Trainiac moved its whole team to remote work in under an hour on 12 March 2020, without missing a beat. It worked because the groundwork was already there: cloud-based tools, a culture built on autonomy and trust, and a daily huddle rhythm the team kept going. Here is how we made the switch.
In a bid to limit the transmission of the coronavirus large parts of the world are progressively moving towards self-isolation and work from home. It's a fact that social distancing will teach us, no, force us to learn how to live our lives in a completely different way. Many employers are going virtual during this time, are asking employees to work from home, or are structuring working hours for key personnel in such a way to avoid crowded public transport or rotate teams allowing one team at least 14 days at home.
Employers are increasingly turning to collaboration and simulation software to recreate a virtual office environment that keeps employees safe and business operational.
As a learning design consultancy, we have always invested in technology. Proprietary systems that bolster our EdTech solutions and work-life support use competitive and adaptive off-the-shelf products and services. We have the technology firepower and digital smarts in place running on Microsoft Teams but are equally ready to jump onto Zoom, BlueJeans, Google Hangouts and Skype. Similarly, our EdTech products Lore and Falkor – both end-to-end learning platforms for developing, sharing and publishing content to desktops, tablets and smartphones – have been cloud and team based for years.
This is how we made the transition and the leading tools we use.
Tools for working from home
Microsoft Teams is an integrated communication and collaboration platform combining persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration. The platform not only lifted its limit on free accounts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic but also rolled out a "noise suppression" feature to suppress background noise when working at home.
Zoom quickly dubbed the "darling of remote workers" during the COVID-19 crisis offers "one consistent enterprise experience for all use cases" including meetings and chat, rooms and workspaces, video webinars and more.
BlueJeans is a leading, cloud-based video conferencing tool offering with HD video and Dolby Voice audio enabling teams to work how and where they want. In a recent statement in response to the COVID-19 crises, the company's founding members indicated that their "Operations and Customer Support teams are working around the clock to help our customers with their business continuity planning."
The COVID-19 pandemic could mark a permanent shift towards working from home. At Trainiac we are confident that with our proud culture of autonomy, agility, trust and high performance it will be a smooth transition. "We literally have not missed a beat since going remote on Thursday, 12 March 2020," says Rob Dennison, Founder of Trainiac. "We trusted our culture, we tested the tech, we kept our rhythm of daily huddles and as we learn the lessons that come with a virtual office, we also learn to adapt, adopt and move forward" he continues. Niki Rakgoadi, Managing Executive of Trainiac agrees: "We have and will continue to view COVID-19 as a manageable business continuity hurdle and instead of panicking, see this as a chance to disrupt within our own organisation and the industry."