Since mid-March, 88% of organizations around the world have encouraged or required at least some portion of their employees to work from home as a precautionary measure to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.¹ Many businesses were unprepared, either culturally or logistically, or both. Prior to the pandemic, some had been vocally opposed to the notion of remote work. While their reasons made good business sense at the time, for now and for the foreseeable future, the point has essentially been rendered moot. Other businesses had been open to offering remote work to their employees but had not yet put the infrastructure in place necessary to support it.

But even businesses with existing remote infrastructure were not necessarily ready for a scenario in which literally no one is in the office. That’s because having “no one in the office” means much more than simply directing everyone to “go home with a laptop and do your job.” For example:

• What about the employees who don’t have a company-approved laptop? (for why this is important, see How to Keep the Bad Guys Out: Cyber Security Best Practices).
• Who is going to open, sort and route the paper mail? Pandemic or no pandemic, the mail keeps coming. That includes bills, legal communications, and paper checks. For healthcare organizations, some paper mail is critical to cash-flow (e.g., medical forms and EOBs).
• Who is going to send the paper mail that needs to be sent?
• How will printed materials be made and distributed?

The bottom line is even companies with existing work-from-home infrastructure aren’t necessarily set up to function in these circumstances. We could go on identifying the pain points that go along with this novel scenario in which working from home is no longer a choice but rather a rule, but if you’re one of the many businesses for whom “missing work” is no longer just a matter of attendance, you already have a pretty fair idea of what you’re up against.

The good news: you’ve got this

Exela knows what you’re up against, and we’re here to tell you this is not merely doable, but actually in everyone’s best interests that the business world accelerate their digital transformation initiatives to accommodate remote work. While we would never have chosen for the business world to be subjected to this sort of remote-work trial-by-fire, we remain optimistic. That’s because solutions already exist that ensure business continuity even with no one in the office.

We know because we were already implementing those solutions for our customers long before the current pandemic.

And our customers were seeking those solutions because those solutions were, and remain good, for their business. But if you’re not yet there, that’s fine too. It’s not too late. In fact, wherever your business is in its digital transformation journey, this is the perfect time to finesse your remote work model. In this special COVID-19 issue of PluggedIN, we’re going to tell you why and we’re going to show you how. We hope that in so doing, we can offer you peace of mind as you face the challenges of the sudden call to remote work and look ahead with hope to a healthier future.

For more on this topic, don’t miss COVID-19: A Tipping Point for Remote Work, a special edition of PluggedIN, Exela's thought leadership news magazine, providing fresh insights from the cutting edge every quarter. We’re offering it absolutely free.

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1. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-03-19-gartner-hr-survey-reveals-88--of-organizations-have-e

Spoiler alert: he KNOWS you can make this work, and wants to share HOW

In the midst of the pandemic, we managed to grab a few minutes of Carlos Mallen’s time to talk about the real issues facing remote workers right now. Carlos is Exela’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources, and Exela is a company made up of over 22,000 employees worldwide, so we trust Carlos has his finger on the pulse of this great, ongoing remote work experiment.

Q. How ready was the business world for the sudden shift to remote work?

CM: For many companies, this was completely unforeseen. Fortunately, because facilitating secure remote work was already becoming a priority for many of our customers, Exela was prepared. That means our employees who are not performing essential business activities for our customers can work from home as needed during government-imposed shelter-in-place mandates. It’s what we do and we’re happy to be able to help our customers get up to speed in any way they need.

Q. What are some best practices for battling “remote work fatigue”?

CM: Being honest, for many of us this is a change in our work habits. It can be difficult both to pivot to working remotely and to continue working remotely for an uncertain period of time. Like any other change in life, it’s important to be aware of the changes and adapt to them. For example:

• Working from home means our normal office commute is no longer required. That means we can start calls and emails earlier, maybe end later too. To battle remote work fatigue, or work from home burnout, it’s important to set appropriate boundaries for yourself and to make time for your home and family.
• Working at home in the middle of a pandemic with some of us under shelter in place orders means that if we don’t take action, we may end up with cabin fever. A walk around the block while maintaining a reasonable distance from others could be a good relief.

Q: What are some best practices for managing teams remotely?

