Boosting productivity in the time of COVID-19

Working remotely became a necessary reality in the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. The companies that have effectively managed the disruption will not only be well-positioned to maintain business operations throughout the outbreak, but they’ll be better prepared for the future too.

That’s what prompted Andre Vos, IT Project Leader at RSC (Reinforcing Steel Contractors) to turn to Netsurit. RSC provides reinforcing solutions to the construction, civil, mining and engineering sectors and has track record of delivering the highest quality products and service to customers.

“With our employees working from home, managers have a greater responsibility than ever to help shape workplace culture and behaviours wherever that work takes place,” says Vos. “The global pandemic forced us to revaluate how we manage our user IT experience. Aspects about the workplace that were interesting, trending topics of discussion – like how productive people are when  working from home – suddenly became a reality for us. These were now business-critical elements that shifted our perception regarding the user experience.”

Vos goes on to say that South Africa is a country of paradox and paradigm mixed to create opportunity.  “We still believe that face to face meetings are the only effective way to interact and we manage by ‘whoever shouts loudest’. There is even fault in my preferred saying, ‘my favourite users are the ones I didn’t even know existed.’ That was why we needed a tool that to help employees be productive and engaged while working remotely. Netsurit Productivity Monitor (NPM) has  provided us with immediate insights and reporting to help us identify trends and capacity within the organisation.”

RSC now has insights not only about productivity, but also about potential burnout, as well as under-utilized, or time-wasting employees, and improved understanding of its company work patterns, and an ability to track employees and monitor all of them equally, in a non-invasive way that does not compromise trust.

“NPM encourages a healthy work-life balance in your organisation, empowering your employees and business to learn together,” says Vos. “It’s quick to deploy and there is no training needed.”

Vos has identified three key benefits of NPM:

• NPM allows you to know how much time your employees are spending on their PCs and which applications consume their time.  It does this without invading their privacy or harvesting private information, while still telling you everything you need to know.
• It allows you to dispel perceptions around what tools really are adding value to your business.  This destroys another arch villain in business – the strong personality who overrides what the data says.
• There is no unnecessary detail.  Unlike competitor product offerings, NPM is fully customisable to allow you to see as little or as much detail as you need.  Netsurit understands and easily supports the fact that your business needs more than an off-the-shelf product.

“I recommend NPM to any business that uses computers,” Vos adds. “ For the first time in my career I have a product that delivers a cure for a disease I did not know we had. It’s affordable, and you only pay for the users you monitor per month.”