Navigating the COVID-19 crisis: Necessity is the mother of transformation

Transformation guest post by Loman McCaffrey, who is Head of Practices at Logicalis Ireland

Over the past few months life, as we know it, has changed. With travel bans, school closures and social distancing, many of us are not only adapting to remote working but also acting as part-time teachers and managing the day-to-day challenges of our ‘new normal’.

Whilst we continue to struggle with the ongoing disruptions to our professional and personal lives, it is easy to overlook the silver lining to this unforeseen cloud. Both businesses and employees are finding new innovative ways to not only exist but thrive in the current circumstances. Organisations will hopefully emerge better and stronger than before, as workforces become more resilient and adaptable.

Business leaders are starting to see the positive impact that a remote workforce can have and realising that they don’t necessarily need a five-year roadmap for their digital transformation journey.

Companies in Ireland and worldwide have been forced to digitally convert their operations practically overnight and many have done so successfully. While most CIOs would prefer a more orderly transition, COVID-19 proves that digital transformation can be considered in terms of weeks and months, rather than years.

Necessity has become the mother of transformation

They say that ‘necessity is the mother of innovation’ – in other words, if you’re looking for a solution to an immovable problem, you’ll eventually figure it out. As companies navigate through these unchartered waters, the ability to maintain some form of ‘business as usual’ is essential.

Therefore, Irish organisations have to address the new – adopting new technologies to enable people to work from home, safeguarding against emerging cybersecurity risks and finding different ways of engaging with customers – without neglecting the old – maintaining productivity levels, upholding customer service levels and continuing business operations as normal.

As it turns out, necessity is also the mother of transformation. If anything, the outbreak has firmly brought transformation to the top of every company’s agenda and proves that digital is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

What does all this transformation mean for the ‘new normal’?

In a bid to flatten the curve, the ability to work remotely has become essential for most employees. However, indicators suggest that this approach will continue for many businesses. In fact, a study by Gartner revealed that 74% of CFOs expect to move at least 5% of their previously on-site employees to permanent remote roles post COVID-19.

This shift is happening already and if it spreads, there could be fewer HQs in Dublin, far less people in offices and no more 9 to 5 routine. It is a real possibility when you consider that some businesses can?t safely facilitate their teams within their current office space and the fact that we have heard from customers that productivity levels have remained steady, if not increased, during the crisis.

Furthermore, businesses can have a much more diverse workforce with remote working. People who previously avoided an office-based environment – such as those who are less physically able or have young children – can now be integrated into the workforce using intuitive collaboration tools. As well as increasing the talent pool, this allows companies to be more flexible in terms of what they offer prospective (and existing) employees.

Redesigning IT infrastructure to accommodate a remote workforce

Business leaders have had to rethink how their employees operate and how IT infrastructure can support new ways of working. COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of availability, security and reliability of workloads as people seek to access data, applications and systems from home.

As not all of them are equally available, secure or performing to the required standard, organisations now need to review the steps they have taken so far in order to determine what will work best as they move forward – be that on-premise or cloud-based, or a combination.

In our experience, the workloads that have been moved to the cloud are generally performing better, but that isn’t necessarily the case for every workload within every company. What is necessary is that all businesses focus on implementing the solutions that will maximise accessibility, security and performance during this challenging time.

We’ve recently seen an acceleration in organisations adopting hybrid infrastructure solutions to sustain business continuity, support resilience and enhance agility. For example, in response to a decrease in footfall and greater demand for online shopping, retailers are now providing secure and scalable eCommerce offerings. They are adapting, as we all should be.

Furthermore, remote working requires more robust security and IT redundancy solutions. The threat landscape has increased dramatically as cybercriminals seek to take advantage of more widespread access and perhaps more vulnerable home devices or distracted workers. As a result, companies have had to implement additional safeguards against phishing and human-centric attacks.

Expectations around disruption have also evolved in that any project that inhibits flexibility and mobility will probably struggle to get off the ground. Planned projects will have to be re-engineered, or even abandoned, with these core principles in mind. Budgets have changed as well, as companies adapted to the immediate situation and implemented solutions they never intended to introduce. Again, now is the time to review, adjust and make decisions.

Adopting a human-centric business model

While technological resilience can help organisations survive this crisis, we cannot forget the human element. Remote working shows that it is possible for people to be productive when working from home and highlights the importance of empowering staff by making them feel connected wherever they are.

It may be hard to see but the COVID-19 pandemic does have a silver lining and there is light at the end of this tunnel – the world will hopefully be a better place when we emerge from this crisis and businesses should be in a stronger position. Technology will advance quicker; workforces will become more diverse; operations will be more agile; and both people and organisations will be more resilient. A brighter future, with IT at its heart, is being built.