[MUSIC].
>> Yeah.
>> I have set up this one.
>> Okay.
>> To capture.
>> The white screen.
>> The white.
>> Okay.
>> Today, we explore the topic of remote work,
its challenges, and its impact on business.
I've asked our guests to share
their insights in the only way that makes sense.
>> Here we go.
>> Remotely.
>> We use these little gadgets on.
>> Collaboration, teamwork and
productivity are cornerstones of every business.
>> That's pretty good.
>> Due to today's current events,
remote work has come not only commonplace, but essential.
>> [inaudible] doesn't work out.
>> Working remotely has bought a new set of
challenges that have led us all to adapt quickly.
In today's episode, we will dive into those challenges,
their impact on productivity,
but also discuss some of the key learnings that will
stick with us through the current situation and beyond.
>> We have to talk now and like we've to try and do something.
>> I'm all right.
>> We also share resources to help right now.
>> Wow. Okay.
[MUSIC]
>> In our last episode,
I traveled to New York City and
spoke with the CIO of Wunderman Thompson,
Jamie McLellan, to gather insights
on how diverse teams drive productivity.
Today, I wanted to check in with Jamie,
and see how those teams are maintaining
productivity and collaborating in today's remote work.
[MUSIC].
>> Jamie it's fantastic to see you. How are you?
>> I'm good. Thanks. Alex how are you doing?
>> I'm doing well. Thank you.
>> It's awesome to see you. Quite a bit has
changed since we were last together.
>> A huge amount has changed.
Yeah, the world has moved.
>> As the technology and
infrastructures of leader for the company,
like what has your experience been like working from home?
>> For us it was really trying to see whether
our strategy in Cloud computing and mobility really worked.
But at the same time, in the back of my mind
we had this fear that when
we come into the output side of our business,
the production side of our business,
that we'd really struggle.
In essence, we haven't,
I think the business hasn't really skipped a beat,
which has been fantastic.
>> How have you been measuring that output
to be able to say that there hasn't really been
a discernible decline in productivity?
>> I mean, really it's about outputs.
So from our side,
are we getting through the work that we need to get through?
But ultimately, when you then move into
the engine room of
the middle office and then ultimately the back office too.
So that ability to continue to look after our people,
continue to run our finances,
all of that is still happening and I think to a certain extent,
our technology has stood us in good stand.
>> A topic that I'm interested in your thoughts on is security.
It's one thing to physically got an asset when it's in an office,
and it's another thing entirely when
it's distributed around the world.
So I'd love your advice
and how you've either thought going into this,
if you've changed anything.
What your linings have been as you seek to protect,
whether it's the identities of your people,
the actual IP, or even devices themselves.
>> I think our devices, access travel,
because everyone's somewhat mobile,
even though they haven't been
permanently mobile as they are today.
I think if we go into the other layers,
making sure that things like
multi-factor authentication are wrapped
around every application you have.
Then there's other aspects
where in order to give people the right experience,
for their tool set and perhaps even in an office experience,
we've wrapped other things around it,
whether it's other Cloud technologies or things like Citrix, etc.
But equally at the same time,
making sure security awareness
is front of mind with people as they
go forward and what's been great to see,
and we talked about the training earlier.
Part of our briefing to individuals is just to remind
them we are training tools are for security,
what we expect of them now more than any time,
and how to behave of the go-forward.
It's no doubt a different proposition with everyone distributed,
but we've managed to layer in new technologies
quite quickly that helps support that and help secure it.
>> Now, depending on how long
this situation goes on for, who knows?
What are you thinking about as next steps?
As a team, have you had any conversations
about what you might want to do to evolve?
Whether it's the tools or people's usage of the tools?
>> There's three aspects to that.
One is, the existing tools we
have and what more can we do within them.
So that may be, for example,
in Office 365 or Teams is building
and some workflow or some automation or some bots.
So what and value-added aspects can we explore?
Then there's the other aspects of around and
the ability to edit work that we're
doing for clients and that happens today,
but it's not as efficient as it
can be as working and we're delivering.
So we're really looking at
a different Cloud technologies that
will enhance that experience for people,
and that's one area where if we get the solution
right and as we're always a big part of this actually,
but if we get the solution right,
and we get the economics of the solution right,
we probably will never go back to the old way of working.
We need to balance those two things
of the solution and the economics.
But actually, this is one that may jump
the shark in a way and actually take us to
a completely different paradigm as we go forward.
>> Fantastic. Well, Jamie,
it's been an absolute pleasure to see you.
I'm so glad to see that you are safe and well,
and I'm really glad to hear that Wunderman Thompson is continuing
through and remaining productive.
