One of the best things about IT is that we thrive on change. Even when the world is on fire, we are at our best — we have come through for society several times over within the last 20 years alone. Our resilience and adaptability are what make our industry so valuable.
STAY RELEVANT, EXPAND YOUR REACH AND
ACHIEVE YOUR FULL POTENTIAL!
Crisis-Fueled Cyber Security Services
Even in the dial up days, we knew cyber security was important. However, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we saw a boom in security initiatives. Technology personnel stepped up and a whole new realm of cyber security was born.
Crisis-Fueled Cloud Services
After the recession hit in 2008, we saw a massive change in how we do business. SaaS had been around for years, but it wasn’t until we learned that we needed more robust applications to support a diverse workforce that we saw businesses really invest in them. Stability of budget, consistent delivery models, and able to scale on a moment’s notice? Business signed up!
What New IT Services Will This Crisis Fuel?
The previous two examples bring us to our current situation in 2020. We have been aware of work-from-home strategies in the past, but many companies saw it as just a perk. Well...now it is a necessity. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have businesses asking questions about continuity and work-from-home now more than ever. Once again, we are seeing technology professionals step up and deliver school, business, and personal connectivity to hundreds of millions of people overnight!
What should we expect as a technical profession? I predict the death of the traditional, brick-and-mortar company. We are about to fully enter the era of distributed workforces. We have been seeing this develop gradually, but now it’s manifested into reality. We should expect high-priority requests for diversified networks that allow users to work from anywhere. We should also expect tech spending to increase dramatically, while other projects get placed on the back burner.
Additionally, I predict another technical boom. Within the next year we will see entire businesses coming to market in order to deliver work-from-home offices, complete with seminars, workshops and best practices. We will see a more open-minded culture toward virtual assistants and other virtual employees. Is your company ready for this challenge?
What do you need to do now to get ahead of the curve?
Once you have some breathing room, will you help your clients create robust home offices that are interconnected as well as their brick-and-mortar is?
I believe every tech company needs to provide their clients with the following over the coming year:
- A STRONG delivery of distributed workforce strategy
- Technology that’s aligned with business initiatives
- Remote assistance that’s better than on-site
Get these three things ready; if you have the distributed workforce product prepared, your next step is to up your game with business alignment. Don’t drive this as a technology solution; it’s a business solution! I may be biased, but vCIO strategies will help you here. You need to be ready to show your clients how your distributed workforce strategy will not disrupt their business.
Lastly, you need to up your game on remote assistance. Remote tech support should not just be “good enough”. You should consistently be delivering your clients an even better IT experience than they are used to. No more pinching pennies here — this is the place to heavily invest in to support those distributed workforces.
Welcome to the new age. I know everything is chaotic right now, but we are about to go on another ride.
Change is in the air. Are you ready?
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