The Future of Work: An Interview with Brad Ezard

We have compiled a recap of the interview with our COO Brad Ezard during the live Twitter #SaaSChats on “The Future of Work” hosted by L-Spark on January 16th, 2020.

#SaaSChats: The Future of Work

1. Tell us a little bit about your opinion of remote work. Do you prefer it to a traditional workplace?

For me, it all depends on the type of work being done. Our team benefits from sharing experience and being in close proximity to each other, so that’s how’ve set up. We basically adapted to the needs of our team and this works best for them and our clients.

2. How is remote work weaved into your organizational culture?

We’ve got a very professional team at KeynoteGroup and when the important things in life call, we all trust in our commitment to get the job done. So, whether it’s personal time off, travel or whatever, we give everyone the remote tools to make things as easy as possible. Support your people and they’ll support your success.

3. How do you separate work life from home life in a remote setting?

If someone has any advice on this one, please send it my way… I generally just want to hang out with my dog when I’m working remotely…

4. How do you maintain company culture and create a feeling of inclusivity with a remote team?

You’ve got to prioritize access. With the right technology, distance gaps can be closed without much disruption to culture at all. Giving the team access to each other and management to the same degree they would have in a traditional setting helps.

I view culture as something that should continually evolve. If the current approach to work involves more freedom and fewer geographic constraints, great companies will figure out how to weave that freedom into their culture and reap the benefits of that strength.

5. How does having a distributed team affect your ability to hire and retain top tier talent?

I think it actually opens more doors. Shifts in generational expectations about what a “workplace” can be means that we’ve really got a near-unlimited talent pool to tap into when it comes to remote workers.

My advice to hiring managers is to embrace the evolving lifestyle choices that remote workers value and set clear expectations for access and communication. Remote workers can truly change the game for some companies, and I believe that will continue to be the case.

6. What are the biggest challenges you see with the changes in the way we work?

The challenge will be getting commitment from leadership to embrace the rise of remote work – the buck stops with them. If leaders give remote works the tools, expectations, access and support, there’s nothing stopping a company from growing with the help of remote workers.

7. What are some of the trends we are seeing in the workplace as technology evolves and the world becomes even flatter?

The more we leverage technology the more we expose our businesses to risk. I’m seeing a lot of focus on cybersecurity and data protection right now and I don’t expect that to change. Businesses with remote workers will need to develop better cybersecurity literacy to maintain the confidence of clients, especially in finance and healthcare.

8. With the evolution of technology, how do you see work changing as we move into a new decade?

I come at this from a different angle, but my first thought is that with less need for physical office space in premium markets, companies can invest more in talent and support to give workers the tools to be productive and thrive in non-traditional workspaces.

9. What tools do you use to make it easier for you to stay connected no matter where you are (project management, etc)?

Monday.com provides a great customizable project management tool that we rely on every single day. It helps the team stay ultra-connected to projects with updates in real time. Others off the top of my head are Basecamp, Trello and Slack and all are useful.