>> We are. I watched the video we made,
which was only I think four weeks ago now,
and it seems a lifetime away. It really does.
>> But it seems like the principles of teamwork,
they haven't really changed all that much.
>> You're right.
>> Well, thank you so much for your time, Jamie.
>> Thanks, Alex. Take care.
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>> Microsoft has been at the forefront of providing customers with
solutions to navigate the current working remote landscape.
To share more about how Microsoft is responding to
the remote needs of today and beyond,
I asked Jared Spataro,
the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft 365,
to join us and discuss the challenges they're facing,
and the solutions they are offering in an unprecedented moment.
[MUSIC]
>> Jared, hello and nice to see.
>> Hey, Alex. Good to be with you.
>> Now, this is quite a different world that we find ourselves in.
Since the last time you were on Modern Workplace
where we were strolling the holes of Microsoft Ignite.
>> Boy, those seem like days far gone at this point, don't they?
We've been here for a number of weeks working remotely.
I think the whole world has been.
>> Leading Microsoft 365,
I would imagine that you and your team
were already pretty adept at
using Microsoft Teams and frankly, embracing remote working.
>> The transition to working from
home technically was not very difficult.
That was easy to do. We had
the infrastructure, particularly with teams.
We sent everybody home on
an evening and then the next day everybody was up and working.
We always had teams meetings
attached as an example to our meetings.
But it was typically the case that the majority of
the group was in-person together someplace,
and there were a few people
who were coming in and using their video.
Now, all of a sudden, everyone
was remote and that was definitely a new dynamic.
The second thing that we've experienced is
that, even though this sounds funny,
the natural get up and walk physically to
a new room or to see other people, that's all gone.
That creates a totally different dynamic and fatigue.
But I don't think anybody in the world had experienced previously.
>> I'm interested in your thoughts on as and when
the world begins to get back
to being able to go back into the office.
What's your sense of how people will take the lessons that we've
learned and continue or adapt them for the new business as usual?
>> One thing that I've noticed as now,
everyone knows what it feels like to be a remote participant.
There are lots of people who just essentially attended
meetings in person and there was always,
I felt like the second class citizen status that you were
relegated to if you're dialing and we have
somebody on the phone or we have somebody on Teams.
This mode of participation shouldn't
dictate how much you get to contribute to what's happening here.
Finally, the thing to think about is that a couple of weeks ago,
I thought that there be some all clear and we'd all go back,
and now I'm really, that's just not true.
Generally speaking, in the Western world here,
it's likely going to be back in
shifts or phases or something like that.
So we're going to be in this configuration
for months and months to come.
I think that's important to recognize that that's going to be
a part of the new reality as well.
>> So as we begin to wrap up and then you think
about those next phases that you've just outlined.
It'd be great to maybe just recap those again,
where you see us heading.
Then talk a little bit about what you
are doing and what you would advise
other business leaders to do to prepare for those phases.
>> As I indicated earlier,
I originally thought that that was going to be a switch.
It's more like a dial now, is the way to think of it.
So that dialing of restarting the economy,
I think is an important framing for people to recognize,
it's not going to come back all at once.
Instead, it's going to be
this gradual shift into and that leads us to this third phase,
which is us dealing with a new economic reality.
We had been all basking in what had been
the longest bull market in the history of the United States.
All of a sudden, we found ourselves suddenly plunged into
a brand new economic reality that's going to come
with recession as far as the economists are concerned right now,
and we'll need to be looking at what that means per industry.
I've even seen many businesses
decide that they're going to use this as
an opportunity to really take a step back and think about,
how do we want to emerge from this stronger than we went into it?
I think that's very healthy.
It's a sign, I think,
of a good leader that can frame it up that way
and move things forward and
help its people to see where they're going.
>> As we think about this topic of preparing and that retooling,
I'm interested in if there are any takeaways or
consistency of what customers are
doing or what you've been advising them to
do to get ahead and to prepare for these phases.
>> Well, one aspect that we
see immediately is that people are recognizing
that they're going to have to cut costs in
some places to shift those that spend the other places.
As you do that, then I think one
of the most interesting things that happens is you do
get into a moment of thinking about what
we previously would have called transformation.
I'm not so sure I'd call it transformation because
that word feels like it belongs to the bull market.
But a real rethink of the business,
and the best framing I have for that is just simply to say, "Hey,
you want to project out and think about your industry and think,
what are the economics going to look like in
two months and then a couple of quarters
and a couple of years in this industry?
What essentially is the basis of competition?
Where are we going to compete?
Where do we have to win customers?"
