Are We Doing Enough To Get Ready For More Change?
By Numrah Irfan, VP Client Success
July 13, 2021
As we recover from a global pandemic that has changed the way we view and use technology, we have successfully been able to demonstrate a principle that is pivotal to our understanding of change management and technology planning: that new ways of working can be adopted almost overnight if we really want to move quickly (whether in response to global lockdowns to prevent the spread of Covid-19, or…insert other new or unknown forthcoming scenarios).
The crisis has many lessons for us all, but in my view one of the most fundamental is having the right foundation of scalable, resilient, and flexible technology in place. The role of cloud architecture, in particular, showed itself to be the backbone of mission critical business systems – it is what allowed many companies to keep running, continue trading, and ensuring secure virtual environments. The combination of the right change management mindset plus the right technical foundation are equally important factors when we look ahead to emerging challenges post this pandemic.
In December 2019 around 10 million people a day participated in Zoom meetings. By April 2020 that had grown to over 300 million people. In his recent book ‘Always On’ the British technology writer Rory Cellan-Jones described how a combination of smartphones and cloud-based services allowed us all to continue working, gaming, socializing, and being entertained with all those streaming services. Disney picked a great time to launch Disney+. It may even have saved the company.
While some common investments were made over the last year, chances are that many organizations probably look like a patchwork quilt at the moment. There are some pre-pandemic systems that ran on infrastructure inside the office and now a multitude of cloud-based services. The New Normal hasn’t really been planned for, it just kind of happened. Now it’s time to review and connect all those systems.
Cloud-based systems are obviously going to play an important part in building future resilience. Focusing on change adoption to your cloud journey, and proactively tackling resistance to process, role, and system changes will help maintain momentum on the transformation required to meet the future head-on. Hesitation can also come from regulatory concerns or legacy systems that remain essential, but identifying well-designed hybrid or multi-cloud solutions can help overcome these concerns.
At WatServ we understand all this. We spend all of our time advising clients on transformation on a cloud journey or how to improve what they have already achieved. We don’t believe that any company has a right or wrong infrastructure or the perfect solution. We can show you what is possible, provide guidance on anticipated change challenges, and then meet you wherever you are in the middle.
Our focus is on high-tech-high-touch solutions, but we also know when our clients need help, it’s part of their overall technology journey and that can include transformational discussions. That doesn’t come from a chatbot or FAQ. While every one of our clients has access to our regular support system, they also have access to technology and account advisors – a real person that can understand their challenges in detail and discuss implications of technology changes to their business operating model, processes, data management, organization structure and culture.
Our aim is to anticipate the challenges of our customers and promote discussions to support successful business change.
Get in touch and see if we can help you to connect that patchwork together because the new normal isn’t going to be like 2019 all over again.
Let me know what you think about embracing the cloud in this post-pandemic business environment by getting in touch with me via my LinkedIn.
About
WatServ is an IT solutions provider that helps organizations digitally transform through cloud technologies and managed services.
Serving clients as a trusted advisor since 2006, WatServ provides experience-tested, strategic solutions across all stages of the digital transformation journey. Clients choose WatServ to migrate infrastructure and applications to the cloud, secure critical data, implement disaster recovery, deploy virtual desktop, enable data-readiness for productivity solutions and manage IT environments.
Our clients span a broad range of industries, and we’re a global supplier of IT services for many Brookfield Portfolio Companies. To help our mid-size clients, we provide scalable offerings that simplify cloud adoption and drive business optimization. For enterprise clients, we co-create cloud solutions that enable stability and efficiency for complex IT tools and processes.
With more than 15 years of experience, WatServ has a track record of delivering quantifiable business results and a superior client experience. Ranked as one of Canada’s Top 100 Solution Providers for the last three years in a row, WatServ is always on.
