#SmartOrganization: Building the organization of the future, NOW!

In the hyper competitive age, businesses have to change fast and their needs are more dynamic than ever before. More than HR, Talent Excellence is core to this transition offering a strategic prospect to turn around people practices and help the company steer overall change management. In a recent survey in the 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report1, more than 10,000 business leaders across 140 countries cite that organizational design for building the organization of the future is required today and it is the most important challenge for businesses. While the need to build a winning organization fit for future is realized as the top priority, how many businesses actually think beyond immediate numbers and understand the value of transforming their core into building the #SmartOrganization of the future, today and what that entails?

Another dilemma and point of discussion gaining momentum is around tech vs. humans which is essentially the clash everyone is expecting to happen full throttle very soon. Is there actually a comparison and threat to jobs or is it a fear spawned by ignorance? A recent article about chatbots2 talks about a high failure rate. Another Forrester report3 released last year said that most bots aren’t ready to handle the complexities of conversations and still depend on human intervention to succeed.

What we must understand is that HUMANS — not bots — fuel conversations today, and will do it, I think, for a very long time to come, with technology and AI as strong enablers.

HUMAN Vs. MACHINE: Most loved hyperbole of today!

Research confirms that business leaders assess that their biggest challenges are related to PEOPLE and not MACHINES. This gives way to a series of thoughts around the future and what it beholds:

• The new era demands speed and disruption and continually so, therefore the focus is on building stronger teams, collaborative culture, and empowered roles.
• Agility, Transformation and Flexibility (openness) are going to play a critical role, enhanced by human creativity, emotions and uniqueness seasoned through ages of ‘living and breathing’.
• The radical shift in the business environment signals a shift from designing the new organization to actively BUILDING it. Networks of teams that are built with people, are dependent on them and have people fostering its culture, will usher in AI and steer growth via technology and not be engulfed by it.
• The fourth industrial revolution will warrant everything new, how automation has always worked. This will include new skills, process reengineering, versatile workforce strategy and smart systems that present integrated solutions for fixing our houses to climate change. All this will reduce stress and emotional self-estrangement but not limit the need for human credibility and confidence.
• Focusing on the BPO sector that thrives on building and reenergizing customer experience strategy for companies across sectors and companies in different stages of growth, automation and AI is a game changer to strengthen human-led interactions and not replace them.

The re-thinking, re-tooling, and re-structuring required on a whole new level means – always Putting People First, being #PeopleSmart. Emphasis on the human factors and people skills is connected with achieving higher business outcomes, many researches show. A BCG perspectives paper titled “Transformation: Delivering and Sustaining Breakthrough Performance”4 talks about the organizational context and purpose which is driven by people and the passion they bring to the table. If set right, can deliver five huge outcomes including: Agility, Simplicity, People Orientation, Cooperation and Engagement to successfully embrace the new ways of working and create value.

Empowered millennials will fuel future growth

The “Gen Xers or the Echo Boomers” millennials make up for 25% of the U.S. population and about 64% Indian. Millennial is not just a demographic, it’s a mindset, that is creating waves across businesses and is the most crucial human factor transforming the dynamics of service – of how it is consumed and how it’s offered today.

Across the six most important aspects that the 2017 Deloitte Millennial Survey5 covers, millennials feel most influential and, in turn, accountable, having an impact on client satisfaction. The perceived levels of accountability are very closely correlated with influence and alignment to PURPOSE; for millennials in senior roles, there is even stronger alignment. This makes it evidently clear that millennials enjoy working in environments where they feel empowered and understand their role in bigger scheme of things.

There’s no reason one shouldn’t be bullish on the positive impact they can have on business and the world at large. India fits perfectly in this scenario as the dynamic marketplace and business delivery center defined by the 3Ds of Democracy, Demand, and Demography, serving up the huge demographic dividend. Given that India will become the youngest country by 2021, it is also the fastest growing economy in the world, serving as the perfect business case for future and business sustainability. India is set to become the ideal tech savvy consumer marketplace and talent pool.

Staying ahead of the game – The Teleperformance Case in Point

Critically examining a company’s processes and reducing effort and resources to carry out the same tasks is the business we are in. Business Process Optimization is a step further to Business Process Outsourcing, with SPEED and INNOVATION as its core subsets, designed to provide experiential service to employees, clients and their customers.

Our team of 217,000 Teleperformers interacts with 40% of the world’s population annually, constantly harnessing the quantum of these interactions to mine customer insights and analytics, implementing automation and AI to optimize our client’s business processes. Our centers in 74 countries add to the multiplier effect by cross fertilizing best practices from teams across the globe, to provide outstanding customer experience since the last four decades.

The 11,500+ team has been operating in India for over 15 years, improving the overall efficiency of global companies across markets and at different stages of evolution, speed, and expectations. Teleperformance in India has been leading the charter being recognized as a #PeopleSmart and #GenderSmart organization energized by our guiding principle of the 5Ps culture. It’s the lifeline of our endeavors and everything that we do – entailing PEOPLE build the PASSION that drives PURPOSE, instills PRIDE and together connects the dots to reflect in company PERFORMANCE.

People are at the heart of our operations and how we serve, our philosophy of Employee Experience = Customer Experience has helped us face tough headwinds and come out stronger every time. We are ranked the #1 BPO in India and #4 amongst India’s Best Companies to Work for in 2016 by the Great Place to Work Institute and you can read more about the philosophy and various initiatives that have paved the way to this recognition by clicking here.

Putting it all together, the human factor holds the real power in the disruptive age wherein millennials are not just spectators, but are strong contributors in business and in greater social causes. BRANDS THAT STAND FOR MORE THAN THEIR BOTTOM LINE RECEIVE GREATER MILLENNIAL BRAND LOVE, says the Millennial Marketing Company and I completely agree. What do you think?

By: Sanjay Mehta, Managing Director, Teleperformance India

Tweet @sanjaym100

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