Load shedding and new work realities were changing the way companies collaborated and communicated according to Andrew Bourne, the Regional Manager for Africa at technology company Zoho Corporation.
Bourne said that by the time South Africa lifted the last of its Covid-19 restrictions in late June, many companies had already returned to the office full time.
“But, not long after the restrictions were lifted, South Africa experienced its worst bout of load shedding, and those not lucky enough to have generators or battery backups at their workplace had to chase power to keep working. Some companies had to resume their remote or hybrid work policies for employees to ensure business continuity,” Bourne said.
He said that while the pandemic necessitated remote work first, it was load shedding today, and there might arise a different issue tomorrow.
He said that with each challenge that came their way, companies would have to keep adapting to new ways of remote collaboration and communication to sustain team productivity and employee morale.
He said that one such aspect of remote working that was gradually becoming prevalent was asynchronous communication.
Zoho said that asynchronous communication was any form of communication that did not happen in real time.
Things like in-person meetings, phone calls, and video meetings were synchronous communication, while email, instant messaging, and project management tools were all forms of asynchronous communication.
“In many ways, we are all already used to the concept of asynchronous communication. The difference now is that it’s become increasingly ubiquitous and important. Office productivity tools that supported asynchronous communication started gaining popularity when the pandemic struck and became as crucial as a CRM tool for companies, as they allowed organisations with international teams to collaborate on projects even if they weren’t in the same time zones,” Bourne said.
He said that the real strength of asynchronous communication lies in collaboration.
“For instance, in real time, you could only have one person at a time working on a document, presentation, or spreadsheet. But with the right tools, you can have someone in Hyderabad (India) start a project before someone in Cape Town picks it up and adds their input a couple of hours later. From there, a client in Europe or the USA can provide feedback before it goes back to the original worker in Hyderabad for consolidation. Critically, all of this can happen without any of the parties ever speaking to each other in real time.”
The technology company said it should not be all that surprising then that asynchronous communication was increasingly seen as a critical aspect of remote and hybrid work.
It said that much of the appeal of these forms of work, after all, was that they allowed people to get their work done without worrying about the hours they spend at their desks.
Zoho said that if one needed to step away from a project for an hour or two to go to their child’s prize-giving function or even just to take a walk around the block, it should not matter. It said that as long as they got the work done on time, why should it matter when or where one does it? “There are, of course, times when all members of a team will need to make themselves available for an in-person or video meeting, but in a fully functional remote and hybrid system, this becomes an exception rather than the rule.”
Bourne said that in South Africa, the current issue of load shedding further compounded the need for asynchronous communication. He said that while many individuals and organisations were doing everything they could to make themselves resilient, there were still plenty of people who may not be able to communicate in real-time when the power’s out (at least until they get to a coffee shop or a friend’s house).
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t give them valuable feedback or input on a project. Even companies that are nominally back at the office full-time may find this way of operating beneficial in the face of load shedding.”
“At Zoho, we believe that synchronous and asynchronous communication should complement each other, and our collaboration software has been built with that in mind. People must use tech, but make sure it is secure and has good privacy policies to protect customers info and comply with privacy laws.”
The firm said that the concept of business workplaces was already changing pre-pandemic.
It added that the last couple of years had only served to accelerate that change. “Organisations everywhere need to understand that and reap the benefits of new approaches, including ones that embrace asynchronous communication,” Bourne said.
BUSINESS REPORT