*By Otto Pohlmann
Saying that the covid-19 pandemic has brought important lessons to the universe of technology and business is practically a cliché. In two years with the new coronavirus present in our reality, it is natural for executives and professionals to learn and gain new knowledge from the acceleration caused by the disease. The question is what to do with these teachings. The secret of success for any company is precisely the ability to extract the best from each situation. Not even that it is necessary to expand operations to other sectors and even regions that can add much more to the business in these new times.
Thanks to home office, many companies discovered the advantages of decentralizing the operation, making it possible to set up bases in places that, traditionally, were not part of their operational strategies. After all, for a long time organizations were concentrated in large urban centers. But now working relationships have changed—and that has brought two significant advantages. The first, of course, is the reduction of operating costs. Remote work has kept productivity up while corporate expenses and employee quality of life have dropped significantly. So, there's no reason to concentrate everything in one place.
The second point, of course, is the recruitment of new talent. If before it was the professional who needed to go to the headquarters of the companies, now there is the opposite way: corporations are going to these regions. This promotes diversification in the profile of employees, with different points of view in the same project or department. The logic is simple. From the establishment in rural and peripheral centers, it is much more advantageous to have people with local knowledge to manage and take care of the processes in these places. They already know the particularities and needs of that region.
Evidently, the success of this expansion beyond the great centers does not depend only on the technological capacity to connect different places, regardless of the connection quality. It is necessary to ensure that professionals are aligned with the values and mission of the organization. It is necessary to invest in courses, training and qualification so that they can be absorbed by the company's routine and, from there, insert the local in the national or even global strategy of the company.
Gradually, the first successful examples of this movement begin to appear around the world. Zoho, a reference in technology solutions, promotes this reverse migration of talents with the creation of rural and peripheral offices in recent years. They are small facilities for small groups. The first center of its kind appeared in 2011 and, in ten years, it has become a consolidated strategy in the company. From the first center came a customer support software that is responsible for the direct employment of more than 500 professionals.
Gone are the days when any corporation could shut itself up in its headquarters and remain oblivious to what is happening around it. Regardless of size and segment, companies need to get involved with their communities and even expand their participation in other regions. Concepts such as ESG, for example, meet this moment by encouraging greater transparency and social impact for all. Taking the company to rural and peripheral centers provides, therefore, the perfect combination of operational efficiency with brand and image enhancement.
*Otto Pohlmann is CEO of Centric Solution
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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