CIOs Should Focus On These 3 Areas To Combat Coronavirus Disruptions

Knowing that such extreme measures can put a serious strain on our economy, governments are urging these businesses to operate remotely. While this transition may be more difficult for some industries to adopt than others, it’s not impossible. No matter what industry your company is in, realize that a lot of the technology you’ll need already exists; therefore, your success will depend greatly on how you attain and implement this technology.  

As a CIO, there are three key actions you need to take in order to help your company prevent disruption during the coronavirus pandemic: give all departments the tools they need to operate efficiently, leverage digital technology to meet customer needs, and create ways to reassure and motivate employees during this time of uncertainty.

Make Sure All Departments Have What They Need to Do Their Jobs

For operations to continue smoothly from home, all relevant employees will need to lean heavily on digital tools to get their work done. As CIO, you should be meeting with C-Suite executives and department heads so that you can figure out what everyone requires to keep their ships running. Some of these necessities will be obvious, and some will require creative problem-solving. Since every industry has its own needs, it would be impossible to create 1 universal checklist for everyone to follow; however, here are a few examples of actions you may need to take:

• Provide Properly Loaded Laptops to Employees 
• Look to Digital Transformation: Embrace Cloud Technology and Digitize Important Paper Documents
• Utilize Project Management and Collaboration Tools such as Microsoft Teams, Skype. 
• Update Security Access Depending On The Needs of Specific Employees 

While it may feel overwhelming at first, think of it as the ultimate learning experience: not only will this challenge you to create operational solutions for your company, but you will also be forced to learn the day-to-day needs of other departments, too. In a sense, walking a mile in their shoes will give you a better concept of the big picture.

Use Digital Solutions to Support Sales & Customer Service

Customer service is now more important than ever before. To keep your company running smoothly, it is crucial that customers and partners receive stellar communication. To satiate the immediate need for updates about your company’s standings, CIOs can put an automated phone and email messages in place. While many customers will desire a human touch, this move to automation can help field immediate questions until marketing and customer service departments have everything they need to respond appropriately.    

In addition, CIOs should be implementing measures to keep the sale of services and products going. If you’re a brick-and-mortar operation, is there any way to sell products online? If services can only be offered face-to-face, then consider video-conferencing solutions.

Reassure & Motivate Employees During These Uncertain Times

As a department head, you have a responsibility to lead, motivate, and reassure your employees that your company will survive. Remember that the entire world is being affected by this pandemic; therefore, few people really know what’s to come. In this regard, there is nothing to do but move forward, work hard, and adapt to the changes that are coming. To ease some of this worry and doubt, make sure to compliment people who do good work. In addition, if you haven’t done so already, create an internal hub that only employees can access. It is here, in this intimate digital space that you can share updates about the pandemic, recognize employees who go above and beyond, and even open the floor to some lighthearted employee games and competitions.

We can provide cost-effective and flexible solutions for your organization during this challenging time. 

– Cloud managed services: We can manage your Cloud infrastructure and applications cost-effectively, leveraging our global delivery centers. 

– Contingent workforce: Instead of investing in full-time hires, you can leverage our 400+ onsite and offshore IT resources for your projects. Although our core technology partners are Microsoft, AWS, IBM, and Oracle, our globally distributed IT professionals support all technologies. 

– Onsite/offshore development: We can provide custom application development and data analytics services.