New Normal: Embracing new tools to stay agile & productive

Throughout the pandemic, large organisations have been announcing permanent work-from-home solutions or have put in place a plan for remote working for the immediate future. Several tech companies were studying the pros and cons of remote working well before the onset of Covid-19. One such company is HP Enterprise (HPE); even during the pre-Covid days, as many as 60% of the HPE workforce routinely worked from outside the office. This highlighted the team members’ preference for flexible yet highly productive working conditions. No wonder, the company has introduced Edge-to-Office, an initiative that boldly reimagines the way work is done in a more flexible manner, while maintaining focus on culture, wellness and innovation.

Sharing the key contours of this initiative Som Satsangi, MD, HPE India says, “It’s a new programme we designed for our own organisation to reimagine the way we work to be more flexible, while maintaining our focus on culture, wellness, and innovation. It’s a different take on managing remote work—one designed to emphasise that team members are connected no matter where their workplace is located. This initiative is led by a cross-functional working group to draw on the expertise of leaders from every function that impacts the team member experience. This includes real estate workplace services, HR, communications, IT and others. Through this initiative, we aim to deeply embed HPE’s company culture into the new work experience.”

This initiative was designed for HPE to implement within its own organisation for its team members. If other organisations want to adopt a similar Edge-to-Office approach, HPE recommends focusing on the following—workstation, connectivity, collaboration & productivity, health & wellness, social & lifestyle, and support.

Connectivity is the most essential element of Edge-to-Office. For work-from-home initiatives, Aruba Remote Access Points provide seamless and secure access to corporate resources at scale. Aruba also offers an extensive portfolio of outdoor access points to be used in outdoor pop-up locations extending the corporate network. Additionally, the recently announced new HPE GreenLake for VDI cloud services provides organisations with a proven set of technologies to adapt to a rapidly growing remote employee population through simplified management, faster time to productivity, more security and control, and cost savings.

Commenting on productivity in remote working Satsangi said, “We have provided clear expectations and updated productivity measures that build trust and empowerment. This also requires a new style of leadership, one that builds connections in a hybrid work environment while ensuring accountability and productivity on teams.”