One of the most prevalent challenges facing employees working remotely is access to important documents, both digital and physical.

Digitization is revolutionizing the way businesses operate across the globe, and Africa is no exception.

Over the past two years, remote and hybrid arrangements have become the norm in the workplace. We have seen the proliferation of new digital tools and platforms to support hybrid work, such as video conferencing, cloud-based software, and collaboration platforms like Teams and Zoom. IT teams have had to support this transition by providing technical support for these new digital tools and platforms, all the while ensuring cybersecurity and data protection, and managing remote access to company systems and applications.

The challenges of navigating digitization in a hybrid working world

Navigating digitization in a hybrid working model can be challenging for both businesses and IT teams. Research conducted by Walnut Unlimited on behalf of Canon shows that there is a divide between businesses and employees when it comes to hybrid working. While businesses think they are largely digital, employees are experiencing a host of niggling issues.

One of the most prevalent challenges facing employees working remotely is access to important documents, both digital and physical. This, combined with other related issues (such as difficulties with business processes, and having to visit the office to print, pick up or sign documents in person) suggests a wider problem – organizations have not yet completely rebuilt their business processes to function in a virtual environment. As a result, we’re seeing employees struggling to perform basic steps in everyday document-based workflows, like processing invoices or contract approval, when outside of the office.

Moreover, equipping new workspaces has been a major challenge for IT teams.

According to 2021 research conducted by McKinsey, 65% of companies had increased spending on digital and technology during the global pandemic, despite significant cost cutting elsewhere in the business. This suggests that most companies are aware that they need to undertake digital transformation, fast.

According to our report, 71% of IT departments say that solutions that would support their hybrid working are not compatible with their legacy infrastructure. Furthermore, 72% say their printers and scanners used in different locations were not designed to work together.

While companies may have the basics in place, most businesses have yet to rebuild their document-based processes for a new hybrid work. By creating a digital-first culture that empowers employees to work smarter, businesses can help ensure that their digital aspirations are aligned with the everyday work experiences of their workforce.

On the African continent, the challenges that employees face with technology are more complex than regions elsewhere. Some of these challenges are:

1. Limited internet connectivity in parts of Africa: In many parts of Africa, internet connectivity is limited or unreliable, which can make it difficult to maintain consistent connectivity between employees working remotely and those working in the office.
2. Limited access to hardware: In some cases, employees may not have access to the necessary hardware, such as laptops or smartphones, to effectively work remotely.
3. Inadequate IT infrastructure: IT infrastructure in companies may not be equipped to handle the demands of hybrid work.
4. Security concerns: Hybrid work can create new security risks for companies, particularly when employees are accessing company data and systems from remote locations.
5. Lack of digital skills and expertise: Many countries face a shortage of skilled professionals in the tech sector, which can be a significant barrier to the adoption of digital solutions.

It’s important for businesses to recognize the unique challenges faced by employees in Africa and work to create solutions that meet their needs. To overcome some of these issues, companies can invest in improving internet connectivity and providing access to digital tools and technology to support remote work.

By addressing these challenges proactively, businesses and IT teams can help ensure a successful transition to a hybrid working model in Africa.

The transition to paperless operations

Despite the adoption of digital technologies in the workspace, businesses have still not moved to paperless operations. While digital solutions have made it less expensive and easier to store, retrieve and share information, paper documents still have a place in many business operations, especially in Africa. A great deal of business on the continent still gets done on paper in the workspace via scanners, printers, photocopy machines and faxes. Many small-to-medium sized business operate in a paper centric environment, using paper as part of their everyday workflow and transactions.

One of the advantages of the blend of paper and digital in the hybrid workplace is its flexibility. The use of digital technologies allows for seamless collaboration across physical locations, while paper documents provide a sense of tangibility and familiarity that can be useful in certain contexts.

To make the most of the blend of paper and digital in the hybrid workplace, businesses must identify which processes require paper documents and which processes can be digitized. This may involve investing in document management systems, scanners, and other technologies that can facilitate the transition to digital workflows while maintaining the use of paper documents in specific contexts.

By identifying which processes require paper documents and which can be digitized, businesses can create a flexible and productive workflow that accommodates both in-person and remote work.

Somesh Adukia is the Managing Director of Canon Central & North Africa

Workers’ Day, May 1st every year all over the world, necessary calls for an evaluation of work, workers and working conditions all around the world. This is because work is one indispensable resource by which God made man and by which man sustains the world. We are told that after all the work, God saw that what he had done was good. For this reason, we know that there is dignity in work and work is really love made visible. It is thus befitting to congratulate workers on this day to congratulate all who provide work and do same to all who provide the conducive environment in which work can be done. Important and fundamental though work is however, too many factors deny millions of workers of the joy and fulfillment which they should derive from the work they do. Regrettably today, conflicts, discrimination, unjust structures, scarcity of jobs, bad management and greed hamper the integral human development that work ought to bring to individuals, family and the society. This, to say the least, is unfortunate and deserves urgent attention.

Integral human development, the ideal of all humanity, will remain a mirage if contentious issues concerning work are not resolved. The Catholic Church teaches that just wages are a legitimate fruit of work. It can be grave injustice to withhold or refuse it. “Remuneration for Work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social and cultural levels…” .

Governments and people cannot honestly desire peace or authentic development without ensuring just wages for work done. Exploitation of others or their resources, forcing down prices of raw materials, inhospitable conditions of work, unjustly taking over the property belonging to others or the like, impugn human dignity, damage social trust and offend the moral law of God. Conversely, at the personal levels workers too must do just work for the wages they receive in order to fulfil the social contract and in order not to be guilty of dishonesty and stealing.

The Catholic Church has always taught that there is dignity in labour and that work is a vocation with a spiritual dimension. Every worker in some way participates in the divine project of advancing the work of creation. According to Pope Francis, May 1st, each year, the feast of St Joseph the Worker, is the day the Church remembers the world of labour. On that day the Church demands “that work be dignified everywhere and for everyone,” and that the work of men and women everywhere “inspire the will to develop an economy of peace all over the world.” The Church also prays for all those who in the course of their work have lost life, limbs, and property in the course of their work, especially victims of corrupt and unjust systems, that their sacrifice be not allowed to pass in vain.

In Nigeria the condition of most workers remains pathetic. Government insensitivity to the plight and demands of workers like doctors, nurses, teachers, journalists, and security agencies is nothing short of cruel, especially when compared to politicians’ remunerations. This, sadly affects the entire masses who rely on the services which those workers provide. In fact, working conditions in both the public and private sectors yearn for serious and urgent overhauling. Nigeria, so to speak, needs a moral blood transfusion. Nevertheless, with the imminent dispensation, employers and employees must embrace a new “regime of merit” and rebuild the crumbling labour fortress. Only a just relationship driven by dialogue and sensitivity can guarantee an escape from the quagmire of resentment and suspicion which currently characterize the relationship between employees and employers in the country. With that new hope it is still pertinent even today to say to all: Happy Workers Day with hope for a brighter future!

By Most Rev Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo: Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Oyo.