Underinvesting in innovation set businesses back in the pandemic. But it’s not too late to embrace change.

By Stan Lequin, vice president and general manager of Digital Innovation, Insight Enterprises

If the past several weeks have taught us anything, it’s that the COVID-19 pandemic is not behind us. In fact, it’s clear that we’re in it for the long haul, with global cases now reaching close to 15 million and hot spots re-emerging across the country.

As such, not only must we continue to adapt to a rapidly shifting environment when it comes to working and learning remotely, we also need to determine the best way ahead for a mixed environment in which some regions take their first steps towards reopening while others take a couple of steps back, or where some people return to the office while others continue working from home indefinitely or even permanently.

Within the unknowns of what the future holds for us, it’s clear that technology — and IT professionals — are, and will continue to be, central players in setting the stage for a hybrid working environment, preparing businesses for future upheavals, and even helping make the physical workplace more conducive to preserving the health and well-being of employees.

In May, Insight conducted a survey of IT leaders on how COVID-19 had impacted their priorities and their companies’ ability to operate, as well as the technologies they plan to lean on to facilitate a safe return to work. The results found that many organizations had underinvested in their IT capabilities prior to the pandemic, with just 24% of businesses able to adapt to the new environment with no downtime, and less than half (46%) of IT professionals saying they felt very or extremely prepared to pivot to the new business landscape.

But COVID-19 has served as a crash-course in business resilience, and IT pros feel more prepared than ever to deal with future crises. In our survey, 79% of respondents expect their department will take on a greater role in their organization than pre-COVID-19, and 65% feel their companies are very or extremely prepared to grapple with future disruptions similar to the pandemic.

This data illustrates the relationship between innovation, business continuity and success. Those organizations that empowered their IT professionals to push boundaries and experiment with new tools likely comprise the one-quarter of businesses that did not experience any disruption. They are likely the businesses that had fully embraced cloud computing, collaboration suites and “work-from-anywhere” solutions long before the pandemic hit. And they are likely the ones who will emerge from the other side of this crisis stronger and nimbler.

However, the question of “what’s next?” remains. Over the past few months, many companies have been very much in a reactive phase — getting new technologies and capabilities online quickly and improvising systems to support a fully remote experience for both employees and customers. Now we’re entering a reflective period, where business leaders must ask themselves several key questions:

· Are we equipped to continue along this path for the foreseeable future?

· Are we nimble enough to navigate a cycle of opening and closing as the pandemic ebbs and flows?

· What vulnerabilities might we have unknowingly introduced into our systems?

· Where did we achieve efficiencies? Where might we have created inefficiencies?

· What did the initial experience tell us about our technology priorities?

It’s not enough for organizations to answer these questions, though — they must take action based on their reflections, and I would argue that digital innovation is essential to making smart, effective business decisions. So, how can businesses leverage the power of innovation to improve resilience? These are my three key pieces of advice:

1. Bring IT into the fold. Ensure the IT department has a voice in developing and updating business continuity plans. Investments in technology, in good times or bad, are about more than the price tag, and IT professionals are best equipped to help their organizations understand the ROI of new technology.

2. Encourage innovation. In our very first Insight from the Edge story, my colleague Matt Jackson wrote about how companies can encourage a culture of innovation. That advice holds even truer now. When employees feel empowered to bring creative solutions to the table, your toolkit for navigating crises grows.

3. Always start with the problem you’re trying to solve. Even though the world has changed dramatically in recent months, there still isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to technology and innovation. Don’t invest in technologies just because you think you should or that they’re the latest and greatest; instead, do a deep dive into what your business needs to thrive and survive amid uncertainty. From there, you can parse out the investments in people, processes and technology that will help you meet those needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, and there are likely to be more challenges on the way as people try to get back to some semblance of normal. The key to navigating these challenges from a business perspective, though, is embracing innovation as a pre-requisite to problem-solving.

Stan leads Insight’s Digital Innovation team of more than 900 deep technical experts driving differentiation for organizations of all sizes through cloud enablement, DevOps, intelligent applications, and the use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and augmented/virtual reality. His team also provides strategic services spanning the organizational change management side of digital transformation.