The "next normal" is coming...will you be ready?

Just a few weeks ago, all of us were living our usually busy lives. Now, things generally taken for granted—are no longer possible.   

Stay-at-home orders and social distancing have replaced an evening with friends, the daily commute, and business flights. Organizations are seeing an impact on a global level. Supply shocks are taking place across the board from foodstuffs and paper goods to consumer electronics and medications. Education is now delivered online, placing additional demands on our digital infrastructure. On a personal level, the uncertainty about a potentially life-threatening virus has created a buzz of public anxiety. If you and other leaders in your company are starting to get overwhelmed at the thought of COVID-19, you are not alone.

When we get through this, and we WILL get through it, will your organization be positioned to take advantage of the "next normal"?

During this global crisis, it can be tempting to place strategic efforts on hold and focus solely on “keeping the lights on” activities. Faced with uncertainty, "you have to avoid the tendency to slash and burn transformation and revert back to a traditional working model,” says Steve Bates, a global leader of KPMG’s CIO center of excellence. Instead, accelerate the "right" strategic and tactical efforts now to put yourself in a better position after the pandemic passes because it will pass. Companies that continue to invest in their digital strategy, while balancing short-term efforts with long-term measures, will emerge from this pandemic more competitive and take a disproportionate share of the demand vs. those that do nothing.

Making strategic investments in these areas now will lead to long term benefits down the road.

Based on our research, we have identified investment areas that strike the right balance between insulating your organization from future disruption while proactively responding to changing business needs and customer expectations. 

Cloud / Everything-As-A-Service (XAAS) – Now is the time to go to your CEO, CFO, and board of directors who may have balked at switching from fixed capacity, much of which lay dormant, to variable cost models that scale up or down based on demand.

Intelligent Automation – Look for ways to scale up investments in automated technologies such as Machine Learning or AI to augment capacity constraints. RPA bots don’t take a vacation, sick leave, or suffer from stay at home orders.

Data Analytics Strategy – Data and analytics are more important than ever. Organizations are making decisions daily with rapidly changing information while reacting to factors outside of their control.

Customer Experience – New and existing consumers digitally engaging with your brand will bring about a different set of expectations after COVID-19 resulting in new opportunities to build trust and relevance. Explore how to meet them "where they are” through the channels they favor the most.

Supply Chain –  Building resiliency vs. high focus on low cost will make your supply chain more resistant to the next economic shock.

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Allata specializes in helping our clients plan and execute projects that move their brand forward.

Our flexible development model ensures we ramp up quickly, scale appropriately and capitalize on collaboration and problem solving to maximize results.

Allata is a technology strategy, design, architecture, and enterprise-level application development company focused on helping clients enhance or scale business opportunities, create efficiencies, and automate processes through custom technology solutions. Our unique approach places senior leadership on-site with our clients to provide insight, guidance, accountability and a dedicated line of communication to our development centers.