Tata Communications wants to create a connected digital experience

“Our employees are our strength and the success of an organisation’s digital transformation journey is not only limited to technology adoption.” – Andrew Yeong, VP & Head Asia Pacific, Tata Communications

For many organisations, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the acceleration of their digital transformation.

And as technology continues to evolve, organisations need to continually challenge themselves and innovate to invest in the future, suggested Andrew Yeong, VP & Head Asia Pacific, Tata Communications.

Speaking to HRM Asia, he added, “We believe that there is no digital strategy without digital infrastructure. We know this from our own internal transformation journey, where we digitise all our internal processes so that we can become more agile and efficient.”

Drawing on their own experience, and recognising that companies are looking to integrate “ultra-rich, connected digital experiences” into their operations as part of their digital transformation to a post-pandemic world, Tata Communications has introduced a new proposition called the Secure Connected Digital Experience (SCDx).

A framework for everything digital, SCDx considers the importance of each company’s digital readiness, needs and business requirements, and is also designed around the premise that agility is one of the most important traits for businesses to have in order to quickly adapt to change.

This is important, Yeong highlighted, because some changes brought about by the pandemic will remain for years to come. In the short-term, he foresees the majority of employees continuing to work away from the office.

“This will bring about various challenges, like cybersecurity concerns,” Yeong explained. “In the longer term, there are other business issues that need to be addressed, such as how we can make supply chains more innovative and agile.”

To help organisations transition successfully to new ways of operating, SCDx, for instance, enables enterprise employees working from the office, as well as those working in the field, to work securely from anywhere through industrialised, scalable and high-performance remote works solutions for complete workplace readiness.

People key to digital transformation journey

While technology plays a key role in any digital transformation journey, organisations should not lose sight of the fact that it is their people who will enable any change.

Yeong revealed, “At Tata Communications, we believe that our employees are our strength and the success of an organisation’s digital transformation journey is not only limited to technology adoption.

“To help employees keep pace with all of this transformation and the latest technologies, our Learning & Development (L&D) team realised it needed to make all learning materials and courses available to every employee online.”

By the end of 2018, learning within the organisation has started to take gradual steps from the classroom setup to being delivered digitally. Since then, Tata Communications’ learning strategy has continued to be digital, virtual and always available, via their Learning Academy platform.

The platform provides a number of skills courseware that includes high-end technology courseware for product, technology, IT and customer service teams, as well as a suite of more than 4,5000 Skillsoft courses across different domains.

These are available to all employees at any time; they also have the option to partake in a complete certification course of their choice, which can be completed at their own pace. “As the fiscal year 2020 drew to a close, employees had spent an average of 7.4 days using the Tata Communications Learning Academy,” Yeong reported.

Using technology to keep employees safe and healthy

As more companies begin to ponder a return to the workplace, effective social distancing and employee tracing are but some of the considerations organisations need to take into account as they look to ensure the well-being of their employees.

To ensure operational requirements are met with reference to worker health and safety, Tata Communications has designed and developed a suite of end-to-end solutions to help enterprises adapt to a new normal.

READ: COVID-19 highlights role of wearables in the workplace

Both the Safety Watch and Safepass Card are designed to enable effective social distancing, employee tracing and other safety norms, said Yeong.

He highlighted, “For instance, in case the number of employees in a given zone is more than the permissible limit, a custom-built embedded algorithm will trigger immediate alerts for remedial action to be taken.

“The solution can also track and locate employees across locations, monitoring their health and safety parameters including heart rate, skin temperature and immobility. Subsequently, the device can trigger an instant alert with location coordinates to the job site supervisor via SMS and a cloud-based application dashboard.

“In addition, a handy SOS button on the device can help a worker alert the site supervisor of any environmental hazard or emergency. This enables organisations to take immediate steps to address the incident efficiently.”