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At Schneider Electric, we’ve made a point to organize ourselves around the concept of agility. From the ground up, from R&D onward, we have embraced agility as our guiding principle. It’s more than applying the well-known Agile methodology, it’s a mindset transformation to which we are fully committed across our business.
Within an unpredictable COVID-19 environment, we’ve seen the additional value of an agile approach to business.
Agility among colleagues
At Schneider Electric, our first priority is always to protect the health of our employees and the success and operational continuity of our customers. That means extending the agility of our employees to a greater degree, as home-office becomes standard practice. We have witnessed the speed at which teams can connect remotely and hold virtual project reviews. For employees belonging to services teams who need to be physically present at particular locations, we’ve seen how their agility has supported the continuity of business – theirs and ours.
Agility for customers
Building on our strong existing digital foundation, in fact, we’ve seen the crisis motivating further innovations that make businesses more agile. Some of those innovations, like the remote, digital Factory Acceptance Testing we’ve recently had great success in implementing (eFAT, we call it), could even become the new norm.
These innovations, which would not be possible without our embrace of Agile and agility, have been central to maintaining tight connections and meaningful relationships with our customers and keeping our supply lines running at good capacity throughout the pandemic.
Agility for partners
Another example of the value unlocked by agility can be seen in the partner model we use in our medium voltage business – a partnership model that is embedded in our company’s DNA. When we work hand-in-hand with our large global network of local partners, who in turn distribute our technologies to end users, we accept a technology transfer. Working with partners requires agility because it is a collaboration that demands adaptation to each local environment, where our partners make the final connection with those who rely on our technologies to power their business.
Agility for trust
When I look closely at the true value that agility brings, I see that it comes down to trust. It’s our workforce relying on each other to be flexible, adhering tightly to an agile mindset. It’s our approach to building our electrical equipment and software technologies using the Agile methodology. And it’s our agility in building and maintaining strong relationships with our partners. Dedicating ourselves to agility principles opens an environment that lets trust grow and thrive – and that is the key to our success.
With the trust that comes from a foundation of agility firmly embedded in our business, I see us exiting the COVID with significant progress made throughout our organization toward a more connected New Electric World.
We maintain continuity in our operations thanks to agility, flexibility, and dedication to our customers. Our partners are at the core of our strategy, know more about our network by clicking here.
