What will our lives look like exactly one year from now? At this point, many of us have no idea, since the world has become more unpredictable than ever due to the pandemic. During the past few months, we’ve dealt with states shutting down to various degrees, opening back up and then backtracking as case numbers spike again. It’s anybody’s guess what our day-to-day routines will be months from now.
However, it seems safe to say that this crisis will permanently alter some aspects of our personal and professional lives. Shelter-in-place orders already led to a sharp increase in the portion of employed Americans working from home, and some have embraced the idea of never returning to the office, even after the pandemic is over: For example, Facebook, Twitter, Square and Shopify have announced plans to let staff members work from home permanently, according to MarketWatch.
The greater prevalence of remote work arrangements has spurred other trends in the corporate world as well, including more reliance on cloud solutions that end users can access from anywhere. Nearly 60 percent of enterprises expect to rely on the cloud more than they previously expected to because of COVID-19, according to the Flexera 2020 State of the Cloud Report.
Additionally, the pandemic has led to a surge in cyberattacks, as malicious actors come up with coronavirus-themed scams and attempt to exploit weak points in remote work solutions. In response, business leaders have had to adjust their cybersecurity strategies.
Overall, businesses around the world are currently in a state of transition as they cope with these trends and adjust how they operate to stay afloat during this crisis and beyond. If you’re wondering how to approach managing IT as your organization adapts to a world in flux, here are a few tips that you might find helpful.
1. Know your short- and long-term business goals, as well as what technologies you might need to achieve them.
Identifying your objectives is a vital part of effectively handling any type of transition, according to the Indeed article “6 Steps to a Successful Change Management Process.” Your IT team as well as the rest of your employees should be well-versed in what your organizational goals are for both the immediate and more distant future.
Your IT strategy should align with those objectives. For instance, if you plan to transition from two brick-and-mortar offices to just one and let some of your staff work remotely, you might consider implementing a cloud phone system to maintain optimal levels of communication and collaboration.
2. Communicate constantly.
This is essential to ensure everyone’s on the same page and successfully handle a change in business strategy. Executives should include the IT team leader in strategy discussions to make sure the department knows what to expect and can anticipate shifts in workload during major transformations (e.g., moving everyone from the office to work-from-home set-ups), according to the TechRepublic article “How to manage your IT team through company transitions.”
3. Assemble a change management team.
To facilitate communication throughout your company, keep everyone organized and overall ensure the transition goes as smoothly as possible, it helps to put together a change management team consisting of leaders within your organization who already have a thorough understanding of your business operations, according to Indeed.
4. Consider seeking outside assistance.
Particularly if you’re looking to contain costs and increase efficiency, your organization could benefit from partnering with a managed IT services provider. For instance, the Stratosphere Networks team can either fully manage your IT or support your in-house tech support staff with co-managed IT services. We can leverage our experience and extensive partner network to help you optimize operations, all while spending and stressing less.
If you could use some guidance on managing IT during these turbulent times, our trusted technology advisors would be happy to help. We have extensive experience helping businesses across all industries establish winning long-term IT strategies.
For more information, get in touch with our advisors today by calling 877-599-3999 or emailing sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