CM: Before the pandemic, many of us could walk over and talk to our teams. We may not have realized it, but this was a luxury. And now for managers working from home, we’ve lost that luxury. But one thing that never changes is the importance of communication. The good news is there are so many channels available to us, including Exela’s collaboration solutions, which cover all the bases.

Q: Specific advice for HR professionals

CM: Like everyone else working in these new and challenging times, human resources (HR) professionals have a lot going on. Alongside with legal professionals, we’re often the first place employees and managers go to for immediate answers to of-the-minute questions such as:

• What is the latest on covid-19
• How do we respond to national, state and local regulations
• What does this all mean for employees, their jobs and their livelihood

If you're part of an HR team, it’s vital to stay in touch with your team and your business leaders in real-time as possible. Managers and employees are your customers, and right now your customers need your service! If you're an HR team of one, you're not alone. HR professionals across the country are always available to help you with thoughts and sharing of best practices so that you can support your customers. Here are some of ours:

• 6 Work From Home Best Practices
• How to Make Remote Work Work For Your Business
• Don’t Let COVID-19 Stop You From Getting Your Mail
• How the Cloud is Opening Doors in the Remote Business World
• Human Capital Management Tools Offering Automation and Remote Access

A few closing words of wisdom from Carlos:

For managers: Keep preparing. It's always best to be prepared and not have to execute than to have to execute and not be prepared.

For employees: Keep your chin up. This too shall pass. Families first and keep focused on what you can do to help out - at home, at work and around your community. Here at the Exela Blog, we strive to bring you only the most reliable, accurate, news that is relevant to you. Stay tuned for more COVID-19 content, and in the meantime, be sure to check out, which COVID-19 “offers” are really just scams, and best practices for remaining uninfected.

Show of hands: who here hasn’t imagined how nice it would be to work from home? As they say, be careful what you wish for. For many people, working from home has become a mandate, and if you’re not so sure how to feel about that, please know that you’re not alone.

Working remotely has its challenges even in the best of circumstances. And we know these aren’t the best of circumstances. That’s why we’ve been talking to our HR team about how to make working from home...work--because for many of you out there, working from home is the new “working,” at least for the foreseeable future. Here are some of the words of wisdom we’ve collected thus far:

Set up a home office
Figure out where you are most productive, and be willing to move to a different place if it turns out not to be workable for you.

Treat every workday as a day in the office
Start your day at a defined time. End at a defined time. Take defined breaks

Use your work computer  
Security demands continuing to use company-issued devices to access company information. Don’t leave your devices unattended. Treat them as you would treat them at the office.

Schedule daily check-ins
Staying engaged is crucial. Daily check-ins with your team can help to reinforce you’re part of a team, you’re all in this together, and business is continuing (as is life).

Expect the unexpected and overcommunicate
These two go hand in hand. But let your supervisor know if you’re having issues with your childrens’ schedules, etc.

Be kind to yourself and your family
Try not to stress out over parenting issues. You were a parent before this. No one expects a superhero. You’ve got this.

or,

Why We Do What We Do Here in Corporate Marketing

Eliza Leonardis’s official title is Director of Digital Marketing. But if you’re ever lucky enough to get to work with Eliza, you’ll quickly learn that doesn’t begin to explain what she does. “Director of Digital Marketing” is an apt description of the piece of Eliza’s job that relates to making sure Exela’s web site looks how it should look and says what it should say. But it doesn’t address Eliza’s role as the head of Exela’s Corporate Marketing team.

Corporate marketing’s mission is to raise brand awareness. Corporate marketing is the reason you know Exela exists, and equally important, the reason you feel compelled to pay us any attention at all. To paraphrase a television commercial from the 1970s, when Exela looks good, we look good. Corporate marketing is different from product marketing, which raises awareness and desire for what we’re selling, but we work hand in hand with the Product Marketing team and need to always be aligned in terms of message. With a company of our size (23,000 employees all over the globe), this isn’t as easy as you might think, especially when you consider the two teams operate in at least four different time zones. Anyway, not only does Eliza run Corporate Marketing (I report to her, as do all the others on the team), she also has to make sure we’re all in constant communication with Product Marketing.

