When we established Cameyo a little over two years ago, our central vision was focused on solving two concurrent problems that we were convinced were going to become increasingly urgent:
- Cloud Migration – it was clear that organizations of all sizes were going to continue to run into one key roadblock on their path to Digital Transformation, and that was the inability to migrate all of their critical apps to the cloud.
- Remote Work – more and more businesses were adopting Remote Work policies based on more and more research citing the benefits. We were convinced that, in the years to come, more and more companies would embrace a remote workforce.
Obviously Cloud Migration has been a major trend ever since we started, and will continue to be, especially as companies seek to control complexity and cost. 
But wow – we never could have expected the Remote Work boom that the world is experiencing now due to COVID-19. We’ve always known that Remote Work would be the future, but we did not think that we’d see this dramatic of an acceleration, nor did we didn’t think it would take a global pandemic to make this trend mainstream. Like everyone, we’re still trying to process everything – while also helping as many people as humanly possible so that they can keep their businesses running and keep their people connected and productive.
Below are a few of the articles I’ve read on Remote Work this week that helped me process everything, which I thought you all would benefit from, including some commentary. This list is by no means exhaustive, so ping us @cameyoco on Twitter and let us know what articles have been helping you navigate everything.
Investor’s Business Daily – Will Working from Home Outlast the Coronavirus?
I found this section particularly interesting:
“45% to 50%, or 60 million to 70 million Americans, may try to telecommute during the coronavirus emergency. That’s an estimate from Kate Lister, president of consulting firm Global Workplace Analytics, roughly in line with other forecasts.
And it could well last beyond the current crisis, she adds.
“We believe, based on historical trends, that those who were working remotely before the pandemic will increase their frequency after they are allowed to return to their offices,” Lister said in an email to IBD.”
It’s a very interesting question to consider – what percentage of people who are now working from home will continue to do so after this pandemic is contained? Based on the fact that we’ve been seeing a slow but steady growth in Remote Work over the years leads us to believe that many of the organizations who are now seeing some of the benefits of remote work will likely adopt broader work-from-home policies even after this crisis.
This story was interesting because it discusses the fact that the future of Remote Work after COVID-19 likely won’t be all-or-nothing. Most people likely won’t become 100% remote workers after this, but instead they may start working from home 2-3 days a week. The article then references research from a Gallup study that reveals:
“Research indicates that in a five-day workweek, working remotely for two to three days is the most productive. That gives the employee two to three days of meetings, collaboration and interaction, with the opportunity to just focus on the work for the other half of the week.”
The article then identifies that “a typical company saves about $11,000 per half-time telecommuter per year, according to Global Workplace Analytics.” That is a considerable cost savings per employee, especially when you’re talking about large multinational companies with employees all over the world.
CIO – Doubling down on digital transformation during the coronavirus pandemic
Clint Boulton at CIO talks about the huge benefits that organizations can experience if they take the counterintuitive approach of NOT scaling back on their digital transformation efforts during this crisis. I found this point particularly interesting:
“With 80 percent of revenue growth hinging on digital offerings and operations by 2022, IT leaders should continue transforming their operating models, according to KPMG research.
All roads lead back to the IT operating model,” Bates says. “There is going to be pent-up demand and when this period ends there is going to be a tidal wave of spending and you want to be in position to take advantage of it.” In short, now is not the time to turn the spigot off to significant tech initiatives.”
I think KPMG is on to something here, and it looks like a lot of companies are taking notice. Since the pandemic started, we’ve not only been working with companies who needed to urgently enable Remote Work – we’ve also been working with a lot of organizations that are continuing to invest in their cloud migration and digital transformation so that they are well positioned to be as efficient and effective as possible when things get back to whatever the new normal will be.
Did you have other great Remote Work articles that you read this week that you think we should know about? Share them with us at @cameyoco on Twitter!