2020 will go down in history as a year of change. The pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus has affected almost everyone on the planet. In the United States, many had to adopt work from home (WFH) schedules and, in addition to holding down their own position, doubled as teachers helping kids with remote learning. Norms have changed exceptionally since 2019 when terms like social distancing and synchronous learning weren’t even a thing.
While we’ve all adjusted and many of us are still working from home, it’s essential to consider the business impact Covid-19. Companies have been forced to change how they do business amid the pandemic. Processes, policies, and procedures have been reviewed, changed multiple times, and are now fluid. Companies have pivoted, and many are now more nimble then they were just six months ago. What does this mean for businesses moving forward?
Aruba Networks recently released a piece focusing on the trends of 2020.
We found this piece very informative and wanted to share what we learned with our readers.
Preparing for the post-pandemic workplace
HOW IT DECISION-MAKERS ARE RESPONDING TO COVID-19
Information was obtained by a survey of 2400 IT team members around the world.
The piece has a lot of great information, but a couple things stand out concerning IT employees and IT departments.
More than 22% of IT employees note an increase in furloughs and layoffs at their organizations since the pandemic. 52% noticed only a moderate impact. 77% of those surveyed indicated their company had to postpone projects while 28% canceled projects.
What does this mean?
At American Digital, we’re noticing that right now, IT is in the spotlight. Many organizations have had to support WFH strategies for thousands of employees where previously there was none. IT leadership is in the hot seat and expected to have a plan to either continue WFH strategies for some of all of their teams while some are adopting hybrid approaches. Questions are emerging about what the modern workforce will look like in ten years. Will a large population of office workers, be remote, and how will IT support and manage them? Lots of questions to be answered, and IT is in the middle of many of them.
Check out our next installment of this series, where we get into the meat of how Covid-19 changed corporate investments and budgets in 2020.