After the first wave: How CIOs can weather the coronavirus crisis

Chief information officers must act swiftly to manage IT through the pandemic in a pragmatic way.

 
 «The new normal is not clear yet, but we need to start moving toward it.”

The implications and repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis are far from certain. But as the quote above suggests, technology leaders are now starting to think about how to get past the first wave of crisis management.

This humanitarian crisis is still unfolding: quarantines, lockdowns, and harrowing images of hospitals straining under the weight of sick patients all underscore the devastating human effects of the pandemic. The economic picture for many countries is dire. As we wrote recently, COVID-19 is a crisis that requires companies to address lives and livelihoods. CIOs have a critical role to play because social distancing and the lockdown of economies require technology not just to maintain business activities but also to lead businesses.

CIOs must still focus on emergency measures and navigating through the chaos of the first wave of this crisis. But the economic implications require CIOs to start thinking ahead as well and to position their organizations and businesses to weather the downturn.

CIOs are already balancing important priorities across horizons. Polls we conducted during two recent webinars with more than 150 IT leaders highlighted their top concerns: putting in place collaboration tools and operating norms for working from home at scale, a near-term priority, and the increased strain on financials, a medium- and longer-term consideration (Exhibit 1).

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Πηγή: mckinsey