For a long time, organizations had very predictable business models, which in turn meant they knew how their business ran. However, recent events have thrown this concept on its head, and businesses have been forced to evaluate their standings.
Many businesses had years of analytics and did not even need an analytic engine because of the pulse of their business (e.g., being in the office can give a feel for how things are running). When the shutdown happened, many businesses did not have the ability to get that same type of feel. You can only get a feel for one individual at a time.
The first key to prepare businesses for the unexpected is to move toward data-driven decision-making. When a business has the data in front of them, it lessens the need to be able to gauge performance at a large scale in person.
The emergence of becoming data-driven can lead organizations to become more outcome-based. There is an old thinking that working a certain number of hours will yield a certain amount of performance. This newer theory can lead to measuring performance relative to expectations. It’s a strong forced change that can benefit the organization because you can view performances before they happen and reach out. You do not have to react with a gut feeling anymore, but now off of the numbers that can measure the performance.
Rethinking metrics is a practice that many organizations will have to go through. It is important to note as businesses welcome more in-person workers, the same metrics can apply wherever the workers are and it is important to measure them. Just because things may seem to be moving towards normalcy, it does not mean abandon the strategies that worked in the midst of the pandemic.