Coming back stronger after the COVID-19 crisis

In a time of crisis, it is important to keep thinking positively. There is no doubt that 2020 has so far been a challenging year for just about everybody, and a tragic one for many. As well as much loss of life, the Coronavirus pandemic has also brought economic uncertainty, with people justifiably anxious about the future and fearful for their livelihoods.

And yet difficult times can also be a chance to reflect and reset our thinking. It’s a time when we may turn our thoughts to how we can do things better once the crisis has lifted. For many companies in the tech sector, it is an opportunity to rethink how they relate to their customers, and to play a part as best as they can in helping those customers build future success. If the result of the pandemic is a deeper and more fruitful relationship between enterprises and those that provide them with technology solutions, then something has been gained.

Tech providers, whether telcos, equipment manufacturers or software developers, should look to use this time to reposition themselves as true partners and deliverers of real value. Much has been written in the last few years about the agility and added competitiveness that digital transformation can deliver. That message has never resonated more as businesses all over the world seek to drive inefficiency and excess cost out of their business as a matter of survival. Partners that can help them do this will be partners for life. Those that have felt themselves to be slipping down the value chain in the face of new types of competition can rise up it once more if they are agents of this transformational process.

To take an example, the Coronavirus has seen greater than ever reliance on cloud services, and so greater pressure than ever on the data centres that are home to those services and the networks that facilitate them. If there were ever a time to drive automation in the data centre and in the network, then this is it. The role of AI and ML in removing complexity and cost from the delivery of cloud services is now needed more than ever. So is the security that protects those services, given that so many of the pre-cloud point solutions that currently protect data and workloads are evidently no longer up to the job. Enterprises that have politely listened to talk of digital transformation, softwarisation, automation and the importance of Zero Trust may now view these ideas in a new light.

The pandemic and its associated anxiety is a time for technology players to prove that they understand and can address customer pain points. Those that do this right will emerge as trusted partners, stronger and better for the experience.

There will be further opportunity to visit these themes in some upcoming industry events. For example, NetEvents will be bringing you an unmissable opportunity to reflect on the wealth of ideas that will be on display at Cisco Live on June 2 and 3. The NetEvents Inter@ctive session on June 4 will feature an array of top industry thinkers to help you decode it all.

https://www.netevents.org/upcoming_events/whats-hot-in-networking-plus-gems-from-cisco-live-polished-by-the-industrys-top-thinkers/

Here are some other links that illustrate how the tech sector is helping to deliver new and better ways to address current challenges:

https://www.ciscolive.com/us.html

https://www.technewsworld.com/story/86669.html

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/10-technology-trends-coronavirus-covid19-pandemic-robotics-telehealth/

https://www.idc.com/misc/covid19?tab=research

https://itcblogs.currentanalysis.com/2020/03/31/covid-19-impact-on-cybersecurity/

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