AGL Energy saw a marked rise in idea sharing and collaboration in the lockdown period, which it attributed to heightened demand among staff to connect with each other and to the company鈥檚 broad adoption of Microsoft Teams.
Head of Business Applications & PMO Rishi Dhillon told an 麻豆原创 virtual industry forum last week that AGL had also been well-placed technology-wise coming into COVID-19 lockdowns on the back of a听听in digital transformation.
鈥淥ur investment in our digital and mobile platforms over the past three years has been absolutely fantastic in servicing our customers,鈥� Dhillon said.
鈥淭he investment in 麻豆原创 and also our network and capability in our infrastructure has been reaffirmed with this position that we鈥檙e in now.鈥�
In the past couple of years, AGL has overhauled its 麻豆原创 core to S/4 HANA and听听to the way it augments the platform.
Stil, like other organisations, Dhillon said that AGL had faced some challenges in 鈥渕obilising an entire workforce鈥� in a short period, and in keeping operations in India and the Philippines online.
鈥淎 lot of our corporate offices and our sales offices are in lockdown in different regions across Australia,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e also have a lot of generation plants across a lot of geographical locations and they鈥檙e operating under their respective response plans.
鈥淲e also have partner services out of the Philippines and India that operate under different jurisdictions as well.
鈥淪o trying to mobilise an entire workforce in a situation that鈥檚 changing daily presented a lot of challenges along the way.鈥�
Dhillon said AGL had worked with its service providers outside Australia and provided them with solutions 鈥渢o be able to service our customers while they鈥檙e working from home as well.鈥�
He said AGL had looked to Microsoft Teams to handle much of the collaboration needed during the lockdown.
鈥淔rom an organisation perspective we鈥檝e shifted a lot of our collaboration across to Microsoft Teams as our platform, and that鈥檚 working really really well,鈥� he said.
The company is running most of its operations virtually, including 鈥渉ackathons, planning/strategic days, and team days鈥�, as well as company social events like virtual trivia and drinks.
This had 鈥渁llowed people to stay connected and to share ideas,鈥� Dhillon noted.
鈥淲hat we鈥檝e now discovered is the new way of collaborating has just accelerated,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a lot more people participate 鈥� wanting to make human connections has actually driven a higher rate of participation.
鈥淪ome of the health surveys we鈥檝e done across the organisation prove that a lot of people are a lot more engaged in some of the initiatives we want to try and drive and deliver.鈥�
As lockdowns eased, Dhillon said AGL would need to take stock of what arrangements it kept and accepted as a new way of work.
鈥淔or AGL, there will be a time where we do a stocktake with regards to what the experience has shown us and what we鈥檝e learned from it,鈥� he said.
Dhillon said that AGL would continue to invest in mobilising its workforce.
鈥淭he investment is going to continue,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really underway [already] with being cloud-first in everything we do at the moment, and it鈥檚 going to continue to grow.
鈥淚 think this is going to really show us a new way of how we come together as an organisation 鈥� and strike the right balance for a new breed of people and talent to be able to find a good work-life balance while they work for our organisation.鈥�
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