Latin America. In the last year, companies have undergone a radical transformation in the workplace. The digital world gained relevance and remote work increased significantly. Faced with the new reality, businesses found it necessary to modify the schemes of their operations, to maintain their validity in the market. Today, some businesses still face challenges in adjusting to the new work reality.
At the beginning of 2020, about half of small and medium-sized enterprises in Colombia and Ecuador had remote workers on their payroll. Currently, almost eight out of 10 businesses have remote collaborators among their staff, which suggests that in the last year this modality has increased, according to the seventh edition of the Vision SMEs survey conducted by Brother International Corporation*. This change represented challenges in various aspects such as coordination, use of technology and cybersecurity, according to the main findings of the survey.
After a complex year, the question that arises is: what aspects should an employer take into account with the new work environment? Below, we share three expert tips on how business leaders can adjust to new work dynamics and gain advantages.
Take care of your team: More than half of entrepreneurs in Colombia and Ecuador believe that the business situation will return to normal in 2022 or later, according to the Visión Pymes survey. In this context, Ilana Milkes*, founder of World Tech Makers, a Colombian SME focused on educational technological solutions, underlines the importance of taking care of the most valuable asset that businesses currently have: human talent. "If a business has been successful in adapting to the new needs of the market, the next step is to think about the needs of its employees.
Today, we all appreciate having flexibility in managing our time. Companies that operate remotely can help their employees with this need by implementing work schemes by objectives rather than schedules. While those that require greater face-to-face, can establish shift systems, organization by spaces and part-time, taking into account biosecurity measures and taking care of the health of their employees with all routine and pertinent medical check-ups and examinations, as well as the signaling and provision of biosecurity implements such as suits, masks, alcohol, antibacterial gel, among others," says the businesswoman.
Invest in modernizing your business: With the rise of telecommuting, businesses became decentralized. Alternatives such as home offices and coworking spaces emerged, which have allowed companies to reduce their expenses in facilities, services and logistics. Alejandro Carbonell*, CEO and co-founder of Tutorez, a Panama-based online education platform, mentions that this extra surplus should be considered as investment capital. "The opportunities for growth and increased productivity for companies, at the moment, are very large and justify the costs that can represent the investment in technology to transform a business. In this context, the use of digital tools, software and investment in e-commerce and social networks, are presented as an opportunity that companies can access to achieve greater productivity and competitiveness in the market, "emphasizes the Panamanian entrepreneur.
Protect your company's information: The new reality has led companies to virtuality, causing many of them to have to adapt to the use of technological tools that they previously did not know, such as cloud information services, videoconferencing applications and institutional mail. The migration of a company to digital environments involves many opportunities, but also risks. When talking about cybersecurity, many businesses, especially SMEs, do not consider this aspect important and ignore investing in cybersecurity services.
However, data theft or information leakage can lead to the closure of its operations, according to Luis Tituaña, founder of T&T Asociados, an Ecuadorian firm that provides business advice on financial, labor and technology issues. "In an environment like the one we live in now, where a large part of companies operate through digital media, hackers are constantly looking for new victims to steal information not only from the business, but from their customers, suppliers and other related companies," warns the businessman. As identified by the SME Vision 2021 survey, only a third of the entrepreneurs surveyed confirmed having invested in cybersecurity software for their business, leaving a wide margin of companies that are exposed to being victims of a cyber attack.
The way of working changed drastically in the last year. New work modalities have become trends that are here to stay. Digital transformation is already a reality among companies and employers are invited to reevaluate their businesses based on this new reality.
* The 2021 annual survey was applied to 776 owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in Colombia and Ecuador, between January 27 and March 24, 2021.
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