Everyone has their own opinion about the global pandemic but one thing everyone tends to agree on is that the changes it brings will be permanent. Customer priorities and directions will shift and that could have really big implications for the IT industry.
Over the last few weeks, many more users have experienced what it’s really like to work at home. They have enjoyed the time-saving and stress-busting benefits of not having to commute to work, but have also had to learn how to cope with the distractions of being at home.
Many more organisations and users have ventured further into the cloud and started to use collaborative tools in earnest. Will they now be converts and evangelists to the cause? More people have started to use online ordering and services. Will that continue?
Fully tested
Business contingency and disaster recovery processes have been fully tested. Were they up to the task and what will companies want to change in this respect now? Organisations that had no such plans may now be looking to put them in place.
Ensuring good security and data protection was already a key goal, as well as a constantly moving target. But with everyone working at home, the goalposts have been moved again.
The necessary response to the outbreak has brought about some very swift changes to IT buying and consumption priorities. There has been a rush to acquire equipment to enable home working and to sign-up for cloud-based services. Some IT projects may have been accelerated, others have been put on hold with technical and IT staff unable to perform installations.
Changed priorities
There was some disruption to production and shipments in the earlier stages, and while this now seems to have abated for the most part, priorities may need to change, and manufacturers may need to build-in more contingency against unexpected events.
For the channel, with so many new technology developments taking place at such a rapid pace now, constant learning and knowledge development has become vital – and partnerships and networking has become more important too. But all face-to-face events have had to be cancelled for the foreseeable future. TD SYNNEX went virtual with all events from the middle of March, for example.
Looking at the situation more broadly, the power and potential of artificial intelligence, and the importance of being able to gather and analyse data accurately and quickly have been thrown into sharp relief.
The big question now is ‘what will be the new normal?’ How will things change and how will we – as a channel – need to change and adapt to meet customer needs?
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