Any number of companies can help a small or large business with technology needs. But a business that helps them manage the employees working with that technology occupies a narrower field.
Sophaya Inc., which started four years ago, provides “soft-skills” training for companies and small businesses with employees working in the field, or at home.
Founder and President Mari Anne Snow said the business combines her two loves, educational training and technology.
“A lot of times people call it soft-skill training, but we are building professional-development training for a … worker who has to work in a dispersed environment. We think about the people who have to work in those environments and how they collaborate, how they build relationships [and] how they interact.”
Her clients include startups and large retail operations, which might have many locations and employees spread among states.
Sometimes even the most traditional companies, who insist they are not having employees working remotely, don’t see that they are working remotely every time they enter a conference call.
“If you are engaging in services with your clients and doing it over a distance, you are engaging in some form of remote work,” Snow said.
Among clients, their greatest concern is how to maintain accountability and engagement among a far-flung workforce.
“How do you maintain an engaged workforce, if people are dispersed?” she said. “How do you maintain accountability? How do I perpetuate a culture, and stay engaged in that culture, and make sure my employees are doing the things I want them to do?”
Of course, the same management challenge exists for supervisors and leaders who can look out over their employees. But for the remote workforce, the use of technology needs to be consistent to keep up the dialogue.
Among other things, Snow said video is a must-have. It’s the next best thing to having someone there, and it counters the problem of digital communications, which can strip out the context and emotion behind messages.
“We’re a multichannel world,” Snow said. “One channel is the face-to-face option. But there are other options. If someone is getting an email, that’s more formal. An instant message is more relaxed, more intimate. What we’re saying to managers is to understand a multichannel world.”
Since founding the company, three things changed. One, is the acceptance that having dispersed employees is not going away.
The Great Recession changed the way businesses operate. Lean teams and slashed travel budgets encouraged more distance employment. And people started working in the gig economy. Contracting increased. Now, with fuller budgets and better times, companies have started beefing up staffing, but the culture of work has continued to move toward remote employment.
While the company is private and does not disclose sales, the demand for the training provided by Sophaya has almost doubled annually, said Snow.
Although the company has headquarters in Providence, employees work remotely.
“There are plenty of people doing the technology stuff. But very few people are handling the messy business of training the humans to live in this environment,” Snow said.
OWNER: Mari Anne Snow
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Leadership training
LOCATION: 11 South Angell St., Suite 324, Providence
EMPLOYEES: Six
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2015
ANNUAL SALES: WND
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.
