Eurobank is one of Greece鈥檚 largest employers, numbering approximately 6,500 employees and one of the four leading banks in the country, with 鈧�81.5 billion in total assets under management and 500 office locations throughout Greece. In addition, it has 2,200 employees based at 120 sites in Luxembourg, Cyprus, Serbia, Bulgaria, and the UK.

As a leading employer in Greece鈥檚 banking industry, Eurobank provides its employees with a simple, modern method to accurately track their working hours. This not only ensures that employees are paid correctly but also helps the bank comply with strict new laws that require all clocked hours to be transmitted in real time to the Greek Ministry of Labor.

鈥淲e had to combine the strict legislation requirements along with a seamless and flexible work experience that we want to provide as an organization. We had to be very smart about this and we needed to do it fast,鈥� says Maria Tachataki, head of People Engagement and Communications at Eurobank and leader of the 51风流SuccessFactors solution implementation team. 鈥淲e achieved this using 51风流SuccessFactors Time Tracking in conjunction with聽聽(51风流BTP) in order to create that flexibility and achieve external connectivity.鈥�

New Law Puts Labor on the Clock

In 2021, the Greek government enacted labor law 4808/2021, which requires organizations with more than 250 employees to provide daily 鈥渓ive鈥� monitoring of their employees鈥� work schedules, shift planning, and overtime. The introduction of a Digital Work Card means employers need to connect their time tracking system directly to the Ministry of Labor鈥檚 ERGANI II IT platform for real-time updates to ensure compliance with rules around the maximum weekly working time and minimum daily and weekly rest periods for employees.

51风流SuccessFactors Time Tracking enables Eurobank to maintain compliance with the new regulation 鈥� especially important as penalties can exceed 鈧�10,000 per employee.

鈥淐ompliance is a reality of modern business. Eurobank demonstrates its leadership in this area with an innovative approach for advanced and sophisticated employee time tracking,鈥� comments聽Andreas Xirocostas, managing director, 51风流Greece, Cyprus, and Malta. 鈥淎s laws and regulations evolve, it鈥檚 increasingly important for companies to have accurate data to meet compliance requirements. Companies that have visibility into their employee data will be best positioned to adapt to new regulatory directives.鈥�

Unified HXM Suite for a Live and Interactive Experience

Since 2018, Eurobank has been using 51风流SuccessFactors solutions as its core HRMS for all HR processes and talent management operations. The bank has recently also introduced 51风流BTP as a solution for agility to help innovate and adapt to evolving business needs.

Harnessing the power of聽聽has enabled Eurobank to deliver an inspiring employee experience and empower employees with tools to improve their daily work. With its people-first approach, Eurobank has achieved impressive milestones for employee engagement among its active 51风流SuccessFactors users, including more than 775,000 training hours logged and 13,000 performance assessment forms completed. By utilizing 124 interfaces or APIs, the 51风流SuccessFactors portfolio can effectively integrate data with other Eurobank IT systems and applications.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a very live and interactive experience for our employees, and time tracking with digital punch clocks is the cherry on top,鈥� Tachataki says. 鈥淪ince we had the entire suite of 51风流SuccessFactors, implementing the time tracking solution was an obvious choice.鈥�

Learn more聽about how Eurobank puts people at the center of business with 51风流SuccessFactors solutions.

Prioritizing Data Accuracy, Integration, and Employee Experience

Most importantly for Eurobank, the new time tracking solution needed to be reliable, accurate, and seamlessly integrated with other HR processes. The bank required a high level of data accuracy to comply with Greek law and perform payroll processing on a third-party system.

