Chris Jackson from POPin talks about how remote working is shaping up amidst this pandemic and how it will shape the future of work.

1. Tell us about your role at POPin?
I oversee the Customer Success team, and we’re focused on ensuring our partners optimize POPin for their specific business needs. We help clients execute POPin methodologies to accelerate the process of identifying and resolving issues so they can keep their business moving forward.

2. Can you tell us about your journey into this market?
Our platform is a great solution for innovative HR leaders looking at contemporary technologies to engage workforces. Today’s employees expect to be heard, and are motivated to connect with leadership. Without platforms like POPin there’s no efficient way to engage employees at all levels to identify opportunities in the business, or remedy issues that stall progress. We have found this market to be rich with opportunity because HR leaders are actively seeking new ways of engaging employees. As COVID-19 shapes the near and long-term future we expect continued energy around technology solutions like POPin.

3. How do you think technology is upgrading the HR Sector?
The HR sector faces a unique set of challenges currently as workforces move to a virtual arrangement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, many businesses and HR leaders are eyeing the long-term potential of maintaining this work-from-home infrastructure for the long haul and this means re-thinking the technology and processes needed to allow teams to collaborate. It will be critical that HR leaders consider a host of new tools to keep employees connected, collaborative, productive and motivated during the current environment and beyond.

4. Can you explain how does your platform help in improving productivity?
POPin is an anonymous crowd-sourcing solution that works by offering business leaders a safe environment to run quick feedback sessions with employees, and teams. The platform facilitates honest dialogue on the more pressing issues and challenges workers are facing – the types of things employees are generally afraid to raise one-on-one or in groups. The platform helps leaders quickly get at the truth – in a WFH environment it connects employees in ways web-conferencing can’t. It enables an ongoing dialogue to monitor team morale, identify new ways of working together, or quickly evaluate why a project is off track and how to get it back on course.

5. What are the remote working difficulties that are solved by your platform?
In the current work-from-home environment, services like Zoom have emerged quickly as the de facto connectivity solution but video chat is not a panacea for collaboration, especially as we settle in for the long haul. Anyone who has participated in a 10-person video call in the past few weeks would likely agree. It’s critical that leaders find ways to make a personal connection with employees, continually taking the pulse of their teams, their morale, the status of projects and the challenges everyone is facing in order to manage through it together. Although workers may be geographically dispersed, it’s more important than ever that we look for new ways to stay connected and ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.

6. What are the key steps that companies will have to take for employees, post COVID-19 pandemic?
As HR leaders plan for a post-COVID-19 environment, they will need to look at the possibility of hybrid workforces, where some employees will be performing in-office functions and others will be remote. We need to think beyond the in-person meeting for gathering, brainstorming, and making decisions. The tools, technologies and processes tested during the pandemic may need to be preserved as part of the “new” corporate culture.

7. What are your predictions about the future of remote working?
The current environment will accelerate acceptance of a work from home arrangement, as many of the technologies that are required to support it have matured to the point that it’s more than possible. Many businesses will be able to thrive in a remote workforce.

As the nature of work transforms, it is also critical that HR leaders and managers re-think the fundamental tools needed to keep employees connected while they telecommute. This means looking beyond the obvious video conferencing platforms and acknowledging that as folks are remote not everything can be accomplished using the same tool. The popular joke referring to a “meeting that should have been an email” is especially relevant while employees are working from home. Companies that have multiple tools in place to garner honest, real time feedback about challenges and pain points will keep operations running smoothly especially in lieu of in-person meetings.

8. What advice would you like to give to the technology Start Ups?
My advice is to keep talking to clients, customers, and users. Continue testing your technology with your best users and don’t invest in features or offerings without first validating your concepts in the market.

Fight the urge to solve every problem with your technology and stay in your lane.

9. What is the Digital innovation in sales technology according to you that will mark 2020?
Technology will continue to evolve across all sectors, but ultimately sales will always be about being customer centric. Listening may be the most ‘innovative’ thing a salesperson does in 2020!

10. Can you tell us about your team and how it supports you?
We have a small team focused on our customers’ needs, not mine.

11. What movie inspires you the most?
Most recent movie that inspires me most is Green Book because it illustrates how through hardship there can be powerful, redemptive change.

12. Can you give us a glance of the applications you use on your phone?
POPin, Wodify, Slack, MyZone, Expensify, OntheSnow, Letter Soup