Powerful forces are reshaping Enterprise Work as we know it. The pandemic-inspired remote and distributed work model, coupled with the growing adoption of cloud and AI technologies, as well as the expansion of the workforce to include gig talent, presents a radically transformed landscape for enterprise employers and employees alike. These shifts promote digital-first operating models and redefine how works get done across white-collar, blue-collar, and gig worker labor tiers. Anik Bose
and Yash Hemaraj, partners at BGV, provide insights into this workforce evolution.
Digital First Operating Model
Enterprises are increasingly embracing transparency, openness, visibility, and shared outcomes in the workplace. These are natural dimensions that underpin the digital-first operating model, unlike the siloed, “top-down,” edict-driven models of the legacy world. Furthermore, travel bans, workforce mobility challenges, and the general inability of decision-makers to meet their counterparts in person (to close sales, for example) places unprecedented stress on enterprise businesses. This disruption of the “top-down” sales motion constitutes the largest observable near-term impact in the enterprise workforce landscape. As a result, a new digital-first sales operating model, with frictionless engagement, must obviate the need for in-person meetings. This is driving the adoption of a “bottom-up” sales motion that relies on selling products first to the lower levels of an organization (directly to developers, product managers, data scientists etc.) instead of focusing on securing large enterprise contracts at the CEO, CIO or CISO-level. While relationship selling to senior executives cannot be ignored, this conventional approach is unlikely to occupy a priority position in the early stages of this sales process. The easier access to senior decision-makers that we see today only serves to accentuate this shift: the traditional sales motion has been turned on its head.
A recent McKinsey study found that customer preferences have followed suit, pivoting from traditional interactions to digital ones. As sales reps are engaging customers far later in the sales process (to close larger deals), we are seeing increased adoption of digital sales technologies, like personalized account-based marketing (Folloze) and lead acceleration (Madkudu), earlier in the process. Software companies transitioning to the SaaS business model need to deliver the same streamlined, customer-friendly, as-a-service experience they bring to product sales to the full spectrum of add-on services across the customer journey. As the graphic below illustrates, the new normal is transforming all the functions of the enterprise to adopt the “as-a-service” model.
The Forbes article by Dharmesh Thakker on efficient, cloud-native go to market models describes the “bottom-up” sales motion needed to excel. Successful cloud-native startups, like Platform.sh, are pioneering this “bottom-up” model which is rapidly emerging as a best practice given the inherent benefits of quicker adoption, shorter sales cycles and relative capital efficiency.
The Untethered White-Collar Work Force
The pandemic has imposed a re-imagination of the workforce and is accelerating “distributed hiring” and “distributed working” practices far more broadly than ever anticipated. Untethered by an office, or even the HQ, access to top talent now enjoys primacy over geographic proximity in hiring decisions. A distributed workforce has the capability to Work from Anywhere and is becoming the new normal for white-collar workers in digital enterprises. Technology adoption and recorded knowledge play a critical role in enabling this transition. We believe that the shift to work from anywhere will follow a natural progression that initially impacts sales, marketing, customer engagement, and customer support functions. For example, enterprises are adopting technologies such as customer success by Totango, automating contact centers by Dial Once, and Oto. For
customer support, enterprises can enjoy a zero-touch support experience from Peritus that delivers a digitized, automated, and personalized customer support experience to tech-savvy clients.
The second phase of this progression touches internal product development, where enterprises increasingly employ DevOps PaaS by Platform.sh and no-code application and analytics platforms by
Onymos and Pyze to enable distributed collaboration. Digital back-office automation, likely to follow these first two phases, is emerging thanks to automation solutions like Ayehu, along with the now ubiquitous solutions for email (Google for work, Microsoft 365), video calling (Zoom, WebEx,
Microsoft Teams), document management (Dropbox, Box), project management (Asana, Trello), and collaboration (Slack, Microsoft Teams). Collectively, these form the foundational pieces of a work from-anywhere stack.
Blue Collar Machine Human Augmentation
Despite widespread concerns that artificial intelligence may steal blue-collar jobs, we believe machine learning and automation represents a massive opportunity to augment the productivity, efficiency, and capacity of these workers, rather than displace them. Drishti, for example, offers
factory floor analytics solutions that provide real-time visibility into line balancing and defect reduction intelligence, disrupting the way manufacturing floors operate. In the energy efficiency sphere, Eco plant leverages pipeline sensors, a complex monitoring system, and predictive algorithms to provide workers with prescriptive and predictive maintenance suggestions for HVAC equipment in factory environments. All of these solutions are augmenting the workers via AI-assisted processes.
