An edited excerpt from the ‘Leading digital transformation for global mobility, business travel and hybrid work programs’ ebook
There has been a fundamental shift in where work takes place in recent years. Growing demand for hybrid working arrangements, coupled with increasing levels of business travel and the continuing popularity of long- and short-term assignments means that employees are more geographically distributed than ever before.
With work taking place in more locations, HR and global mobility professionals are having to grapple with the increased complexity that brings - from keeping up with immigration rules to understanding the corporate tax implications of working in certain regions. Teams are also trying to deal with these challenges using fragmented technologies and time-consuming manual processes as they strive to manage their distributed workforces effectively.
At a time when the ability to offer work location flexibility can be critical in attracting and retaining top talent, companies need to have the right tools and systems in place to mitigate the compliance issues that can arise. For workforces of any scale, it’s not viable to do this using manual processes and this has prompted many organizations to start conversations about the digitization of global mobility and distributed work processes.
Embarking on a digital transformation journey to manage the movement and location of employees more effectively can improve efficiency, enhance the employee experience and, ultimately, reduce costs. However, it can be tricky to know when or how to get started.
What is digital transformation?
But first, what exactly is digital transformation? Digital transformation is the process of integrating digital technologies to create new business processes or modify existing ones, fundamentally changing how the organization operates and delivers value.
Many companies are still using manual processes to manage their global mobility, business travel and remote work programs. This usually means managing the data related to employee movement and work location by logging into various siloed systems, creating documents, and alternating between emails and spreadsheets. This may be manageable for small programs but as your business grows, technology and automation become essential for maintaining efficiency and scalability, which is where digital transformation comes in.
How to know when the time is right for digital transformation
You may want to consider embarking on a digital transformation journey of your global mobility, business travel or distributed work programs if any of the following scenarios apply to your organization:
- You have to spend more time on manual, repetitive, day-to-day tasks than on working with assignees, dealing with problems and strategic planning
- Your organization is experiencing rapid growth and has more people on domestic and/or international assignments which is becoming more difficult to manage with manual processes
- You notice your current manual processes are resulting in missed deadlines, errors in documentation, difficulties in tracking employee locations and statuses or missed steps
- There are changes in the regulatory environment that make compliance more complicated and/or the risk of non-compliance more costly
- Your company has introduced new policies related to remote, hybrid and distributed work which is creating additional compliance complexity across all forms of employee mobility
Our new ebook
If you want to learn more about digitization for your organization, Topia recently published a new ebook: ‘Leading digital transformation for global mobility, business travel and hybrid work programs’.
By downloading the ebook, you can find out more about:
- The impact automation and technology can have on your approach to global mobility, business travel and your hybrid workforce
- How to identify areas of focus for your digital transformation initiative - including people, processes and technology
- The role of automation in digital transformation
- How to bring people on the journey with you and get buy-in from employees and senior leadership
- Where AI fits in
- How Topia can help in the management of your global mobility, business travel and remote/hybrid work programs
Access your copy by completing the form on this page.