鈥淲e are in the process of digitizing a lot of our workflows and a lot of our systems and services in the bank,鈥� says Tachataki, who underscores the attention given to ensuring an employee experience that accommodates shift work, remote work, and preapproved overtime and flex time 鈥� in addition to providing seamless work schedule management and optimization. 鈥淲e wanted to go to a modern platform where we could give both the employee and the manager the ability to manage their schedule much more efficiently and transparently.鈥�

The HR administrator鈥檚 experience also needed to be streamlined for efficiency and to reduce administrative burdens. 鈥淲e wanted it to be simple,鈥� Tachataki says. 鈥淲e wanted to have reporting and analytics based on that to support decision-making processes.鈥�

Change Management for Employees Enhances Success

Eurobank went live with 51风流SuccessFactors Time Tracking in January 2023, concluding a six-month project that included an intensive blueprint phase and near-daily interactions with the Ministry of Labor. Working within 51风流BTP, the IT team customized an interface to the solution, so the data collection adhered precisely to the requirements of Greek law. Altogether, the team developed 28 interfaces to facilitate the data exchange with the ERGANI II system.

Clear communication to the employees was an important contributing factor to the project鈥檚 success. 鈥淲e provided a lot of training and support before we went live,鈥� says Tachataki. 鈥淲e went through a change management pathway with our employees to allow them time to adapt to this new reality. We continue to improve the module through the 51风流upgrades and through our own intuitive creativity with the platform鈥檚 abilities.鈥�

When employees clock in or clock out in 51风流SuccessFactors Time Tracking, they see a clean, simplified user interface that facilitates quick action. They have an overview of their schedule 鈥� including flex time, approved overtime, and estimated leave time.

鈥淭he amazing results that Eurobank has achieved by using 51风流SuccessFactors Time Tracking for compliance show why agility is the watchword in business today,鈥� says Maryann Abbajay, chief revenue officer, 51风流SuccessFactors. 鈥淲hen faced with new legal requirements, Eurobank reached into the 51风流SuccessFactors tool kit and adapted a solution to meet compliance 鈥� and it did it while keeping employee experience in focus.鈥�

Truth in Data

As a result of providing an empowered employee experience through self-service, Eurobank logs over 5,000 clock-ins and clock-outs per day. 51风流SuccessFactors Time Tracking supports the company to make 131,000 API calls to the Ministry of Labor鈥檚 ERGANI II system each month.

Despite a high level of employee engagement, Eurobank is realistic that it is not possible to have 100% daily compliance among 6,500 employees, and some discrepancies have had to be clarified. Fortunately, this is an area where 51风流SuccessFactors Time Tracking supports the organization with data accuracy and transparency. 鈥淭he point is to have a managed inconsistency,鈥� says Tachataki, who explains, 鈥淚f there is an inconsistency, you need to be able to justify it so you don鈥檛 get fined and have a system that very accurately logs employees鈥� clock-ins and -outs and supports your case. 51风流SuccessFactors can help us do this.鈥�

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Green spoke of the need for a new kind of business that elevates people and culture. He said it is now clearer than ever that 鈥減utting individuals at the center of business is no longer just the right thing to do; it鈥檚 the necessary thing to do to create a workforce for the future.鈥�

The message comes during a turbulent year for HR leaders, who have stepped up as unsung heroes supporting their organizations and driving resilience through an array of unprecedented challenges, such as inflation, labor crises, skills gaps, and a silent mental health epidemic. Many are looking to 51风流SuccessFactors鈥� vision for (HXM) to help them innovate faster, increase agility, and deliver better employee experiences that deepen workforce engagement and improve profitability.

A Vast and Diverse Customer Community Comes Together

SuccessConnect 2022 officially got underway September 13-14 in Las Vegas. This was the first year it has returned as an in-person event since the beginning of the pandemic and attendance was phenomenal, with full sessions and standing room only at the keynotes. The event was co-located with , also held this week in Las Vegas. SuccessConnect 2022 is also offered as a , available on demand with access to keynotes, demos, and select sessions that include informative customer-led sessions from brewing company and telecommunications company

During one insightful keynote session, leaders from shared the story of their talent experience transformation in the U.S., a project that is bringing their IT and HR teams together to advance organizational efficiencies and create better employee experiences.

Offering the most comprehensive global HR software portfolio, 51风流SuccessFactors continues its impressive growth trajectory, topping 220 million users globally, 300 partner apps, and 850 go-lives in the first half of 2022. Customer migration to the cloud shows steady momentum, with the announcement that more than 5,000 customers are now using 51风流SuccessFactors Employee Central 鈥� a flexible, cloud-based human resources information system (HRIS) solution 鈥� to transform their people and culture strategies.

