COVID-19 urged us forward in 2020 to change the way we have always done things
2020 was the year of challenges and new phrases like “abundance of caution” and “socially distanced.” Fashion morphed into designer face masks. Telemedicine became a trusted resource. We learned we could buy almost anything and have it delivered to our doorstep – and we also learned to cope with shipping delays, shortages of goods, and permanent shutdowns of some of our favorite brands.
Surviving meant businesses were forced to change. And for once, innovation – which used to seem like a “nice to have” inclusion in an enterprise – became indispensable. Innovation is no longer for a future state. It’s for the here and now.
We innovated
At Rizing, we rapidly pivoted to help HR leaders who have been at the center of COVID response teams. We created a SuccessFactors configuration solution to help HR leaders everywhere track relevant COVID-19 data. As employees in many companies were necessarily furloughed, we looked at ways for employers to maintain relationships with furloughed staff and return them to work where possible. This became our SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting Toolkit. And we used intelligent technologies – Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and analytics – to help employers look at the impact of COVID on their entire organization. By combining environmental health and safety data, risk and hazard assessments, geospatial data, locations, and assets with employee data and incident data, we packaged a solution that enables businesses to visualize, track and mitigate risks wherever their plants and people are located.
We volunteered
Bea Wang, a Rizing Senior Geospatial Information Syst
ems Analyst, volunteers with GISCorp. That group used ArcGIS to provide the most up-to-date information about COVID-19 testing sites. Anup Chavda, a Service Director in our HCM line of business, jumped in with a group of UK friends to create Personal Protective Equipment for the UK hospitals using 3D printing.
We helped each other
Internally, as a company, we reached our greatest level of virtual collaboration around the world. On a Microsoft Office Team channel dedicated to helping each other get thru isolation, fear, and frustration, we crowdsourced ideas to help each other personally get through our lockdowns. Employees shared experiences, offered help, yoga classes, and humor. One employee was surprised to find she had become her husband’s IT support center. (!) Another offered free coffee that he roasted himself. All these little things spurred our creativity and motivation to excel even on complicated days.
We thrived
We’ve dealt with school closures, canceled business travel, and challenging work-at-home offices and still managed to move SAP customers through significant transformations. We worked at being smarter together remotely. We met every deadline for SAP go-lives with our customers. In some cases, we even provided resources to augment our clients’ staff.
Our workspaces may not have looked like they usually did – but we found opportunities to excel anyway.
We continued learning and growing our expertise. In 2020, we’ve been recognized with the SAP Partner Award for Enterprise Asset Management, SAP’s Recognized Expertise Certification for SAP SuccessFactors, and a Bronze Medal from Brandon Hall Group for excellence in leadership development.
All of us together – our customers, our partners, and SAP
All of us everywhere – in your individual companies around the world – were driven to excel, to innovate at home, in the office, with each other. As tough as it sometimes seemed, we value these interactions and the chance to achieve something we never saw ourselves doing.
Opportunity knocked in 2020. And we answered.
Here’s to 2021! May the year be filled with light, sunshine, and health.