But none of the above addresses Eliza’s unofficial role at Exela, which is a sort of hybrid of “Chief Motivation Officer” and “Chief Morale Booster.”

The motivation part

Eliza doesn’t just get the job done, she gets all of us to get the job done. And again, that’s not always as easy as you might think. Each of us has a distinct function (for example, I’m outward-facing content, whereas my colleague, Nick, is inward-facing), and the only thing any of those functions really have in common is the goal of getting your attention and keeping you interested. But Eliza has a deep understanding of what each of us does and knows exactly how to get the best performance out of each of us.

The morale part

They say when you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, that’s kind of true, especially for those of us who are, in fact, getting paid to do at Exela what we would likely be doing as hobbies if our jobs didn’t exist. But some might argue work is always “work.” That’s why it’s called “work.” That’s where Eliza’s other unofficial role comes in. No one knows how she does it exactly. We know it has something to do with the upbeat and bubbly personality. We know it has something to do with really believing in each of her reports, even when we don’t necessarily believe in ourselves. We know it has something to do with the pizza parties (including today’s Valentine’s Pizza My Heart Party) and the Hershey’s Nuggets that magically appear on her desk when we’re in a meeting that’s about to go long. But there’s also something intangible Eliza brings to the table that has this team producing prolifically and constantly setting new goals and challenges. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at our LinkedIN page, which she’s grown more than 300% since this time last year).

With employees in more than 20 countries and critical hubs as far-flung as India, Serbia, Germany, the U.K., how exactly does a tech company whose main headquarters are in Texas, U.S.A. coordinate all of its teams and team members? That’s the question Exela’s CEO, Ron Cogburn asks in his latest thought leadership piece for Forbes.

“Tech staff in California are just waking up as team members in the Philippines are turning in for the night,” Ron writes. I can personally attest to the challenges of coordinating corporate marketing efforts across oceans, although I’m pleased that I’m now well-versed in translating Central European Time to Pacific Standard Time and Eastern Standard Time so that I won’t turn up for a “GoToMeeting” either three hours early or one hour late (don’t ask).

As always, Ron has an answer for these leadership conundrums and generously offers three best practices for coordinating teammates around the globe without losing patience...or sleep. And as always, he ends on a positive note, concluding that despite the logistical challenges inherent in running an international tech team, it’s worth it. Find out the how and the why in How to Coordinate a Global Tech Team.

Ron Cogburn has been a member of the Forbes Technology Council for the past year and has also written prolifically for Forbes. You can learn more about Ron here and you can learn more about the amazing things Exela’s international tech teams are producing here.

Last month, it came to light that a major US insurer made an unfortunate error with one of their customer communications. A mail piece sent to over 10,000 members showed through a clear window on the envelope that a patient was taking a certain kind of medication, directly revealing the illness suffered by each individual.

This is a major and urgent issue for several reasons. First, health insurers operate in a heavily regulated industry. Chief among those regulations require insurers to safeguard patient privacy. Mistakes like this one expose organizations to potential lawsuits, and possible class action litigation. Financial penalties can go beyond the costs of any settlements, because the government can levy fines against insurers that fail to effectively protect their patient’s privacy. Beyond that, the reputational damage can be costly, and internal reviews of production processes, or changing communications strategies to address these kinds of problems can be disruptive and costly as well.

As pressing as the consequences are for this insurer in the present, perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the entire event is this: the mistake was on the part of the communications vendor the insurer had contracted.

While the vendor was ultimately responsible for the error, the penalties and reputational loss will still fall on the insurer. Therefore, it remains the charge of the principal company to select not just a vendor, but a communications partner, to work with to prevent mistakes by implementing effective processes.

Here are three ways to help your enterprise select a company that can facilitate effective, consistent exchanges between your organization and clients, while avoiding the errors that have led to this undesirable situation for both insurer and patients alike.

    1. Careful Vendor Selection

Enterprises should seek an experienced partner who offers a secure unified, multi-channel customer communication solution. The solution should include both print and mail, because while many clients may prefer digital communications, not all of them do. Further, there are times when physical communications are mandated. Beyond expert multi-channel and print and mail capabilities, look for a vendor who can decrease your costs around postage and production. A worthwhile provider will be able to provide comprehensive database management to increase the relevance and quality of your business communications – giving you the ability to target and segment your audience appropriately. Beyond that, look for a vendor who provides transparency and a cloud-based platform for you to manage and control the process on your own terms. A worthwhile communications process outsourcer will include multiple print options, in-depth composition capability, and best-class security including SSAW 16 Type II and HIPAA certifications in their offerings.

