CSS is among the early movers in the industry to transition to a 100% work-from-home model: Satyanarayanan Visvanathan, Head HR, CSS Corp

Maximising usage of digital collaboration tools, procurement and distribution of necessary hardware and networking equipment, delivering webinars and remote sessions on mental well-being, continuous contact with our employees are some of the initiatives that are helping us ensure business continues as usual, states Satyanarayanan Visvanathan- SVP, Head of HR (Global) and Corporate Quality, CSS Corp

CSS Corp has mature risk management and business continuity plans which are periodically reviewed and tested for robustness. With agility and nimbleness being our forte, we have deployed several measures leveraging our infrastructural capabilities and support frameworks. This intrinsic strength had enabled us to be among the early movers in the industry to transition to a 100% work-from-home model. Maximising usage of digital collaboration tools, procurement and distribution of necessary hardware and networking equipment, delivering webinars and remote sessions on mental well-being, continuous contact with our employees are some of the initiatives that are helping us ensure business continues as usual.

Key challenges faced

Balancing client needs, expectations and deliverables with central/state regulations and guidance on the aspect of working from home; Having the required infrastructure procured, tested and distributed; Preparing the workforce to embrace a 100% WFH, considering the culture shock; Evolving lean, virtual processes to keep different aspects of the organisation running seamlessly

Lessons Learnt

Organisations typically have well laid out disaster recovery and business continuity plans keeping geographical separation as an assured way of resilience. However, this pandemic has struck at the core of that belief and exposed the weaknesses therein. The scale, swiftness and impact of this crisis has been unprecedented to say the least.

The first and foremost lesson, is to revisit and review all practices and processes of DR and BCP, taking into cognizance that such a thing could strike in a very short time. Secondly, organisations should have crisis management teams and rapid action taskforces capable of assessing, preparing and responding to such situations. Lastly, the ability to raise awareness of the workforce and motivate them towards adopting the crisis responses is a crucial factor

As a tech support company, we already have a lot of collaboration tools and platforms. We are using many cloud-based solutions from leading players such as Microsoft, SAP, Industry standard collaboration tools like Zoom etc. One of the concerns while working from home is data security and we have installed DLP software (Data loss prevention) in all our systems to prevent any leakages. Our systems are encrypted, and with the help of screen capture, ongoing audits are done from time to time.

Not a new phenomenon
Working remotely or in virtual teams is not a new phenomenon at CSS Corp, given our experience in collaborating with large teams that have been spread across geographies. We believe that organizations and processes are like living organisms and need to evolve constantly to accommodate business needs and external dynamic forces. As such we will be reviewing many of our policies including working from home aspects, enabling our employees to learn and grow continuously. This falls in line with our culture of being agile and nimble in all our operations.