Corona (Covid-19) as a Driver of Remote Work at Companies

The media is full of reports about new Corona cases, and the truth probably lies, as so often, somewhere between complete hysteria and complete trivialization of the virus.

Current developments have not passed us by as an IT company either. From canceled trade shows, to no handshakes for greetings, to general Corona precautionary measures with potential customers. Even our meetup on March 26 about artificial intelligence is at risk due to Corona coverage and people’s fears. At the moment, however, we see no reason to postpone the meetup. Nevertheless, there was high demand whether we could postpone our on-site appointments or change them to video calls via Microsoft Teams.

For us as an IT company, this is of course no problem, as we are equipped with both real and virtual whiteboards and the corresponding tools.

Extended Remote Work Experiment at innFactory

We took this as an opportunity to start an extensive remote work experiment within innFactory. We contacted all customers who had scheduled an appointment with us within the next two weeks and offered them a remote appointment. We are curious about the differences. So far, we have relied on webinars and online meetings in the Laura AI sales area, but rarely or never for sprint meetings or initial conversations.

In addition, we have granted the entire innFactory team special work-from-home rights for 2 weeks. Normally, our employees are encouraged to spend part of their time on-site, as we believe that exchange can only work well in person. To maintain communication within innFactory, we have initiated a daily video call and all employees are encouraged to enter in a shared calendar in advance whether and when they will be working from home the following week. This gives every team member an immediate overview of who will be in the office. If a customer requests an on-site appointment, being in the office is of course mandatory. Personal contact remains the be-all and end-all. What impact our two-week experiment will have and whether we will continue this way remains to be seen. We are happy to share our experiences with remote work in a Scrum team and with New Work in general. Contact us without obligation!