Gig Workforce Fabric
Two forces are influencing the emergence of the Gig Workforce Fabric: first, the availability of deep and talented gig workers, and second, the ability to integrate these gig workers into enterprises as seamlessly as regular employees. The pandemic plays a forcing function for many businesses to lay down the digital infrastructure that integrates multiple working models (enterprise, remote, and distributed) and worker types (full time, part-time, Gig, advisory). According to a recent report published by EY Global Contingent Workforce Study, by 2020 almost one in five workers will be contingent workers (freelancers or contract). The rise of the gig economy is not restricted to Uber drivers and food deliverers; Catalant Technologies and Graphite are examples of a much more
flexible model where companies are matched with high-end business consulting talent. Guru combines its gig worker marketplace with enterprise-facing solutions such as workflow automation, security, consolidated invoicing, compliance, and more. COVID-19 shined a light on the upside of having a highly-skilled remote workforce. The notion that the only model for successful ideation requires brainstorming in the same room has been fundamentally challenged by the current crisis; and this enables a new wave of acceptance and of creative design and remote ideation. As this trend gains traction, enterprises can expect to have a division where they can connect with a freelancer sitting in a different part of the world and confidently enter long-term agreements to deliver high-quality work.
Re-Skilling HR Tech
The combination of digital-first operating models, white-collar work from anywhere, blue collar machine human augmentation and the rise of the gig fabric is impacting employers and employees alike, creating significant re-skilling demands. Universities, sadly, are not equipped for the re-skilling challenge that lies ahead. According to HBR: “In 2018, 35% of the U.S. population had at least four years of a college education — the most in
history. While we might have the most educated population ever, these degrees aren’t necessarily giving people the practical work skills they need. College degree programs simply cannot keep pace with how fast things are changing in the workforce. Many students are currently being prepared
for jobs that no longer exist, and many don’t have the right skills for the job they want”.
In the age of automation, HR technology will play a critical role in meeting some of the re-skilling needs. Performance management tools, for example, will have to bias behavior towards growth, continuous improvement and outcomes (instead of the traditional annual review process). Of particular import are tools that allow enterprises to run the entire HR evaluation process all in one place, from 360 reviews to peer-to-peer feedback, goal setting, check-ins and engagement surveys, or even self-assessments. Numly is a startup that is attempting to close the skills gap by offering AI-enabled employee engagement and coaching solutions for developing soft skills. E-learning products also have an important role to play in the re-skilling process, whether third-party tools such
as LinkedIn learning, or integrated enterprise solutions that plug directly into the tech stack to develop customized courses. Given the rise of globalized and distributed teams, coupled with the shift towards remote work, online learning presents a simple and cost-effective way to ensure that employees continue to grow, develop their skills and adapt to the continuous improvement mentality.
Conclusion
The results are in, and B2B decision makers are increasingly embracing the productivity of the white collar work from anywhere model – see recent HBR study. The ancillary effects of this tectonic shift enables organizations to connect with stakeholders at scale in ways unconstrained by traditional models. Imagine a cross-border startup whose workforce mobility had previously been constrained by visa requirements, travel costs, and logistical hurdles, now being able to compete effectively with local incumbents by delivering what customers value most – speed, transparency and expertise – fully digital and fully remote.
The combination of digital first operating models, white collar work from anywhere, blue collar machine human augmentation, and the rise of the gig fabric is impacting employers and employees alike, creating significant management and cultural challenges. Enterprises will need a new management operating system to address some of these challenges including reimagining how work gets done on a foundation of digital artifacts and digital practices, recorded knowledge and digital work products. GitLab has pioneered this notion of distributed model referred to as the GitLab remote manifesto. The top 3 manifesto principles include 1) Hiring and working from all over the world instead of from a central location 2) Flexible working hours over set working hours 3) Writing down and recording knowledge over verbal explanations. The GitLab manifesto offers a powerful best practice.
In this new era, more thoughtful approaches will be required to assess, evaluate and compensate talent that can thrive in new work models. We expect that the transformation around the future of work will usher in unprecedented innovation in the areas of enterprise collaboration and analytics – powered by novel data sets, embedded AI and intelligent workflow automation – to drive new forms of user experience, enablement, and engagement. Last, but not least, we expect to see new
leadership styles emerge, blending emotional IQ with the digital savvy required to build the culture for unlocking the combined potential of human and digital interactions. It is early days of Work from Home but we are beginning to see signs of unexpected burnout and attrition. The leadership responsibility to establish company culture and to build and maintain emotional connection will, therefore be of paramount import in this new workforce era. Success, in this new landscape, will require both human and digital cultural competencies, under which a new enterprise workforce can thrive.
