The COVID-19 global pandemic has affected the status quo at every level – at home, in the community and on the job. As a result, we’ve all become accustomed to adapting to rapid change. One of those changes has been the widespread transition to remote work to help prevent the spread of the virus.
While the shift was already happening before the outbreak, the old way of doing things has seemingly flipped. Instead of 80% of the people working in offices and 20% of them working remotely, we now see 88% of businesses leveraging the work-at-home model. Businesses today have also moved or are in the process of moving toward finding and hiring talent based on proven experience and skill rather than worrying about the physical constraint of location.
The Benefits of Remote Work for Businesses
The benefits of a remote work environment are many. From increased productivity, higher employee retention, and the ability to reduce environmental impact and real estate costs, to offering employees a better work/life balance, businesses are making the most of a tough situation.
Organizations across industries have come to realize that remote working is the silver lining of the new normal. This new model has helped to accelerate the use of technology, promote digital transformation, and smashed the negative myths previously associated with working from home. All these effects have helped to lay the foundation for long-term change. In fact, a recent Gartner survey found that 74% of CFOs report that they intend to make the shift to remote work a permanent one for some employees.
The Technologies Enabling the Work-at-Home Trend
This transformation to digitalization supporting a work-at-home model means that the cost of failing to adapt will become higher than the cost of implementation. One company that started its transition to remote work before the pandemic and has since enjoyed its ensuing success is Eclaro.
Eclaro is a business and technology consulting firm that delivers top talent globally across diverse industries. Their highly skilled engineers and industry experts produce thousands of documents every month that need to be reviewed by finance and human resources departments.
When they first approached Access, Eclaro explained that they needed to overcome the challenge of having a high-touch, paper-based process. They were utilizing a manual process of printing, collating, and filing essential documents. This process was labor intensive, exposed the business to risk of lost or mishandled paperwork, and was not in alignment with the global growth plan of this leading IT and business consulting organization.
The Eclaro team knew that they wanted a solution that would integrate with Microsoft Dynamics GP and would provide secure access to a remote workforce.
The Solution
In order to move to a remote work environment, Eclaro would need to convert to a scalable digital process. The company required a solution that would enable secure access for team members in the U.S. and Philippines.
Eclaro researched and then implemented Access’ CartaDC. The implementation allowed them to transform their processes from paper-based to digital and provided them with a document management solution that integrates with their ERP, Microsoft Dynamics GP. The document management solution enables the finance and human resources teams to work collaboratively. The document repository, along with the continuous import integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP, gives the team timely and accurate information. Today, Eclaro team members can perform 95% of a formerly paper based process in a fully digital environment.
Luke Ruzek, Assistant to the Director of Operations at Eclaro, explained, “Our old process wasn’t scalable, and remote teams did not have secure, easy access to documents. CartaDC is a game-changer that allowed us to digitize a formerly paper-intensive process.”
How it works:
Through CartaDC, Eclaro team members can find, view and share invoices, time sheets and contracts essential to their role. The finance and human resources teams routinely handle sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) making security paramount to Eclaro. The teams required the ability to share documents on both an ad hoc and project basis. CartaDC’s privacy protocols ensure that sensitive information contained in documents is protected by allowing the Eclaro team to limit the recipients’ ability to print, download and forward documents.
Eclaro team members are also enjoying the ability to set up virtual file rooms for larger projects. The solution’s virtual file room allows team members to set up a folder containing a group of documents under review. In addition to the security features available for ad hoc sharing, CartaDC file rooms can include restrictions regarding the period of time the information is available to viewers.
Today, Eclaro team members can perform 95% of their paper processes in a fully digital environment.
Benefits
The benefits that Eclaro enjoys as a result of implementing Access’ CartaDC are many. At the top of that list is the ability to enable global collaboration and reduce labor costs. Specifically, the Eclaro team is now able to collaborate with team members in the Philippines. The finance and human resources departments are also able to create dynamic, highly focused teams for increased efficiency and cost savings.
Another CartaDC benefit is the ability to enable secure remote access for employees. Eclaro initially sought remote access to digitized files that would enable better collaboration between their NYC and Philippines locations. However, remote work flexibility is now essential to business continuity so CartaDC has become even more impactful for Eclaro. Eclaro’s ability to digitally access and securely share information from any location means greater business resiliency.
Why Access?
Eclaro chose to partner with Access because CartaDC was the right solution that could integrate with their existing ERP and help them meet their goals for growth. The partnership deepened during the implementation process when Eclaro’s NYC offices were hit hard by the pandemic. The Access team worked with Eclaro to successfully complete the implementation while keeping members of both teams healthy and safe.
Ultimately, Eclaro was able to digitize 95% of what had been a manual, paper-intensive process. The ability to work remotely when it matters has been priceless. This increased efficiency has allowed Eclaro to service their clients more quickly and with a higher degree of accuracy.
To read more about easing the transition to remote work and planning for the future, read the Gartner report, Workforce Resilience in the Eye of the Pandemic: Overcoming the Current Remote Work Situation While Planning for the Future.