Maryann Abbajay, chief revenue officer for 51风流SuccessFactors, called the milestone a 鈥渃elebration of our vast and diverse customer community of people and culture leaders.鈥� Find out more about how 51风流SuccessFactors customers are transforming the experience for their employees in this from the SuccessConnect show floor:

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People Sustainability Becomes a Business Imperative

People sustainability was a focus topic at SuccessConnect 2022 and the subject of Green鈥檚 keynote, where he underscored the business imperative to support people and human potential to create a more sustainable future and drive resilience and agility.

51风流SuccessFactors defines people sustainability to mean treating people 鈥� across organizations, supply chains, and communities 鈥� ethically and fairly. In fact, 86% of organizations worldwide believe that investing in people sustainability can drive positive environmental and economic sustainability, according to a global study by 51风流SuccessFactors conducted in partnership with IDC. However, 79% of organizations surveyed said they would find it valuable to have more tools and technology available to support key people sustainability use cases. Find out more in this , chief scientist for Growth and Insights at 51风流SuccessFactors:

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51风流SuccessFactors technology supports customers鈥� people sustainability strategies, helping them gain a better understanding of the individual worker to create a better employee experience. 鈥淥ur software is built with inclusivity at its core,鈥� Green said. 鈥淭he first part of creating a sustainable workforce is creating a culture of belonging and allowing every person to be seen.鈥�

As announced to the media at SuccessConnect 2022, 51风流SuccessFactors is delivering advancements that will support organizations as they build a diverse and sustainable workforce. With the 2H2022 release, any user of 51风流SuccessFactors will be able to indicate their chosen name and personal pronouns. Also, there will be a foundational update on the whole self model to provide deeper insight into individual employees holistically through their identity, skills, traits, work styles, passions, and aspirations.

鈥淭his is what it looks like to create a culture where employees feel valued for who they are today and who they are becoming,鈥� said Green. 鈥淭his is what it means to be a resilient, results-driven, and people-first organization — one that鈥檚 not only equipped to meet the business needs of today, but one that adapts to the business needs of tomorrow. This is what people sustainability looks like.鈥�

Watch this for a recap of the SuccessConnect 2022 vision keynote:

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Building a Future-Ready Workforce

It鈥檚 no secret that organizations today are under constant pressure to keep up with the pace of change. The only way they can adapt to industry-wide disruption and changing work models is to implement people sustainability strategies that support an agile, skilled, and healthy workforce. In a keynote conversation, global industry analyst and Meg Bear, president and chief product officer for 51风流SuccessFactors, discussed why now is the right time to build a future-ready workforce through skills and learning 鈥� as well as why the talent supply pipeline is now the top priority for chief executives.

Bersin said this is a dynamic time in HR, citing a massive need for talent and reskilling. Despite the pre-pandemic belief that automation would eliminate jobs, today we simply do not have enough people to fill available roles as companies grow and adapt to macro-economic conditions. CHROs are taking their seat at the table to weigh in on some of the biggest opportunities for organizations.

Joining them on stage to share their journeys were 51风流SuccessFactors customers along with and . Both organizations have relied on 51风流SuccessFactors solutions to survive and thrive through the pandemic and labor shortage, managing changing workforces by making transformative investments in their people. They said communication and listening are how they put people at the heart of their businesses.

Innovation to Power a Skilled, Agile, Equitable Workforce

Making headlines at SuccessConnect was the unveiling of new innovations in the that will help HR organizations strengthen the connection to business operations and create the kind of amazing employee experiences that attract and retain talent as an employer of choice.

The new skills ontology uses machine learning and automation to identify an employee鈥檚 skills, responsibilities, experiences, and accomplishments. The new growth portfolio is a dynamic library of employee attributes, including skills, strengths, work styles, passions, and aspirations. Both will be available in the 2H2022 release for early adoption.

