Written by Laura Parrí Royo, Group Marketing Manager at TJC Group
Productivity tools to work and communicate remotely
COVID-19 is affecting everyone on a global scale, which means that we all must work together to limit the spread of the virus and protect the people at risk. All TJC Group employees are currently working from home. Being a software company, technology is part of our DNA. TJC teams are spread across 6 offices around the world, therefore we have been using digital technologies to deliver our projects for a long time.
The Coronavirus situation has provided us the opportunity to explore further digital tools to streamline our internal meetings as well as to keep the conversation going with clients. Keep reading this article to find out the how technology empowers TJC teams to keep providing an excellent service away from the office.
Collaboration within TJC Group
When it comes to working collaboratively, Microsoft Teams is the cornerstone piece. The chat, meeting and channels functionalities are widely used for sharing expert advice and to work on the development of new solutions. Microsoft Team Meetings plays an essential role in maintaining TJC team together in difficult times when human contact is greatly missed.
Microsoft Office 365 – just rebranded to Microsoft 365 [1] – Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft SharePoint close the loop to facilitate seamless collaboration across the organisation. TJC employees can store, manage and access their files from any device and share them with fellow colleagues or external contacts. Additionally, VSA is our business ERP a cloud-based software solution that gathers administrative, financial and HR information. It includes a mobile App version suitable for iOs or Android.
Delivering Software with Agile Methodologies
Nothing is stopping our Development and Consultancy teams from keeping the ball rolling. To do so, they are applying Agile Software methodologies to develop new cloud-based software solutions for SAP Cloud Platform (SCP) and S/4HANA, as well as to streamline our existing solutions.
DevOps is a software development methodology that combines software development (Dev) with information technology operations (Ops) participating together in the entire service lifecycle, from design through the development process to production support [2].
Our technical teams rely on Microsoft Azure DevOps platform that enables DevOps capabilities, from Version control, to requirement and project management, to automated builds (CI/CD) and testing.
Indeed, TJC is has adopted Azure DevOps not only for the technical teams but as a corporate solution the entire organisation. It provides a development framework suitable for Consultants and other profiles. as well, while other profiles can be included to each project. Certainly, there is also an added benefit: being a Microsoft solution, Azure DevOps integrates natively with Office365 and MS Teams.
Likewise, Scrum framework helps TJC System Decommissioning Team to structure and manage their work to achieve goals in a timely manner. It also encourages teamwork and collaboration within the team members following a continuous improvement approach. How exactly does it work? Initially the team defines a 2 week Sprint; after that, several Sprint events take place such as the Backlog refinement, Sprint Planning, Daily Stand up, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective.
Stay connected with TJC Community
Being able to communicate promptly with our customers and stakeholders is of great importance. At TJC Group we are using Mailchimp, an email marketing solution, to keep our audience informed about company news and newsletters, events and COVID-19 updates. While Microsoft Teams Meetings is the main support to connect with our clients, WebEx and Skype for Business are still in use from time to time.
Additionally, Technical and Consultancy teams remain available to answer technical questions on SAP Data Volume Management & Data Extraction for Tax and Audit requirements. For this purpose, we are starting to use Calendly, an easy-to-use scheduling software. Test it yourself and set up a call with TJC experts to unlock your doubts. -> Arrange a call with TJC Group.
Project Management tools for Multifaceted Consultants
TJC Consultants are leveraging project management tools such as Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Project to assist in developing a schedule, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, analysing workloads and, in short, to organise teamwork.
While Customer Support is now managed through a ticketing system, Pytheas, TJC development teams are developing a new support process for a cloud-based solution that will integrate directly from SAP Cloud Platform into DevOps.
And what if you would like to convey a complex message involving diagrams? Mind maps the likes of Mural or Mindmap (free) are worth giving it a try. These are a fantastic visual aid utilised by TJC teams to help you get your message through.
Marketing Project Management Tools
The Marketing team supports the whole organisation by reinforcing internal communication and keeping external communications consistent. In this sense, we are using Hootsuite to coordinate social media efforts to keep TJC community informed. and retain online conversations.
Also, Trello is another remarkable solution for light-duty project management. I find it particularly easy on the eye and quite straightforward to organise your projects into boards and share them with external suppliers. Similarly, Basecamp is the solution preferred by our Digital Marketing Agency to coordinate marketing support with TJC.
To sum up, there exist a myriad of digital tools available to streamline remote working, it’s a matter of assessing which one best suit your company needs. Make the most out of it, define your workspace and crack on to get the job done. Just remember, it’s all about team effort.
Source: Microsoft Azure. Available at: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/overview/what-is-devops/
Source: Microsoft, 30th March 2020. Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/en/microsoft-365/blog/2020/03/30/new-microsoft-365-offerings-small-and-medium-sized-businesses/
