My name is Tom, and I would like to share with you my experience with digital transformation suddenly forced on me during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Like many of us, I work in an organization that is slowly adapting to new technology. We do use email but print them to read. We still maintain physical files for record-keeping and employee appraisals are recorded on physical forms and signed manually. When it comes to working with our customers or partners, we used emails along with faxes, couriers, and physical document delivery. We were pretty content with the way things were and that was our normal. We had plans to add more technology, but we were moving at a comfortable pace. Knowing my organization, a knee-jerk decision could be catastrophic. Then came the pandemic and we were taken by surprise. With COVID-19 cases rising in the city, the Government put everyone on lockdown. We were confined to our homes and were expected to conduct business from home. Till now, we had only heard about “work from home” from people working in Information Technology, Consulting, and other such professions. For us, Laptops were to check emails, mobile devices to talk with friends and family, and home internet for entertainment purposes only. The new “work from home” redefined these for us completely. It was supposedly the “New Normal” and it came without warning. While we were trying to familiarize ourselves with this new normal, we were also expected to deliver like old times. It was pretty clear there was how it was going to be… Thankfully, the company made some new digital/online tools available and they became our saviours. I personally liked the online signature and sealing tool that also handled power of attorney assignment. I was able to complete all my work, sign and seal documents online, review stuff, get approvals and share it with my teammates. Before e-signatures and e-seals, it took us days to get the same work done that I was now able to finish in hours. Now, we do not need a physical delivery—it all digital. It also gave me visibility to bottlenecks in processes and places where unnecessary delays were being caused. I felt more in control and my colleagues started to see me as a changed individual. I was happy and contented. This was my new normal and I slowly started liking it. It made me much more efficient and I could spend my saved time with family or on things that I loved to do. Change is always difficult but more often than not it is for good. This transformation changed my life completely. I am going to fight to keep this new normal if others at work start to operate the way we did before COVID-19. My new normal is going to stay.
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