It sounds obvious, but change impacts every business in the world… but in very different ways. 

For a global company like Greystar, getting the right tech in place is crucial. Outdated, cumbersome software or overly complex bloatware just won’t cut it when your key business challenge is to get information to the right people at the right time. They needed a simple solution that just works when they need it most - in times of rapid change. A solution that would oil the wheels of change rather than hindering them or requiring extensive customisation or expensive workarounds. 

And let’s be real: the business world isn’t slowing down anytime soon for any of us, so businesses must get on board with simple, adaptable tech that grows with them or get left behind. Get the right tech in place, and it’ll grow with you and keep those wheels turning. Stick with the wrong systems and you’ll find your growth stifled - especially when changes take place.

Smoothing the road to remote work

Mergers and acquisitions, long-established businesses going bust, economic pressures, pandemics… in modern business, we’ve seen it all, and we’re likely to see it happen all over again!

Of course, the most obvious change businesses have faced in recent years is the 2020 pandemic - though the effects have spanned far beyond the end of lockdown. Before the pandemic, just 6% of professionals worked remotely, but that figure is 25% in 2023, with 50% of professionals adopting a hybrid working pattern.

Greystar was just one of the millions of businesses worldwide switching from on-site to remote-first work early in 2020. The situation was very worrying for many people, who had to master working productively from their own homes, juggling childcare responsibilities, navigating a new work-life balance and worrying about job security.

A speedier, more flexible way to distribute info from one place

When things are changing quickly, the last thing you need is tech that holds you back. You don’t want to be left on the starting blocks creating workarounds when your business is undergoing seismic shifts, so choosing simple, easy systems that adapt with you is key.

Throughout the pandemic, Greystar knew it needed to keep its people informed. With an international workforce, keeping everyone up to date on the latest developments in their own countries was no easy task, so they needed a speedy way to distribute information from a single place, making it easier for both administrators and employees.

They leveraged the simplicity of 5app to keep tailored playlists up to date with useful information that could be distributed in minutes, not hours (or even days), which significantly boosted operational efficiency by saving time on info sharing. With a complex, bloated platform, Greystar would’ve been left in a very different position, with an information lag, leaving employees feeling confused and unsupported at a difficult time.

But it didn’t end with the pandemic! The flexibility of 5app means that Greystar continues to push the right info to the right people at the right time from a single learning and comms platform, and can continue to do this no matter what comes next.

Streamlining the implementation process

Rapid change calls for rapid solutions - and that means not choosing a system that will take 10 months to fully roll out. Or 6, or 3. Opting for nimble tech that adapts with your business will put you in a much stronger position as you’ll be up and running quickly, and can continue to iterate on your implementation over time, rather than being locked into something too restrictive.

When you need to push large volumes of content or comms out quickly, it makes sense to come up with a rapid, repeatable process that won’t hold you back. That’s why Greystar’s learning academies were a total gamechanger. With so many resources (and trust us - there are A LOT), it was becoming cumbersome to find and organise everything. With learning academies, Greystar can quickly pull all content related to a specific role or country into a single place. The learning academy model can then be applied over and over again, with each academy launched when it’s ready for rapid implementation and a quicker route to useful information.

Iterate, don't stagnate

On that note, in times of rapid change, our advice is not to wait until everything is 100% ready! Instead of releasing everything in a single big bang approach, just focus on getting it out the door ASAP. One course, playlist or academy may only apply to 20% of your workforce, it makes sense to improve access to relevant content for that 20% initially, then release content relevant to another 20%, rather than waiting to release it all in one go. 

This iterative approach is exactly what Greystar is doing - the initial learning academies are already available to employees, with plans to continue the rollout over the coming months.

Navigating change with confidence

With the right tech in place, you’ll be ready to navigate virtually any change thrown at you. 

One of the long-term benefits of flexible tech is that it'll help you with your budgeting decisions. If your platform grows and evolves with your changing needs, you can simply trust that your platform will pivot with you, making it more cost-effective in the long run.

It also gives you a huge competitive advantage! If you’re always playing catch up, you’ll struggle to get ahead of your competition - particularly when things are changing fast. With a flexible learning and comms platform, you have the freedom to change things up as and when you need to. Need to deliver an entirely new learning programme? No problem! Need to share a crucial message in the next five minutes? Go for it!

Change-friendly tech and great content at scale

Finally, we can’t ignore the benefits for your people. It’s easy to underestimate the impact of change on our employees, but without clear, consistent comms and learning to support them through it, they can quickly feel unsupported, burnt out and lacking the skills they need. Thankfully, Greystar’s learning academies are perfectly aligned to push out highly relevant content in times of change, which keeps everyone in the loop and prepared for anything.

“The learning academies support our team members through the provision of great content at scale. Content that can be easily adapted to different roles, delivered in multiple languages, and easily updated over time, keeping up with the pace of change as the needs of our customers and team members evolve. Most importantly, it enables teams to access the right learning and information at exactly the moment they need it.”
- John Langton, MD, Operations, Europe & Interim MD, Student Roost

Companies like Greystar will continue to thrive as they can handle anything that arises in the future, and it’s time for the rest of the world to catch up to enjoy the same great results.