VIATRIS
“ HUMANS ARE VERY RESILIENT . I ALWAYS TOLD PEOPLE KEEP LOOKING FORWARD , AND TO START PLANNING FOR THAT ”
RAM RAYAPUREDDY GLOBAL CIO , VIATRIS
3 . A strong change management program was established with proactive and targeted communications and training .
Then came March 2020 . The challenges of any integration are complex , detailed , and personal . When the pandemic hit , teams had to shift to working remotely overnight , adding an unimaginable layer of complexity . To address this , Rayapureddy quickly divided his team in two – one to focus on the shift to remote work and one to keep integration planning moving forward .
The remote work team ran disaster drills and upgraded infrastructure to ensure adequate bandwidth and that everyone had the right equipment to work from home . Operations moved into the cloud , using Microsoft Office 365 , and communications shifted from Skype to Microsoft Teams . " We had been planning to roll out Teams as part of our long-term strategy , and that would have been a one-year exercise if things were normal . In fact , we moved to Teams in seven days , our workforce was very supportive , and the transition happened smoothly ," Rayapureddy explains .
As the full team could no longer meet in person , Rayapureddy and the integration planning team took the approach of “ smaller , consistent , and concise .” Any planned in-person workshops were now conducted by smaller teams who could work remotely and focus upon very specific outcomes . The team was equally focused on employee engagement . Every Thursday morning , they held an informal check-in call . These were unrelated to work and purely to
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