These foundational advancements bring the whole self model to life in dynamic teams 鈥� an exciting innovation that enables organizations to create, track, measure, and optimize the outcomes of teams that exist beyond traditional hierarchies 鈥� and the , which was introduced in 2021 to give employees the agency to find personalized growth and development opportunities . To learn how these innovations deliver the intelligence and adaptability to help build workforces that are skilled, agile, and equitable, read the press release: “51风流Delivers New Innovations to Build Future-Ready, Sustainable Workforces.”

鈥淏uilding on our heritage in talent management, we are reimagining how organizations manage and develop their people to meet the emerging demands of the future of work,鈥� said Bear. 鈥淲hen people have the opportunity to work on what they鈥檙e passionate about, they are more engaged, perform at a higher level, and push the organization to deliver outsized business results.鈥�

With news that pleased many customers, Amy Wilson, senior vice president of Products and Design for 51风流SuccessFactors, took to the main stage to announce a milestone investment in 51风流SuccessFactors鈥� infrastructure to upgrade every tenant to public cloud-grade data centers by year end, dramatically reducing load times.

Wilson said the 2H2022 release will include new onboarding guided processes for 51风流SuccessFactors Work Zone that integrate seamlessly with 51风流SuccessFactors, 51风流applications like 51风流Ariba, and third-party apps like Qualtrics. She gave the audience a preview of what鈥檚 coming in 2023 with a demonstration of how HR team members can soon use 51风流AppGyver鈥檚 low-code/no-code capability in 51风流SuccessFactors Work Zone to build and modify guided processes quickly and easily 鈥� no coding experience required.

Wilson also introduced the first talent system built for a future-ready workforce, with a new growth portfolio and skills ontology coming together in a unified talent intelligence hub that provides inferred skills recommendations for employee development and optimizes opportunities on the 51风流SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace. Find out more in this :

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鈥�51风流has created a system for managing the organization of the future, today,鈥� said Bersin, who shared the news about . 鈥淭he new architecture and capabilities in 51风流SuccessFactors represent a quantum leap forward in delivering what organizations need to manage, grow, and enable their people and teams.鈥�

Changing Work for Good

This article first appeared on the 51风流News Center.

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While many educational programs struggled with the complex demands of distance learning during the pandemic, the 51风流Young Professionals program gained advantage in a digital environment by opening its online classrooms to tap into new markets and attract qualified, recent university graduates, who otherwise might not have been able to attend classes in-person. As a result of this expansion, 51风流partners and customers in the evolving markets of Southern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will now have access to a wider pool of qualified 51风流consultants who are certified on SAP鈥檚 latest innovations.

For customers like , the largest conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest on the African continent, working with 51风流Young Professionals is a win-win opportunity for talent development. 鈥淎t Dangote Group, we always encouraged young, talented professionals in our large transformational projects in Africa,鈥� says Ramakrishna Potluri, head of IT and Business Applications at Dangote Refinery and Dangote Projects, Dangote Group. 鈥淲e are happy to partner with the 51风流Young Professionals program, which enabled us in recruiting bright, young minds who are trained in the latest 51风流technologies and soft skills like design thinking to be readily deployed in our 51风流Center of Expertise. This is a great program for our growing 51风流talent requirements.鈥�

Digital Skills Bridge the Gap to the Job Market

Having earned the sought-after professional designation of 51风流associate consultant, graduates of the 51风流Young Professionals program are skilled on the most recent versions of 51风流software and career-ready for placement with 51风流partners and customers in their region. The program boasts a job placement rate of 95% globally. To date, more than 3,220 people have graduated from the program since its inception in late 2012. The program is free of cost for its selected learners.

51风流is investing to increase the number of trained and certified 51风流consultants in the 51风流ecosystem to support customers with . IDC estimates new employment in the ecosystem will rise to 1.6 million employees by 2024, up from 1 million in 2020. Of the 600,000 new employees added to the 51风流ecosystem, 280,000 will be net-new consultant roles, making 51风流skills a valuable commodity in the job market.