Ultimately, performing intensive due diligence on any potential communications vendor is the most effective step that enterprises can take to mitigate these risks. The characteristics described above can be indicators of a capable, experienced provider.

    2. Expert Resources for Mail-Piece Design

Any vendor you select should provide expert resources for mail-piece design. One of the explanations for the widespread mailer mistake described above was that the letters within the envelopes shifted in route to reveal confidential patient information. This points to errors in the design of the communication. For example, simply including a cover sheet or title page for the letter with only letterhead and recipient addresses would have been a simple, cost-effective, and straightforward way to avoid this issue. An expert mail consultant would have been able to make such a suggestion.

Other benefits of contracting a third-party communications partner with in-house mail piece design analysts include the ability to:

• Analyze the automation compatibility of mail pieces for access to automation-based pricing via the USPS
• Increase savings by leveraging in-depth knowledge of USPS pricing structures
• Test mail pieces for acceptable thickness levels, colors, flexibility, barcode compatibility

    3. Intensive & Consistent Quality Control

Prior to bringing on a new partner to handle your physical communications, ask potential service providers about their processes for quality control. A robust system led by experts might be the difference between a successful print and mail run, and a massive, costly mistake.

Some things to look for include automated ocular recognition camera-based systems. Using production-related information files, these systems can track letter alignment, print quality, accuracy of data fields and more to help prevent errors. Make sure that they not only have technology-based quality control workflows in place – the value of physical checks by trained workers cannot be overlooked.

What happened to this insurer was a mistake. Nonetheless, it will be one that brings serious consequences. What must be a frustrating truth for this insurer – these issues are largely avoidable. By carefully vetting any potential shared service providers, making sure they leverage mail piece design analysts with intricate knowledge of best practices, and that they have a commitment to quality assurance demonstrated through both training and technology – you can more effectively find a best-class communications partner.

Both marketing and innovation are key drivers to business success, and in customizing solutions for our customers, we often find ourselves balancing the two, with the question often being posed: should we be marketing to what our customers currently know they want and need, or should our marketing focus on getting our customers to the next level?

In truth, it’s not a choice at all. Marketing is a key component of innovation, which isn’t simply the creation of new things but the development of a market for those new things. Innovation without marketing is merely invention. Nor is the relationship one-sided. Whatever you’re marketing, if you’re not paying attention to the technological innovations happening in real time, you’re already behind the eight-ball.

Consider, for example, the case of direct mail marketing. Although its origins trace back to ancient Egypt and then the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, its heyday coincided with the Industrial Revolution and followed along with advances in printing and graphics. Although direct mail began losing favor with the advent of email and social media, it’s recently back on an upswing thanks to innovative solutions such as predictive marketing automation, which uses real time customer data and related information to hone direct mail marketing into custom- and hyper-targeted campaigns.

Wherever you are along your digital journey, there are always new solutions available for boosting your marketing game—even old solutions into which innovation has found a way to breathe new life. The question becomes how best to leverage innovation into your marketing. Stay tuned because we’ll be addressing that in our upcoming Leveraging Innovation in Marketing Strategy: 4 Fundamentals.

Since the first business transaction took place, marketing has played a crucial role in developing the desire and need that is essential in all business models. Midway through the 20th century, marketing became the difference between mere “invention” and true “innovation.” But in the decades since then, innovation’s been driving marketing just as hard, empowering businesses with previously unavailable information about their customers at virtually every stage of the “marketing funnel.” The challenge of leveraging that info was met with further innovation, kicking marketing into warp speed.

And that’s where it is today. Effective marketing means constantly keeping your eye on the innovations available to push your marketing forward and keep it competitive. But since it’s all moving so fast, it’s helpful to keep these four fundamentals in mind:

1. The marketing funnel has evolved into a kaleidoscope

The marketing funnel was traditionally static, with marketing materials created and deployed at each stage, and each stage remaining distinct. For example, Exela’s Intelligent Marketing and Reputation Management solutions analyze the stages as they interact, making it possible to predict inter-stage and multi-stage behavioral trends.

