Today, we can see a move to the Anywhere Operations model in those industries that provide remote services by default. For example, you can order website development in any country. Banks are launching online applications that allow most banking operations, including loan processing, to be carried out without visiting a branch.
According to experts' forecasts, up to 40% of the companies worldwide will choose Anywhere Operations for themselves.
