Enabling the technological and cultural change on the “new normal” horizon

Businesses need to start asking the right questions about the role IT will play in a post-Covid world

Since the beginning of the current crisis and lockdown the load on IT systems has increased and the role of IT has become more prominent. With new ways of working, changing usage habits and unpredictable economic conditions, priorities and expectations for IT departments have also shifted. At the same time, there has been a significant increase in pressure on corporate IT departments.

The “new normal” is on everyone’s lips, yet no one can say for sure what it will look like. When it comes to IT, it’s important to start asking the right questions now about the role it will play in a post-Covid world, when business and consumer behaviour will have changed permanently.

Cloud and the new normal

Although uncertainty shrouds the future of the business world, one thing is for sure, the cloud will play a vital role in the new normal.

Business use of cloud for their IT environments is now almost standard, but this does mean businesses’ cloud migrations are over, far from it. The pandemic has only accelerated the need for organisations to ramp up their digitalisation journeys, and it’s clear they are taking note, with cloud spend having reached a record high in Q1 of 2020.

Organisations across the globe continue to face numerous challenges beyond the pandemic, albeit amplified by it. These vary from industry to industry, from the need to ensure continuous IT operations, to increased demand for cost governance and cost containment.

Flexibility and scalability play a major role here. That’s why so many companies are beginning to realise the value of cloud. Especially a multi-cloud model, which offers companies many possibilities – allowing them to use the best combination of different cloud technologies for them.

But choosing the right components and flexible solutions to make efficient use of a multi-cloud environment is crucial. One-size-fits-all does not work.

Standing firm to the current challenges

In order for companies to be able to respond to and ultimately stay afloat in the face of the current challenges and continue on their paths to digitalisation and innovation, IT services today have to function analogously to the market. They need to be dynamic, flexible, fast, and individually adaptable.

Only in this way can technological and cultural change be realised. Everything-as-a-Service is therefore the key to a successful IT strategy.

Business and IT leaders alike need to reassess their business continuity plans and the role that cloud has in them. They must be designed with agility in mind, in recognition of the fact that the ability to evolve in real-time is the key to responding to uncertainty and unexpected market shifts.

From introducing and scaling applications, to increasing the capacity of online services as buying patterns shift, the flexibility and agility that has been critical to companies’ ability to scale, secure, and survive has been underpinned by the cloud.

With modular and dynamically scalable service blocks, which can be combined to build a bespoke response for a specific need, customers gain more competence and freedom in aligning their IT with the business requirements of today and tomorrow.

Today more than ever, the business world is characterised by uncertainty and constant change. Paired with the pandemic, the pressure is on businesses to realise that the need for transformation has increased even more. It’s time to take action.