New form of organizations

In these Covid times, yesterday I came across a mail from the management committee of a residential community in Bangalore.  This is a very large community of high-end professionals with skills in a variety of areas i.e. Software, Sales, Operations, etc. Most of these professionals are working in sectors like IT, Banking, Consulting, and many others. The communication informed the residents that the management committee has tied up with various vendors to provide “Office Furniture and Equipment” at the doorsteps of its residents. This extended lockdown has compelled these professionals to set up a proper home office. Now work has firmly reached home. With the use of technologies like Video Conferencing and high-speed data networks, people were constantly connected and productive.

This period of extended work from home has taught everyone that they can be fully functional and productive from home and can provide services across the globe. A large number of organizations are planning to reduce the size of their offices and would enable people to work from home. Organizations like Twitter have already announced that they would let people work from home forever.

This shift raises a question about the nature of “Organizations” post-Corona lockdown.

 Would the professional service business undergo a fundamental change in the near future? Would there be a formation of a new kind of organization? A “Network of Professionals” providing services as an organization? Is it possible that professionals living in such large residential communities collaborate and form a Business Organizations of a global scale? Kind of “Cooperative of Professionals” harnessing the availability of professional expertise and home office infrastructure. 

Why a group of professionals living in the same neighborhood cannot come together to create an organization that provides services across the globe and is managed from the network of home offices. 

 My sense is that this experience of extended work from home has taught people that they can work as independent nodes and technology helps them to collaborate and support each other. 

Looks like finally, we have arrived at the future that Alvin Toffler had predicted about the emancipation of knowledge worker. The technology was available for quite some time but the ‘Covid’ has played the role of a digital strategist to remove all doubts.