The beginning of the end of the Covid-19 pandemic is here and most researchers, doctors, and scientists around the world are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The pandemic was rough but it also allowed businesses to re-imagine how they operate and communicate. According to a leading research report by McKinsey Global Institute, “The future of work” is something of a misnomer. Leading organizations have long been aware that our ways of working aren’t suited to the conditions of the present, let alone the future. The solution? Rethink organization, talent, customer engagement, and, above all, leadership. And that is exactly what we are working on at ABSYZ. As we start preparing for the post-pandemic world, let me take this opportunity to thank all our customers, partners, and associates once again who have ensured that not only we survived but we thrived during this pandemic.

Last week I woke up to the news that PwC a leading global consulting firm will allow all its 40,000 U.S. client services employees to work virtually and live anywhere they want in perpetuity, making it one of the biggest employers to embrace permanent remote work. Other major leading firms in consulting and accounting, such as Deloitte and KPMG, have also been giving employees more flexibility to work from anywhere. So it did not come as a surprise when Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce said “The past is gone, and we’ve created a whole new world, a new digital future, and you can see it playing out today.”. He expects 50% to 60% of Salesforce employees to likely work from home forever in the future. Apple is expecting employees to “return to the office” for at least 3 days a week and we feel such hybrid models of remote work are likely to continue post-pandemic.

On the other side of the spectrum, with the majority of the workforce vaccinated, companies like TCS, one of Indias largest private-sector employer is gearing up for a return to office as early as this month (October 2021). The situation is similar for companies like Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and this gives confidence to smaller SMEs like ABSYZ and the entire Indian IT industry as well.

As the world starts going back into normalcy, many of our pandemic-acquired digital habits would continue. Only time will tell the pros and cons of these habits. As tech leaders, this is going to be a very interesting challenge for us to maintain the balance between going back to the office and the pandemic-induced work from home comforts. At ABSYZ 90% of our workforce are vaccinated with two doses and ensuring the safety of all our associates is of the highest priority before we plan to return to the office. We had kept our Hyderabad office open in a hybrid model since July and our HR team is working on a foolproof return to office strategy that is safe, secure, and sustainable.