Redefining Normal — and Returning to Innovation
By Matt Jackson, vice president of Digital Innovation, Insight Enterprises
Over the course of 2020, all of us have been forced to re-evaluate and adjust our relationship with technology. Despite how far we’ve come in relying on technology to make our lives more pleasant, efficient and connected, COVID-19 showed that we could be — and needed to be — doing so much more.
Many businesses were caught on the back foot as stay-at-home orders rolled in, unprepared to support a scattered workforce; some have been further impacted by the wavering economy and needed to shift their IT priorities to focus on keeping the lights on. But as the economy begins to open back up and working from home feels more natural, it’s time for companies to reprioritize innovation and look to the future.
As we head into the second half of 2020, there are a number of IT innovations I expect to see truly take off. Many of them were already in the works pre-COVID but have taken on renewed urgency. Specifically:
· Digitizing your physical business. With the Internet of Things and automation, opportunities abound to make any workplace — be it a corporate office, warehouse, or store — smarter, safer and more resilient in the face of the pandemic or any other disruptive event. That’s especially true now as companies look for ways to bring people back to the office and invite customers back. For instance, a new Insight survey looking at how enterprise IT has responded to COVID-19 shows one-third of businesses intend to implement an IoT ecosystem and all-encompassing data platform to centralize and operate their return-to-work technologies (e.g. thermal cameras, contact tracing and smart hand sanitizers). We’re employing our own Insight Connected Platform™ to help organizations of all kinds reopen their doors to workers and patrons by using intelligent technology that helps detect symptoms and prevent the spread of viruses.
· Cognitive services. Chatbots, virtual assistants and other AI-driven services are likely to proliferate as businesses seek ways to support their customers while minimizing human touch points or the potential for in-person contact.
· Productivity management. Aside from adopting tools that facilitate working remotely (e.g., collaboration software), businesses will need to identify technologies that help their employees stay on task and make the most of the resources available to them. Robotic process automation and even DevOps processes for software businesses are examples of technology that can introduce greater agility, teamwork and ultimately results while keeping workers focused on the most important tasks despite working from a distance.
· Healthcare technology. Of course, the healthcare industry itself will continue to innovate and find new applications for AI and machine learning — in fact, it’s imperative that they do so. But even outside the healthcare industry, technologies like thermal cameras are going to become prevalent within the workplace to help protect employee health.
You may not feel like the above technologies are applicable to your business, but I would argue otherwise. In fact, staying ahead of the innovation curve and preparing for future disruptions, whether it’s adopting this technology or something else altogether, is an absolute imperative. Organizations that retrench as the acute threat of COVID-19 recedes risk being left behind by their industries — or worse, they risk failing.
Digital transformation is necessary for A) maintaining business continuity both today and tomorrow; and B) staying competitive. From a practical standpoint, then, here are five key steps organizations can take to ensure digital innovation remains a core business function:
1. Understand your needs. What gaps has the coronavirus pandemic revealed for your business? For example, perhaps your customer service team was not set up to work remotely, or you didn’t have enough staff to handle customer needs. Perhaps your supply chain was broken. The objective is to undertake transformation with a specific goal in mind. Innovation is a game of strategy, not shiny new toys, bells or whistles.
2. Get your people on board. Digital transformation requires strong leadership, especially now, when your colleagues are likely overwhelmed by change and navigating quarantine fatigue. Make sure you’re bringing your people along with you on the journey by helping them understand why a change is being made and how it will ultimately help them.
3. Enable the workplace. This is one of the largest undertakings in the digital transformation journey. You must have the people, technology and processes in place to actually pursue any initiative. That means putting a roadmap in place, coordinating with stakeholders (IT, procurement, and more) to make sure you have the technology and third-party resources you need to enact it, and having a plan for training and communicating with employees.
4. Keep iterating. Digital transformation is a continuous process filled with starts, stops and setbacks. While the end product is important, it’s most effective to focus on small steps and staying nimble. What can you accomplish today? What needs to change in your approach? What’s working right now for this one piece of the puzzle, and what isn’t? Prioritize collaboration versus rigidly sticking to a step-by-step plan.
5. Manage ongoing change. If you’re doing it right, digital transformation doesn’t stop once you’ve deployed a solution — it becomes a mindset. Keep the momentum going by ensuring you have feedback mechanisms in place that allow you and your colleagues to share ideas, stay motivated and foster creative problem-solving.
Even though the coronavirus crisis has many of us feeling like the world came to a grinding halt, the reality couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to tech. On the contrary, the pandemic has hastened changes that were already underway. In short, there isn’t a “new normal” — there is no longer a normal at all. Embracing this continuous change and understanding how to use it to your advantage is essential to thriving in this environment.
Matt leads Insight’s Digital Innovation team in the design of enterprise software solutions, focusing on modern enterprise applications and security architectures. His passion goes beyond achieving operational excellence and deeper into transforming organizations. If you’d like to learn more from Matt about the “5 Steps to Digital Transformation,” you can tune in to this Insight Digital Innovation presentation.
