COVID-19: Technology
Your technology challenges
The pandemic has highlighted clear gaps in business continuity for many organisations. Identifying and bridging those is crucial to ensure business continuity and see you through the crisis and beyond.
With the abrupt changes to ways of doing business, organisations are realising that having the right digital presence, with the right supporting processes and implementing the right technologies to streamline those processes - like offering products and services online and delivery - are essential.
Business continuity must be maintained throughout the crisis and beyond: supply chains need to run as smoothly as possible, while maintaining open lines of communication with suppliers for maximum efficiency. The bottom line is if you’re unable to fulfill customer requests, you risk losing business to your competitors that can.
What should you consider from a technology standpoint?
- Perform a Digital Business Continuity Assessment
- Is your IT landscape and organisation ready for a low-contact, agile world?
- Set up a collaborative remote working environment
- Fill in your technological gaps
Perform a Digital Business Continuity Assessment
Identify your connectivity and process automation gaps
The new ways in which your customers and partners are working together during the lockdown and beyond is changing the game drastically. Are you able to connect with your customers? Can you still fulfill your orders? Is your supply chain automated and digitally connected with your suppliers in a way that you can operate efficiently in a low-contact environment?
It’s important to evaluate and define the right priorities so that you can continue to deliver your services in the digital ‘new normal’.
Is your IT landscape and organisation ready for a low-contact, agile world?
With a large portion of the workforce now working remotely, organisations that have on-site data centres rather than operating in the cloud are at a clear disadvantage when it comes to maintaining business continuity, and certainly to delivering business agility. If you haven’t yet migrated to the cloud, the time is now to see what your hybrid cloud landscape should look like in order to be able to adapt quickly to changing circumstances.
Take a step back and assess the following: Can I rapidly scale key applications? Can I launch new digital services and capabilities quickly? Do I need to reorganise my IT department in response to the new way of working? If so, what are the steps to take? Do I need to adjust cybersecurity levels? Will my IT strategy change with cloud migration?
Set up a collaborative remote working environment
Now that most or all of your people - and suppliers - are working from home, setting up a collaborative remote working environment is key. Most organisations have adopted and implemented the tools to organise meetings and videoconferences, but you also need to be able to share documents effectively and securely, including with outside suppliers.
Pre-COVID-19, some organisations already had these measures in place. Those that didn’t are experiencing a shift in priorities: to preserve business continuity, the right tools and technologies are essential to maintaining a smooth administrative flow.
Fill in your technological gaps
If the current crisis has magnified specific areas of weakness, take the opportunity to identify these and fill in the technological gaps in your business processes. It’s crucial to remain connected with your customers, team and your supply chain while working and interacting remotely, now and post-crisis.
Want more information on how you can maintain business continuity from a technology perspective? Contact our Technology Consulting specialists to help you develop and implement the best strategy for your specific needs, through the current crisis and beyond.
Contact us
