Three ways the upcoming Now at Work event can help prepare your business for the future

I don’t have enough fingers to count the number of ways in which the pandemic has changed the workplace, but one thing in particular stands out: COVID-19 has catapulted us into the future of work, whether we like it or not. 

As with businesses and organisations of every size, we’ve been forced to find instant solutions to challenges many of us weren’t expecting to face for many years to come. 

Like finding ways of changing cultures in days, and shifting entire workforces from physical offices to remote working, or enabling customer service teams to function seamlessly without their call centres - at a time when clients and partners needed them the most. And now, as the lockdown measures ease, coming up with ways of getting teams safely and securely back to work with minimum fuss and low risk. 

And there’s no doubt about it, the world over the last six months may have given the appearance of slowing down, but at no point has it stopped: and CIOs, CTOs, IT Directors and CxOs are feeling exhausted.

What have we learned though? Half a year on, it’s time to reflect and recharge, to prepare ourselves for the next stage of change: and there's no better place to do that than at our Now at Work event on October 6th. 

Just as we did for Knowledge 2020, our upcoming Now at Work UK and Ireland event has been moved online, and I believe there are three specific ways in which it can support you with future proofing your business:

1.    Learn how to navigate the current business challenges

The coronavirus continues to bite across the UK and Ireland: we’re in a painful recession no-one could have foreseen, teams are still adapting to working from home, and customers’ needs have evolved exponentially – almost overnight. But there’s no benefit to hiding away from the financial and operational challenges of 2020: we have to face them head on. 

Across the day, we’ll hear stories from customers who’ve used platforms like ours to get back on a path of recovery and growth.

Exploring the subject in detail, I’ll be joined during my keynote by Deryck Mitchelson, Director of National Digital and Information Security, NHS Scotland, while we’ll also be hearing from the Department of Work and Pensions, Capita and Veolia on how these organisations have adopted technology to toughen up agility and build their resilience.

2.    How you can scale your platform

The climate might be daunting, but I believe the businesses resilient enough to grow substantially over the next few years will be those who are smart enough to be growing digital service experiences, now.  

Scaling your deployment, and accommodating demands from both employees and your customers at this time, takes guts: but we’ll be hearing from customers who are successfully upheaving their business and operating models to achieve tangible business outcomes. 

NatWest, BP and Qlik will be talking us through their experiences, and with Pharma under so much pressure to deliver on innovation right now, we’ll be hearing how AstraZeneca and Novartis are embracing the Now Platform® to get themselves ahead.  

3.    How you can prepare for ‘what’s next’

We don’t have a crystal ball to gaze into the future, but one thing’s pretty much for sure: what happens next in the workplace is very unlikely to be a return to the days before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

While many business leaders are still adapting to the current situation, eyes are rapidly turning to next year and beyond. And this shouldn’t be something to fear: it’s an opportunity for organisations to invest and build for the future - to be more digital, data-driven, with far better agile operations to ensure effective business resiliency. 

We have two must-see panels discussing this: the first, ‘Back to The Future of Finance’ - will explore the importance of agility & innovation, and how technology can help Financial Services to transform. Our second debate covers a key topic for those concerned with their customer experience: ‘What’s Changed in Customer Service and the Contact Centre?’. You can join the discussion too and you won’t need to lift your hand either - just join the live chat to question the speakers!

I'd be honoured to e-see you on the 6th, there’s so much to discover and it’s a great opportunity to learn and be inspired. We’ll also be discussing our recently launched Now Platform Paris release, including new workflows and upgraded features aimed at helping companies drive business agility and resilience to fuel growth, strengthen business continuity, and enhance employee productivity and customer loyalty.

For more information, join us by signing up to attend here. I really hope to see you there!