We Talk With Our Clients

26 August 2020

Sergio Scornavacca, Director Industrial Markets & Northern Italy Lead, Indra Italia

Talks with: Guglielmo Sallustio, Partner, Friisberg & Partners Italy

Since the Covid-19 Crisis began, what steps have you taken?

Nobody can say today that they were ready for this pandemic. Fortunately in Minsait, an Indra Group Company, we faced this health emergency with unity, calm and commitment, trying to maintain professionalism and constant effort.

Today we can definitely say that due to our actions, the impact has been limited.

We are a global technology and consulting company and we firmly believe in flexibility at work, focusing on trust, autonomy and the responsibility of our professionals. From the very beginning, we tried to work with our colleagues demonstrating that their safety was our first priority.

We focused on:

  • Transparency, giving a daily update of all news related to Covid-19
  • Creating a specific Steering Committee that is still monitoring the situation
  • Making our Doctor and Psychotherapist available
  • Donating to Civil Defence and coordinating an internal network of social solidarity
  • Constantly communicating directly with our Country Manager via specific virtual meetings with every single working group

Personally I decided to extend my relationship with my international colleagues in South America, USA and Europe, and it was great to share with them every single experience we were each facing. With my team, I changed from our traditional to “speed-date” meetings to have each team member share the good and bad moments of their week during lockdown.

What lessons have cities learned from this crisis so far?

This emergency can be an opportunity to accelerate the evolution towards new and more collaborative working models. I believe that we have the opportunity to build what we called in Minsait “new bridges”, a metaphor that I particularly love.

Our “Bridges to the Interior” has resulted in innovative tools and methodologies which are even more collaborative and our “Bridges to the Exterior” improves our relationship with our customers, sharing their needs and growth prospects.

Now more than ever, I feel close to my colleagues, customers, partners and providers.

When will the situation change?

Nobody can say exactly. In the meantime we have a civic and professional obligation to protect our colleagues, to never leave them alone. Change is hard and, in a crisis like Covid-19, it gets very complex. Leaders are faced with keeping their workforce engaged and productive, while keeping the business running and building for the future.

In the meantime, we have to invest in a transparent, purposeful messaging, trying to ensure communications which are clear, consistent and easily accessible to all.

What will be the biggest Impact on future cities’ organization?

We must limit the social, organizational, and economic impact of this emergency. We have amazing technological tools, and we have the opportunity to leverage them with internal and external experts who are able to support us all in this phase of rebirth, always putting people at the centre of our consideration.

For example, today more than ever, it’s necessary to focus on training as continuous improvement. It is a time for discussion and confrontation, otherwise we risk organisational chaos which could be difficult to control and could lead to a feeling of dissatisfaction - with important impacts on performance and corporate image.

Are you optimistic about after Covid-19?

Yes, absolutely! I’m always optimistic that what's to come is better.

My sector is the Industry and Consumer Goods Market, so it’s probably one of the most affected industries of this crisis. I know that each and one of us have to think about the “needs” of our people, as employees, fathers and mothers of families.

This is the time to accelerate our transformation in order to come out of the crisis even stronger, to become better people working in better companies.

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