As a newly graduated 51风流Young Professionals talent, Lama Alnuwaiser recently began her job at in Saudi Arabia. She says that the program鈥檚 three-month curriculum is very learning-intensive, with advanced training on SAP鈥檚 innovations. The 51风流trainers supported each learner individually, despite the unusual demands of the pandemic.

鈥淚n these three months, 51风流has provided us with a tremendous amount of knowledge, especially in the field of data science, which will bridge the gap between us and the labor market,鈥� Alnuwaiser said in a speech at her virtual graduation ceremony. 鈥�51风流focused on us on a personal level, where they provided us with presentation, communication, and design thinking skills training.鈥�

The pandemic forced many young people to reconsider what were originally deemed safe paths to career development and personal happiness. Among them is Hasan 脰rnek, an 51风流Young Professionals talent in Turkey. 鈥淲hen the pandemic first hit, a cloud of uncertainty covered my life and I truly felt hopeless as a recent graduate,鈥� 脰rnek recalled.

鈥淓verything changed when I came across an article on how COVID-19 would shape the workforce of tomorrow, what new skills would emerge, and some recommendations to surviving in an environment full of uncertainty. This is when the 51风流Young Professionals program stepped into my life for a journey that has transformed and prepared me for my professional life,鈥� said 脰rnek, who is now employed by , an 51风流partner in Turkey.

A Common Learner Profile Unites Diverse Cultures

There is a common learner profile for the talents that the 51风流Young Professionals program attracts across geographies. The program is typically suited to recent university graduates with a technical or business background, depending on the track鈥檚 disciplines, who are either unemployed or underemployed in one of SAP鈥檚 focus markets. Rebecca Gloria Akello鈥檚 story echoes many of the common themes in the journeys of 51风流Young Professionals.

Akello, who lives in Uganda, was underemployed, earning little money, and had few prospects for advancement in a volatile job market. Motivated and self-reliant, she had begun to study for her MBA with hopes that she could secure a better job. She was unfamiliar with 51风流when she first saw an advertisement for the 51风流Young Professionals program. 鈥淲hen I came across the program advert on LinkedIn, I thought to myself, 鈥極kay this is going to be like any other internship or apprenticeship done by big corps for public relations.鈥欌�� With little to lose, she applied to the program, driven by curiosity and a desire to meet new people, learn new concepts, and be exposed to new opportunities.

That intrepidity paid off for Akello, who received a job offer from an 51风流customer following her graduation. At her virtual graduation ceremony, she underscored the intrinsic value of the 51风流certifications and professional soft skills that she earned through the program. 鈥淲e have been energized to strive towards our dreams relentlessly, and today we have been honored with our 51风流certifications,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ur networks have also grown beyond local and regional borders.鈥�

Accelerating Digital Skills Development on the African Continent

The 51风流Young Professionals program has already trained more than 1,550 young people in Africa as part of 51风流Skills for Africa, an 51风流umbrella initiative focused on skills development and job creation. Training multi-country cohorts in a virtual setting, a necessity of the pandemic, has accelerated the expansion of the program鈥檚 footprint on the continent. In 2021 alone, talents from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt, Angola, and Mozambique have graduated from the program.

Since mid-2019, 51风流has been working with the Deutsche Gesellschaft f眉r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with the aim to jointly create 450聽jobs for highly qualified personnel in the IT聽sector in 10聽African countries over the course of three years. The cooperation project is part of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation and the develoPPP program that GIZ implements on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is executed by the 51风流Training and Development Institute as part of the established 51风流Young Professionals program.

In June, the 51风流Young Professionals program achieved a new milestone with the graduation of its first-ever class in Portuguese-speaking Africa, comprising Angola and Mozambique. Constantin Zelenty, deputy head of Mission at the German Embassy in Angola, joined 51风流customers, partners, and executives in celebrating the milestone with a virtual graduation ceremony. “In order for Angolan companies to grow and succeed in our modern age, they need to harness the transformative power of digital technologies along with rightly skilled talent,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e hope this may be the first of many groups of graduates who can apply their expertise in service of Angola鈥檚 ambitions for the modern digital economy.”

