Covid Secure - Office working in the new normal
In our Covid Secure series of future forecasting, this time we focus on office working in the new normal.
What happens once lockdown is over and we all get back to some sort of normality in our business lives? The impact the lockdown has had on team working, offices and management of staff has had an unprecedented effect. With both positive and negative effects in equal measure.
During the height of lockdown platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Hangout helped to ‘open’ up (for some) virtual offices instantly. Businesses, over the last four months have embraced these digital platforms and formed new ways of working. Could Covid-19 have been the trigger to change our current working routine and status quo, bringing digitisation of processes, systems and communication channels into the fore, that this becomes the new normal?
Covid-secure means a change to the building systems operations to ensure that they are managed and maintained to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
While the Facebook and Twitter social media empires have announced that at least half of their employees will work from home forever – is this purely a news grabbing headline? Or does this opinion resonate with other organisations that employ hundreds of people within office buildings? and does it actually make business sense…
Many businesses already had home working measures in place with digital platforms for voice and video communications as well as secure infrastructure for remote VPN. However, it wasn’t the norm across the board, but since the Government lockdown it was forced upon us all and it quickly became an embedded culture, but will this culture stick…
We believe that not only will Covid-19 effects fundamentally change the way in which we do business but it will also change the way we manage energy consumption.
Pre-COVID-19 some businesses were reluctant to change and embrace new technologies. Innovative SaaS platforms and IoT devices have been on the radar for businesses for the last few years, but not all businesses were keen to change current processes or adopt them due to financial constraints or a lack of understanding of the actual business benefits from embracing these digital platforms.
Previously some businesses and staff would shun new solutions as a fear for job security, but COVID-19 has flipped this – we now embrace tech more than ever. Our time is valuable and if we can have data at our fingertips we can better manage energy spend and better manage cash flow.
Technology and digital platforms could help us to do our job better, faster and sometimes without the need to leave our workstations.
Having visibility of the change Covid-secure operations can have on the energy consumption will allow you to better manage and forecast energy spend for your business and secure alternate energy contracts that better suit your new energy profile and your new normal post covid.
EaaSi is the UK’s only cloud based integrated digital platform to fully automate and validate your energy spend management across all departments, locations and energy output feeds. EaaSi uses RPA to provide a fully automated energy spend management platform delivering insights to businesses on utility bills and the data associated to your meter end points instantaneously.
About Catalyst Commercial Services
Catalyst is a market leading independent energy consultancy that provides energy procurement, sustainability and environmental services. Catalyst is one of the leading providers of utility purchasing and contract negotiation services to the commercial sector. With over 15 years’ experience in this dynamic market, the team of energy market professionals provide a full options appraisal for business utility contract needs.
