Scaling the post-normal: how investing in IT can accelerate recovery
It seems counterintuitive, but increasing technology investment can be the difference for companies trying to survive their first day in the “post-normal” scenario.
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all sectors of the economy. Decreased revenue, job loss, and reduced working hours have become a reality for many companies, flooding the market with a sea of uncertainty.
The solution to reducing the crisis’s effects and returning to the same level of competitiveness as the past means increasing technology investment. That’s right; you didn’t read it wrong.
The goal? Increase operational efficiency through the old classics: cost reduction and resource optimization.
Innovating is the only way to overcome the crisis. Therefore, investing in the exponential potential of technology emerges as an alternative for companies to recover productivity, revenue, and some operational stability (because total stability will be impossible in the post-normal).
In this article, we will show you how to increase your operational efficiency through technology without investing excessive amounts at this time. Want to know more? Keep reading!
The advancement of technology and the exponentiality curve
You may have noticed how quickly various sectors have adapted to remote work. This is not for nothing. News pop up in the most diverse communication streams about companies that intend to adopt remote work permanently.
Think about this: what technologies could enable companies to seize opportunities in one of the worst crises we have ever experienced?
From now on, everything that can be digitized will be. And this phenomenon promises to stir the market with the emergence of a series of exponential organizations (the EXOs).
Have you thought about growing ten times faster than your competitors with less overhead? If so, you must embrace exponentiality.
There is no way to talk about EXOs without mentioning the futurist Peter Diamandis, Singularity University, and the 6Ds – principles that govern business in the Digital Age. According to him, the 6Ds govern our transition towards the new economy: Check it out:
Digitization
The beginning of the transformation process. In this new phase, every product or service must be enabled to be consumed digitally. The forecast is that the pandemic will make these digital habits permanent.
Disappointment
A common frustration during the initial exponentiality curve – which can be imperceptible. This slow growth (0.01% or so) is part of the baseline structural work.
Disruption
This type of innovation shapes consumers’ desires and opens new market segments. We see this with companies like Netflix and Spotify, who take good advantage of user data.
Demonetization
The advancement of technology has the gift of reducing costs. In this phase, solutions would start to be replicated so easily that paying for certain technologies may soon stop making sense.
Dematerialization
The physical solutions that we know gradually disappear as users’ needs are met digitally.
Democratization
At the end of this process, there is the democratization of technology, a moment when solutions reach consumers’ (digital) shelves for competitive prices.
The importance of investing in technology to accelerate the Digital Transformation process
Over the past few years, you have undoubtedly heard that Digital Transformation impacts industries, and the idea is for them to become completely digital.
The feeling is that, however much investment is made in the digitization of corporate processes, culture, and material, there will always be something more to digitize. What nobody told you is that Digital Transformation is not a destination – it is the way.
COVID-19 has redefined the meaning of Digital Transformation. The phenomenon explained that the pace of adaptation to digital is below the need of the industry itself. This denotes an excellent resistance towards innovation.
Now, the difference between being digital or not is survival. Companies with high digital maturity are prepared for turbulence. Those lagging are dangerously close to biting the dust.
But it is not necessary to make astronomical investments to accelerate the transformation process. Technologies such as cloud computing, robotic automation, and machine learning offer economical alternatives with a high scalability degree.
I’m growing exponentially. Now what? Manage it with DevOps and Agile
There is a lot of literature out there talking about the benefits of exponential growth. But when it comes to listing methods to manage operations that double each year, references are becoming increasingly scarce.
Here at MJV, we have experienced exponential growth of 350% in three years.
During this trajectory, two of our expertise areas were fundamental in keeping operations on track: DevOps and Agile Methodologies.
DevOps
DevOps is a method that integrates the development and operations areas. The process replaces the traditional assembly line where code is simply “released” to the operations department at the end of the process – and only then is it possible to test the product’s viability.
It focuses on eliminating bureaucracy and truncated processes to speed up deliveries. The method gained prominence in IT departments. In the DevOps environment, teams can share codes transparently, helping to detect problems while still in the development phase.
In this model, the development teams create resources, while the operations teams keep the system stable and running smoothly through a continuous feedback model.
Benefits of the DevOps approach:
- Integrating development and operations teams
- Building a sense of shared responsibilities between teams
- Constant feedback
- Strengthening security in the production environment
- Accelerating the development of new applications
Business Agility
We could just talk about Agile here, but that’s old news. We know agile works, so let’s go further: let’s talk about Business Agility because it’s all about leadership.
In today’s world, volatility is constant. An agile structure is formatted to manage ever-changing project environments – and some of Business Agility’s ideas came from studying the complexity of software developments in today’s world.
As we have already said, a critical point in Business Agility is leadership. In this sense, the mentality aims to engage, empower, delegate, train, and inspire in an agile manner (flexible, adaptable, and at the ideal speed).
The logic of centralization is to push for distributed leaders, collaboration sustained by communication and transparency between individuals, teams, departments, and branches.
Another very important dimension in Business Agility is feedback, which can come from different sources (customers, colleagues, suppliers, etc.). The important thing is the ability to absorb feedback and work towards continuous improvement.
Benefits of Agile:
- Flexibility for changing requirements
- Tangible results from the very beginning
- Transparency and project status visibility
- Higher value deliveries
- Constant deliveries
IT Outsourcing: scale your growth
The dream of any company is to scale operations and generate revenue in a sustainable and lean way. At the same time, very rapid expansion can cause bottlenecks – “growing pains.” In this context, it is necessary to slow down to take care of internal processes’ realignment.
But scaling your business cannot be the problem: it has to be the solution. And outsourcing your IT infrastructure can give you peace of mind to devote yourself to developing and improving your core business.
For over 20 years, MJV has been developing technological solutions that have helped some of the largest clients worldwide solve business challenges, always complementing our software development area with UI & UX expertise.
Our experience with offices in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, along with more than 800 multidisciplinary employees, has helped create a unique professional outsourcing model, which utilizes distributed teams and dedicated remote squads.
MJV’s IT outsourcing offers the ultimate solution to expand your team remotely, providing the ideal combination of nearshore and offshore to get the best of both worlds with high impact and reduced costs.
We work with remote squads to give you access to the best specialists wherever you are. Besides having the expertise you need, we offer close monitoring to support management and ensure quality results.
Check out our nearshore + Offshore collaboration model, the definitive solution to expand your team remotely:
Dedicated
Team A is an independent cell with well-defined functions throughout the development process.
Scalability
When a dedicated team is replicated, it generates a dedicated team at scale.
Technical support
We provide supervision, allowing a development manager to intervene regularly, in addition to technical support, with a solution architect, a specialist, or even a task force with specific skill sets.
Digital Design Thinking
By bringing the mentality in line with growing uncertainties, the approach delivers a worthwhile result quickly, focusing on the individual and short-term execution.
Agile Methodologies
To develop more strategic projects and make processes more flexible, we use the agile mindset to manage remote teams. The adaptability of the approach makes the implementation ideal for uncertain scenarios.
Workspace and infrastructure
Leave this to us. You just need to worry about your business goals.
Economy
Outsourcing avoids the long process of interviewing and hiring people, office expenses and reduces your projects’ time-to-market.
The Digital Mindset is the new normal.
In the new normal, it is not enough to just dip your toe in; your entire mindset has to shift to digital. This transformation will govern the future of the business world.
Investing in technology is a way to scale your business; after all, Digital Transformation is measured by how resilient your company’s digital mindset is to the crisis. This is sustainability.
Do you want to understand our technology and management solutions better to manage your operations’ expansion? How about a remote coffee? Talk to one of our experts.
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