2. Your customers are inundated, but that’s okay

Communications-saturated customers have an effective tool to combat the deluge of information: spam filters. So the question becomes how to make it through those filters and add value. Here at Exela, we make use of our own hyper-targeted marketing solutions whose automated analytics engines produce detailed customer profiles and whose messaging capabilities target the right customer at the right time.

3. Interaction is the new action

Your website and social platforms provide countless opportunities for eliciting relevant information from your leads and customers, as well as for letting your leads and customers know they’ve been heard in real time. The omni-channel communications and engagement automation options available through Exela’s intelligent marketing solutions maximize the productivity of those interactions.

4. If it’s something you’ve thought of, there’s an automation for it

Ever wish you could find all your analytics in one place, rather than signing into multiple platforms? No worries, there’s an automation for that! At Exela, we combine our industry specific and cross industry Data Analytics tools with our Enterprise Content Management solutions to generate analyzed and actionable data on a unified platform.

Seek out solutions that will help to drive your marketing forward. As Exela continues to innovate, we are growing our suite of marketing solutions to fit your current and growing needs.

It’s been an auspicious several weeks for #TeamExela. Not only have we made it one more time around the sun (as of July 12), but we’ve also been:

• Building out our website so that it tells a fuller and more colorful story of who we are and what we do,
• Reflecting on how far we’ve come in the decades during which we’ve been operating mission-critical processes for our clients (which has now risen past 4,000 and includes over 60% of the Fortune® 100) as well as how far we’ve come in the since our predecessor-companies joined together to become one of the largest global providers of business process automation and enterprise information management solutions.
• Engaging in community outreach initiatives across the globe as we launch #ExelaGivesBack. [and entering the planning stages of our biggest philanthropic outreach program yet, which I’ve promised not to talk about just yet, but do stay tuned…
• Coming up with a brand new Mission, Values, and Culture Statement that we believe accurately reflects who we are, what we do for our customers, and how we aim to do it.

As our CEO, Ron Cogburn noted in a statement addressed to Exela’s 22,000 employees, “Our brand has evolved, and we have a better sense of who we are and of the tremendous value we can provide our customers.”

“I’m proud Exela Technologies has completed its sophomore year,” Ron told me over the phone today.

“Got any plans to celebrate?” I asked.

“Just listening to some Timbuk 3,” he replied. With a knowing wink, I’m sure.

The future does look bright, at least from where I’m sitting, and I look forward to bringing you more blogs in the future that delve into our wide variety of business process automation solutions and how they’ve already been advancing our customers along in their digital transformation journeys.

Like innovation and marketing, tech development and sales are inextricably intertwined. In fact, the success of any tech business depends upon a successful working relationship between these two teams. Despite their synergies and shared goals, however, their interests and priorities will sometimes diverge. Over the years, Exela’s CEO, Ron Cogburn has seen this firsthand and shares his insights with the Forbes Technology Council in the July 8, 2019 Forbes article, 10 Issues Sales and Tech Teams Commonly Clash Over (And How To Solve Them).

For example, sometimes a tech team is developing a solution to perform tasks “A” and “B,” but the sales team is out there selling it as doing tasks “D” and “E” as well. There’s an apparent disconnect there, and the result can be dissatisfied customers and frazzled sales and tech staff. How to prevent the disconnect? Ron has had great success with fostering “open communication and alignment between groups.” You can see the full text of Ron’s observations and advice as well as those of 9 other members of the Forbes Technology Council here.

Ron is Exela’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Forbes Technology Council, offering many valuable insights. You’ll find many other thought-provocative articles from elite members of the C-Suites of Top Tech Companies like Exela here. For more up-to-the-minute Exela news, stay tuned to the Exela Blog.

To learn more about Exela’s rapidly deployable business process automation solutions, check out our Solutions page, which has been approved by both tech and sales staff as a matter of course. And to learn more about the people behind our technology, don’t miss this interview with Tydus Mathis, Exela’s Enterprise Operations Director.