With increasingly draconian measures worldwide aimed at keeping people at home to quell the spread of COVID-19, companies of all shapes and sizes and across the majority of industries are finding themselves in the same situation – how to equip and empower their workforce for mobile working.
More than 5 million companies around the world will experience an impact at a cost to the global economy exceeding US$1 trillion. And some are already anticipating the permanent change in how we live, learn and work.
Being digital is key
Businesses that fully committed themselves to digital transformation are likely to be in a better position to support mobile working and team collaboration, keeping business going in challenging conditions.
These are the businesses that have already audited their IT infrastructure to find out which systems have solid integration to share data across applications, breaking silos and creating a more flexible ecosystem. Data is securely stowed in the cloud or a hybrid mix of cloud and on premises storage, accessible between business units for enhanced productivity and more informed decision making.
These are the businesses that have begun the process of strategically and systematically migrating to a more agile infrastructure and will be further along the path to a digital-first mindset that empowers teams throughout the business – not just those that are regularly ‘on the road’ – to work in a more flexible and mobile way.
Because agility, flexibility and mobility are the keys to survival as businesses now have to reshape – sometimes, reinvent – themselves in these unprecedented economic and social conditions.
Laggards that de-prioritized or delayed digital transformation investment – or intended to invest ‘in the future’ – will find themselves trying to keep staff working with a woefully inadequate digital infrastructure.
This is the wake-up call for digital transformation.
For anyone who doubted its importance, here is the sea change in the global business environment that none of us could have predicted. But for which some were prepping their businesses for, nonetheless.
There aren’t many aspects of life and work that haven’t experienced a significant impact by COVID-19. Some of the changes it forces are going to be long-lasting. Investing in a digital-first business infrastructure and seamless mobile working practices will be the norm for a lot more organisations before we see the end of the Coronavirus, as businesses face ‘invest or die’ decisions on digital transformation.