Then you have this awesome opportunity while you're in
the midst of what we would call shape shifting,
moving your resources around to make sure that you align yourself,
and as we would call it,
that you're in position for that new reality.
If you're out of position today, hey,
rethink it and get in position and make
sure that you don't waste this opportunity.
I'm seeing it in our customers
and I'm just trying to encourage them to do that,
and from the Microsoft perspective,
to play a role in being a partner to
them as they go through that process.
>> Fantastic. Jared, thanks so much. Great to see you.
>> Great to be with you, Alex. Thank you.
[MUSIC].
>> Working remotely creates
challenges from a business perspective.
But what can get lost is the toll it has on
team members from an engagement and social perspective.
To talk more on this, I invited Aya Tange,
a Product Marketing Manager for
the Teams team here at Microsoft to have a chat with me on
tips to keep relationships and communication
strong while missing that day-to-day interaction,
as well as discussing where to find
more resources to improve remote working right now.
First and foremost, how are you?
>> I'm good. I'm doing pretty well.
I'm getting used to the new normal.
I have to say it took a couple of weeks.
>> Tell me a little bit about how you found the work environment.
You obviously work on
the Microsoft Teams team and some of your colleagues are remote,
working from Chicago, working from California.
Has this actually been any different from normal work for you?
>> What I have actually found is we are way more
connected to our remote teammates now.
We acknowledge that we should have done a better job.
We were not as inclusive as we probably should have
been because we were leaning on those hallway conversations.
We weren't including them in those situations.
But now, because we are all remote,
we use a meet now capability in Teams all the time,
and we do quick brainstorm and hallway conversations that way.
So it actually has been a transition,
but in a really good way.
>> So lots and lots of learnings.
Where have the team been
placing those so that they're broadly
available and shared with everybody?
>> I think I'll call out three different resource areas
that you can go.
There's a lot of information out there,
but I'll start with the Microsoft 365 Blog Center that we have.
So that's where you'll see Jared
post a lot of his blog posts on key issues.
Of course, security and privacy has been another one.
Then just in general,
we've been making sure we're keeping in touch with customers,
talking to our employees all around the world and so
hearing from different folks.
Handling the situation has been really interesting as well.
We've been posting information there so you can continue to learn.
>> Great. In that vain,
so there's the Microsoft 365 Blog,
but then I know that there's a lot of
information for IT professionals as well.
>> If you're in the IT world,
I would point you to the Microsoft Tech Community.
We have a Microsoft Teams Blog on what we call MTC.
So I would definitely point folks there as well.
>> Then last but not least,
so we've got the Blog,
we've got the Tech Community.
What about more business orientated folks?
>> Yeah. So we recently launched
our COVID-19 Business Resource Center on LinkedIn.
So this is something where we're taking a little bit
of a higher level approach of
making sure we have a community where people
can learn from others, ask different questions.
It's mainly focused more for
those business leaders that are trying to figure out,
how do I get my organization using Teams?
How do I help my organization with remote work?
So that's more of a community-based resource
that you can go and learn from folks from Microsoft,
but also folks from around
the world who are also in the same situation.
So it's definitely a learning experience for everyone.
>> Awesome. So real-time thoughts and learnings on the Blog,
Tech Community for
the more actionable technical steps you need to take to enable it,
and then business resources on the LinkedIn Resource Center.
>> Correct. You got it.
>> Fantastic. Well, Aya, I hope you stay safe and sane,
and I look forward to seeing you again soon.
>> Thanks, Alex. You too.
>> Thank you for joining us for today's episode.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions
for future episodes.
You can find me on LinkedIn.
Working remotely full-time can challenge us
as humans because we're hardwired for connection.
I've appreciated the chance to connect
and learn from Jamie at Wunderman Thompson,
Jared leading Microsoft's efforts with Microsoft 365,
and my co-host Aya.
Seeing them and chatting with them has helped brighten my day
and give me some tools I can use as
I adopt to remote work as well.
I hope that you've enjoyed the show and
consider subscribing on modernworkplace.com.
The website is also where we have links to
all of the resources mentioned in today's show.
The COVID-19 Resource Center on LinkedIn,
Tech Community for IT professionals,
and the Microsoft 365 Blog.
I also recorded a longer audio podcast with Jared,
which is available on modernworkplace.com,
as well as all of the podcast apps.
I hope everyone remains healthy,
and look forward to seeing you next time on Modern Workplace.
You got to get in the right frame of mind.
>> Honestly, this's the first time I've worn
jeans in five weeks and it's really uncomfortable.
>> Are we getting back into onesie now?
>> Oh, yeah, for sure.
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