We collected our top ten blogs of 2020. Reread what you loved, catch up on what you missed, and gear up to navigate what’s next with us next year.
As foreign as this year felt, we navigated the unknown by doing what we do best – turning to our thought leaders to help solve problems.
Over the months, our experts served as your guide on many topics, writing blogs about working from anywhere, building a remote culture or improving your tech usage.
Let’s look back on these pieces, and then look ahead as we prepare for what’s next.
Here are the 10 most popular blogs we published in 2020:
1. 7 Tips for Fostering a Remote Workplace Culture
Remote work is more mainstream than ever due to COVID-19. We share how you can easily cultivate a productive culture as a work-from-home team. Hilary Lee, a Practice Lead for our People and Change practice provides advice to help leaders and teams thrive amidst times of change.
2. How to Maintain a Productive, Connected Culture When Transitioning to Remote Work
Read excerpts from Larry English’s book, Office Optional, for insights into staying productive and connected when doing remote work due to the pandemic. Larry English, President of Centric shares his expertise about thriving in a remote work culture.
3. 18 Tips for Living and Working During the Coronavirus Quarantine
Social distancing requires most of us to now live and work remotely. Here are a few tips to help you maintain mental and emotional health both at work and home. A Centric alum from our Process Excellence practice shares a series of important tips about maintaining wellness personally and professionally during this challenging year.
4. Coronavirus and Remote Work: How Microsoft Teams Can Keep Your Business Running
Are you still trying to figure out how to run your business virtually in response to the novel coronavirus? Learn the benefits of using Microsoft Teams. Team Lead for our Enterprise Collaboration practice Michael McNett excels at bringing people together to drive delivery excellence.
5. Finding the Fun in Remote Work
How can team leaders keep morale high for teams new to remote work? Traci Whetzel, Co-lead of our Marketing and CRM Technology practice has worked from home for years while leading virtual teams. She shares how her team has fun together while working miles apart.
6. Increase Your VPN Speed and Improve Remote Worker Productivity
Transitioning to remote work introduces employees to new challenges such as slow VPN access. We share a few ways to increase that speed. Carmen Fontana, Co-Lead of our Modern Software Delivery practice also coordinates our Artificial Intelligence offerings across the company. With nearly twenty years of experience, her passion lies in where the business meets the technology.
7. Remote Work With Agile Teams: What You Need to Know
We share a few tips you can do immediately to help your newly remote agile team maintain their connection and productivity. Senior Manager and Lead of our DevOps practice Joseph Ours offers expertise as a leader in business processes with a successful record of providing project and portfolio management of large technology initiatives.
8. Success With Salesforce: Start Your Journey on the Right Path
Take a look at six preconceived notions about Salesforce before you begin planning for a new CRM solution. You may be surprised how well it will work for you. Traci Whetzel makes the list a second time as she shares her expert insights into getting started with Salesforce. She boasts 16 years of experience working with the tool, and thrives helping companies implement, redesign, strategize, and achieve a return on their Salesforce investment.
9. There Is No Going Back: How to Permanently Adopt Remote Work
Now that so many organizations have had to implement virtual work, many are considering permanently adopting it. Learn the steps you need to take to make remote work a cohesive part of your overall business. Larry English makes the list a second time with insights into moving forward into working remotely long term.
10. Harvesting Benefits from RPA: A Guide to Identifying RPA Use Cases in P&C Insurance
We look at a practical approach to identifying RPA and AI use cases for P&C insurance core processes. Sean Neben, Local Lead for our Insurance Practice in Chicago has more than 10 years of experience serving some of the largest P&C carriers as a trusted technology consultant, combined with more than four years as a technology leader at a major P&C carrier.
Worth the Read
Below are a few of our favorite blogs that might have slipped under your radar, but they deserve your attention, too.
CIO Perspectives of Culture, Collaboration and Operations During a Pandemic
CIOs have naturally been on the front lines of their company’s pandemic response, primarily from a technology perspective to enable remote work, but also from a safety standpoint as well as productivity and culture. We focus on brand-building for the company through multiple channels and activities, including C-level interaction, content marketing, regional market engagement and more.
Assessing Your IT Risk Profile
IT risk is not a thrilling type of uncertainty, and risk gone wrong is disastrous. Here are three steps to analyze and manage your company’s IT risk. Barb Magella and Jim Conrady both consult with our CIO Services operating group providing their expertise in management and IT consulting.
Explore the Future of Cloud-Based Communications
Skype for Business is exiting the scene next year, but Microsoft Teams is a reliable replacement for all your remote work or interoffice needs. Practice Lead for our Enterprise Collaboration practice Joe Hartsel has over 25 years of experience working as a leader in a global IT organization and working with clients in an IT and business consulting organization. He is one of three authors of our ebook “Go Beyond Email with Office 365: How to Drive Adoption of a Collaborative Digital Workplace.”
Navigate What’s Next with Stories from the Couch
Our Stories from the Couch series features short, personal anecdotes from our employees about how they’ve handled the different elements of 2020. We collected a slew of stories about redefining productivity, staying grateful by finding joy in the little things and maintaining a sense of connectivity in this new environment. Read the series for what’s next.