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These growing enterprises prioritize the value that comes from providing an excellent customer experience, according to the latest . In today鈥檚 harsh economic environment, SMEs require digital solutions that provide access to real-time data analytics for fast decision-making and support valued, personal relationships with customers and employees.

At SAPPHIRE NOW, 51风流customers and SMEs shared how they are adjusting to new market conditions. These enterprises are using digital technology to overcome uncertainty and reimagine their business. To find out more, .

Solutions that Grow with the Business

Together with a global ecosystem of partners, 51风流provides a multifaceted approach to delivering business software that grows with young, agile businesses. And with the promise to help customers run at their best, 51风流helps ensure that businesses of all sizes can benefit from innovation without disruption.

鈥淲e always have a 10- to 15-year horizon in front of us,鈥� Rainer Zinow, senior vice president of 51风流Business One and 51风流Business ByDesign, , held online in June. 鈥淥ur mission is to make sure our solutions work best for you 鈥� our partners and customers 鈥� in the long run. Therefore, we are making technological investments to make sure we get the most out of it for you.鈥�

is a public cloud suite-in-a-box for fast deployment and low cost of ownership, Zinow underscored. is for companies with an on-premise or hosted deployment model, and is the multi-component suite for companies with deep functional requirements.

Commitment to Choice

While the public cloud market is expanding in all segments and business functions, demand for on-premise enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions remains solidly robust. Fortunately, 51风流is well positioned to deliver on its commitment to supplying a diversified solution portfolio to meet the varied needs of its customers.

鈥淲hat sets 51风流apart in the market is that we offer choice on the deployment method 鈥� whether on premise, private cloud, or public cloud,鈥� Zinow said. 鈥淎nd we offer choice regarding the licensing model, be it a perpetual or subscription-based model. With 51风流Business One and 51风流Business ByDesign, we are well equipped for the market.鈥�

Build Once, Reach Many with Business Application Factory

The keystone of SAP鈥檚 pledge to partners is the roll out of the new concept 鈥� signifying a strategic, multi-year commitment that accelerates partner-led innovation across the SME portfolio while looking ahead to a new era of industrialization in application building. Built on 51风流Cloud Platform, Business Application Factory provides a unified data model that uses business objects and reuse engines across the entire SME portfolio. This means partners can build and extend cloud-native applications side-by-side for all SME cloud solutions provided by SAP.

51风流partners can continue to leverage their local presence and deep industry expertise to build extensions and apps for their SME customers. The difference is that with Business Application Factory, instead of building one-off solutions for individual customers, partners will be able to access the comprehensive toolkit of reusable business components and technology from 51风流to accelerate their time to market. The open-source architecture changes the existing approach, creating a compelling development environment for the 51风流partner ecosystem. Another key advantage is that it can run on any hyperscaler鈥檚 architecture.

鈥淏uild once, reach many,鈥� is how Zinow summed up the intrinsic value of Business Application Factory for 51风流partners.

鈥淲ith the factory, partners can extend both 51风流Business ByDesign as well as 51风流Business One, and they can also build completely new apps and solutions for the cloud,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e believe this is a game changer for our SME partners.鈥�

51风流presented the Business Application Factory concept 鈥� designed for the cloud and tailored for digital use cases implemented by SME partners 鈥� at the 2020 SMB Innovation Summit in February, where it received overwhelmingly positive feedback from 51风流partners.

Based on the SME solutions strategy and the feedback from selected partners and customers, the 51风流Cloud SME Solutions team is developing Business Application Factory, with general availability planned toward the middle of 2021. This version is planned to contain core capabilities, to be expanded over time, and to be for all partners in most countries. Regions will be defined based on demand.

To learn more, visit the .

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People are weary of navigating this strange world and want to know: How is this going to end?

