Well, it has been 6 months since the coronavirus had cast its spell on each and every aspect of the life of people. Besides this, the businesses and manufacturing units also were in shock of the sudden rise in the number of cases. People were asked to maintain social distancing and had to work from home. But yet everyone is positive and gearing themselves for the post-pandemic world. Some people are assuming that wearing masks and gloves would become a necessity and would be adjusting to the new normal.
Businesses have to take charge of the entire situation and create alternative ways to do business and take it to the next level. Have you ever thought about how the post-pandemic world would be for the IT leaders?
About a year back, the IT leaders used to have a long list of worries that consisted of increasing sales complexity, competition, credit crisis, digital transformation, and a lot of different things. But due to COVID-19, the list of worries got altered overnight. Suddenly the focus turned to surviving the pandemic, managing the deadlines of work with limited manpower, maintaining COVID-19 guidelines, recruitment complexities, managing employees remotely. The pandemic would be the true test of IT leadership at all levels.
If taking into consideration the global scenario, governments, and IT leaders are gasping for an effective coping strategy. This global pandemic has compelled nations and organizations to change strategies, policies.
It is difficult to escape the situation, but every IT leader has to face it and also rise with a brave heart. IT leaders have to take measures to mitigate the immediate damage that has endured by the entire business whether it is in terms of financial losses or manpower losses.
Post pandemic, the IT leaders would have to formulate strategies that would lead the organization back to prosperity. Your focus should be on the investor’s priorities and expectations because they would be helping you financially to get your company back to its actual market position. IT leaders must strive continuously to grab opportunities and make the best use of it because post-pandemic, you can't afford to spend time thinking. It would be time to take some serious actions.
IT Leaders Must Focus On Testing Workforce Contingency Plans
During this disruption phase, it is very essential for leaders to ensure that employee safety is maintained or not. They need to think about workforce splitting, work-from-home facilities, maintaining continuity in production, and meeting essential deadlines. The measures taken by IT leaders would vary by organization. They also have to consider the company’s safety, which could be compromised if each and every employee is given the remote access. So it is a very critical condition and being vigilant while making decisions is quite important.
IT Leaders Should Put Forward Strategies To Diversify Supply Chains
The magnitude with which the COVID-19 has affected the business could be witnessed easily. In addition, if your business is dependent on other businesses like manufacturing or processing, outsourcing, or distributing, then it would have to face a really difficult time. According to the coronavirus guidelines, the government bodies had restricted the mobility of the products and people, which had a great impact on the supply chain. So post-pandemic, IT leaders are bound to come up with the business strategies that would help in diversifying the supply chain. Diversification of supply chain refers to the fact that the business must consult different vendors in different regions and not just depend on one source.
The IT Leaders Must Practice Resilience
The sudden spread of COVID-19, a deadly virus was not at all expected by any business sectors. Hence navigating or surviving through such a phase was difficult for everyone. If your business survived this huge crisis then you must be glad as it would give you a feeling of winning a championship. But post-pandemic, merely surviving is not enough. The IT leaders have to be optimistic and consciously prepare for adverse conditions where things might not be in their control. Moreover, they need to plan to explore the different opportunities ahead that would always keep the employees’ interest at heart. The two important factors- resilience and patience will help in fighting back the situation.
Summary
Within these first two quarters of the year 2020, we could witness that a crisis like COVID-19 leaves no individual or business untouched. Everyone is affected by the impact of COVID-19 and is trying to get back to their feet. According to the UN, the pandemic had taken the global economy by almost 5 to 10 percent and will continue to do so till the end of the year 2020. Only post-pandemic, everyone would get the result of their efforts, and life would slowly get back to normal.
