How the team at era92 is staying productive while working remotely
Like many around the world, we too have had to adjust and continue to operate during the lockdown. Surely, we cannot call ourselves a digital agency and fail to live up to that. Besides, COVID19 has proven that in order to survive, one must go digital. Hear from our team on lessons they’ve picked on this global pandemic and how they are managing to keep work moving despite being away from our physical office.
EMMANUEL TRINITY NSAABANYE
Role at era92: Chief Job Creator
Challenges: My challenge has mainly been to adjust and find more work that is internet-based to keep my team engaged and productive. So, I’ve had to identify companies emerging during this pandemic to outsource us for work and in return help them build their brands. Most of these companies are also trying to adjust to the effects of COVID by taking their business online, i.e. sell their products through an e-commerce tool on the website, help them create a catalog, etc.
What the future looks like:
- Due to how COVID has disrupted industries, we are going to have to increase our efforts now more than ever to equip the youth that we train under our Elevate Program with skills like Flexibility, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual & Augmented Reality, Creativity & Critical Thinking. If they can learn these skills, they can survive the wrath of unemployment in the post covid world. For example, night clubs and public events such as weddings, birthdays and festivals will be the last things they open up but if we can apply Virtual & Augmented Reality, we can help organisers bring an experience to people through social media.
- I think that more virtual meetings will be held post COVID vis-a-vis physical meetings. By now, people have realised how much time is saved when you hold an online meeting than drive through traffic for 2 hours to hold a 30 minute meeting.
- The other effect is that we’ll have a significantly declined number of tech laggards. Many companies that were reluctant to get online before the pandemic hit have now adjusted to working online
Final thoughts: To everyone out there, the best thing you can do is to commit to a lifetime of learning and unlearning and to up and coming entrepreneurs, this is the best time to start a business because there are many loopholes you can exploit.
BRENDA JEZIEL NASSALI
Role at era92: Website Developer
Tools: I am using Asana and Slack for continuous workflow and Google Hangouts for keeping in touch with the team. I also use WordPress and Joomla for building websites alongside Photoshop.
Challenges: I think that some of the clients are used to reaching out to them in person, so they find it difficult to adjust to how we are doing things now, understandably so.
What the future holds: “Creativity is the highest form of intelligence and it is intelligence not easily replicated by a machine. In 15-20 years when almost all other industries will be highly automated the creative industries will be even higher valued. I predict a creative renaissance as more people find gainful employment in this broader and in-demand creative space.” Amanda Curtis,
MUSTAPHA KASULE
Role at era92: Creative Director
Tools: The lockdown hasn’t affected me that much. My work is still as flawless as before. I use Gmail, Hangouts, Slack, Asana, and Zoom. I’m also doing a lot of file transfers from sites like wetransfer and Google Drive among others.
Challenges: The internet speed is slow sometimes so it affects my timesheets.
What the future holds: The digital world is evolving really fast and it’s slowly phasing out printing which means more people will lose jobs if they don’t adjust early enough.
JASPER NSUBUGA
Role at era92: Graphics Designer
How the lockdown has been: Being under quarantine and not being able to work normally has significantly brought a negative impact on everyone. Personally, it has been a time for self re-brand and discovery learned a few lessons not forgetting the ridiculous spending in a season of not earning well.
Tools: During this lockdown, I’ve surely depended on quite a number of social apps like WhatsApp, Gmail, We Transfer, Slack, Trello, and last but not least Asana.
Challenges: the inability to access fast and cheap internet which as we all know helps us in our everyday work. Being that this is quite new, some clients were not well comfortable with the social apps and other online working platforms, this greatly slowed down the work
What the future looks like: Personally, I think and believe everything will be back to normal though can’t be sure when but it will happen.
How are you and your team handling working remotely? Let us know in the comments below.