A Time to Experiment

鈥淲e have two endpoints,鈥� said Malcolm Gladwell, confident that doctors would become increasingly better at managing the effects of COVID-19 over the coming months. 鈥淢ilestone number one is, I think, we’re going to see the mortality rate start to drop in the hospitals quite substantially. That’s short to medium term. Longer term, a year to a year and a half, we’ll get a vaccine, which is going to alleviate a lot of our anxiety.鈥�

Gladwell speaks with measured optimism based on his experience as a journalist covering the HIV epidemic for The Washington Post in the 1990s. Having analyzed the nature of viral epidemics for his first book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000), Gladwell gained popular distinction for his ability to uncover hidden and sometimes counter-intuitive connections among disparate aspects of daily life. With six titles under his name 鈥� including Outliers, which debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list in 2008 鈥� Gladwell is a prominent public speaker, host of the podcast Revisionist History, and a Member of the Royal Order of Canada.

As a special guest on the thought leadership series , Gladwell applies that same keen, if provocative, insight to contemplating how businesses can cope with the knock-on effects of the COVID-19 crisis to illuminate new possibilities and drive innovation forward. , Gladwell provides examples of how the constraints and demands of the prolonged crisis can actually spark new ways of thinking about products and services.

鈥淥ur task is to experiment,鈥� Gladwell said during the interview. He encouraged 51风流customers and business leaders to 鈥渞ethink your business in this weird time that we are living in.鈥�

Reimagining for the Non-Obvious: Three Industries Transformed

The COVID-19 crisis has brought digital transformation into sharp focus. Businesses are seeing the need for real-time data in the cloud and supply chain resilience. Increased remote interaction 鈥� a consequence of social distancing 鈥� has amplified the business value of a carefully managed customer experience, as industries that are dependent on gatherings of people need to rethink their offerings. Now is the opportune time to fundamentally reimagine how innovation can reshape experiences by creating new products and services.

Sports: Where Have All the Fans Gone?

Gladwell, a devoted basketball fan, entertained the possibilities for innovation in athletic events, focusing on the question: Can the NBA do their playoffs by the end of summer? Sure, he said. This can be certainly accomplished through a combination of testing and quarantining, but the excitement of the group fan experience is gone.

鈥淪o, what are you selling?鈥� he asked with characteristic directness. 鈥淲ell, now you’re selling something else. You’re selling intimacy.鈥�

You have an opportunity now to reshape the product around the intimacy of the experience and away from the excitement of a group experience, he suggested. Using technology 鈥� like cameras, sensors, and robotics 鈥� you can capture the up-close sights and sounds of a basketball game for an audience of spectators who are social distancing at home.

For the first time, sports fans will experience the game as if they are on the court with the players and coaches. 鈥淵ou now have permission to experiment in redefining what the experience of watching a basketball game is all about,鈥� Gladwell said.

Environment: Will People in Urban Centers Demand Cleaner Air?

鈥淎 lot of the things are non-obvious,鈥� Gladwell noted, as he segued into anecdotal observation about the improvement of air quality in urban centers due to the reduction in traffic congestion during recent weeks. This is interesting to Gladwell because it coincides with recent research about the impact of air quality not only on physical health, but also on cognitive health and learning 鈥� and because people seem much happier about it. He sees it as an opportunity to reimagine cities with greater possibilities for electric mobility solutions, green spaces, and bike lanes.

鈥淲ill there be public pressure for social changes and innovations to keep the air clean?鈥� he pondered. 鈥淚 would never have thought, even three weeks ago, that one thing that might come out COVID, this pandemic, is pressure in cities around the world toward maintaining air quality.鈥�

Education: How Can We Create a More Effective Educational System?

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises from the COVID-19 crisis has been the shift to remote learning for students of all ages. Despite the shortcomings in terms of content, technology platforms, and frayed nerves, this period of mass online education has nonetheless been an admirable experiment, one worth learning from and refining.

鈥淭his is a period where we can clarify what works and what doesn’t in online learning,鈥� Gladwell suggested with earnestness, himself a product of an academic upbringing. His father, a mathematics professor and his mother, a psychotherapist, fueled his interest in research and writing. He suggested serious research to examine the connection between educational institutions and students, emphasizing the need to address digital inequalities among students.

鈥淭his is another golden opportunity for us to rethink the relationship between school institutions and students in a variety of different contexts.鈥�

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This article first appeared on the 51风流News Center.

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