Month: July 2021

Recent data indicates that we have vaulted five years forward in digital adoption in around eight weeks. But how many will be able to sustain this business digital transformation?

While organizations have incorporated technologies to keep pace with industry digital transformation as the need of the hour, systems and processes are still catching up to meet the demand. Organizations need to realign their systems and processes and have a clearly defined roadmap to meet this transformation. Time and results have shown that a systemic approach can make this transformation sustainable and enduring with excellent end results. Here are some sustainable strategies for digital transformation:

• Hiring experts with diverse knowledge: Hiring and building a deep bench of diverse expertise and skill sets is first step when adopting new innovations. Retraining and reskilling existing employees to new positions created by technology might be time consuming. To fill gaps in a short time without compromising quality or work culture, companies will need to look at outsourcing to or hiring experts.  This not only results in lower lead time but also cuts hiring and training time and costs. Aligned Studios has been playing this role with great results for several clients in the US.

• Adopting cloud-based and other technology: Invest in reliable cloud-based technology as the second step. Even post-pandemic, practices adopted due to social distancing, which includes cloud-based services can make it more efficient to connect with consumers, improve supply chain efficiency and monitor remote operations. This investment will yield greater agility, lower capital expenses, enhance collaboration and can increase security in the near and distant future. Read more about reinventing remote working.

• Implementing structural changes: From vertically oriented, task-specialized ones to creating velocity through cross-functional teams. Organizations today are experimenting with cross-functional teams for both development and support. These can help the technologically lacking teams take to new technology with a specialized team member, aligned for that task.

• Orchestrating a cultural shift: From silo-based culture where information is not shared across departments and goals are aligned separately, organizations need to shift to an environment of collaborative relationships and shared goals. Changing the boundaries of what define “us” and “them” through systems establishes trust-based relationships that move relationships from transactional to co-operative and finally collaborative.

• Realigning leadership strategy to reinforce a common purpose: Establishing processes and systems is not enough. Process governance, systems thinking, and lean leadership are required to keep an organization flourishing. The main role of the leader then, is to emphasize the constancy of purpose and a common approach across teams.

• Assessing shared performance goals as against individual activity measures: While traditionally employees have always been assessed on individual performance thus leading employees to focus on their own singled-out outputs, organizations today need to create and redefine shared process goals.

Will your digital transformation be successful and sustainable?

Leaders and teams must first resolve the following five questions to access whether these strategies will work for them. Can they:

1. Agree to share by engaging in systems versus silo-thinking?
2. Agree on one way to do something and reduce complexity and variability?
3. Agree to focus on simplifying how that should be done by focusing on value added activities and reducing waste?
4. Agree to use one tool for collaboration and to reduce technical debt?
5. Agree on an integrated solution over a niche solution to help automate delivery pipelines?

To be able to sustain business digital transformation, organizations must move from a reactive environment to an improved system that delivers value consistently and reliably. Ownership roles need to define, deploy, sustain, and improve processes to support the organization’s objectives. Ultimately, it comes back to leadership and culture.

Aligned Studios is empowering organizations with customized and sustainable strategies for digital transformation. Our services promise great results from this collaborative association. Contact us to learn more!

Remote working has been a big challenge for design studios as design, which sprouts in its ‘studio culture’, is a collaborative practice involving face-to-face interactions nurtured by skilled and experienced mentoring. Remote working deprives the design process of these essentials. However, strategic planning and technological integration can make remote working for design studios a strength more than an obstacle.

Now that the “remote working” module has travelled through a good part of its life cycle, we are far better equipped to understand its strengths and weaknesses, to make it workable for design and AEC firms as well. While some firms are moving back to a completely physical office, some are staying with a completely virtual one. But we, at Aligned Studios know that the post-pandemic workplace is hybrid.

Remote working benefits for design studios and AEC firms

Knowing that a good 73% of all teams will have remote workers by 2028, employers can no longer remain indifferent to this very sensitive and vital consideration. It is vital that these essentials are consciously reinfused into the remote working process now to gradually move to a hybrid set-up post-pandemic.

Experienced design professionals are often not familiar with technological advances and thus need to be specially trained to communicate better using latest technology where face-to-face is no longer an option. A ‘virtual studio’ environment needs to be created where liberal exchange of ideas and thoughts can happen. It is again the onus of the employer to create such a platform.

Remote working opens up possibilities of ‘virtual studios’ to be across the board of departments, companies and even countries, thus encouraging more productive brainstorming.

Working remotely for the design process makes it possible to access global talent from across the world and from different time zones resulting in enhanced quality work in shorter timespans at optimal costs.

How Aligned Studios aids remote working and future-proofing businesses

Communicating online has never been easier but it takes special skills and high commitment levels to communicate well. We consciously keep dedicated, empathetic communication lines open with each one of our employees to build trust and belonging.

The onus today is on all employers to reclaim employees who have been rendered ‘virtual’ by the pandemic and make them again believe and feel “real”. At Aligned Studios, we engage with individual employees at a personal level, speak their language, celebrate their birthdays, anniversaries and festivals and work on building a large, enduring, happy and motivated “Aligned” family.

We invest in a talent pool which we work on and develop for global employment within Aligned Studios as well as outside. This talent pool is recruited from amongst the best in the industry, trained to meet global standards and brought up to “ready for service” status of employment. This aids in Aligned Studios meeting client requirements promptly with a minimum lead time.

Aligned Studios is a current-age, people-centric global consultancy firm working with AEC firms in the US and offering customized, quality solutions in the field of architecture, interior design, construction, and engineering on an ongoing basis.

We can help you with global employment solutions. Contact us!