With the lightning-fast spread of the coronavirus, normal life in the United States has vanished – as has normal business life. But there are plenty of things CIOs and businesses can do to make sure they’re enabling remote teams during the crisis response period.
CIOs in particular face daunting challenges, everything from handling a massive surge in remote work to making sure a company’s digital infrastructure remains intact and working throughout the crisis. CIOs who are looking for help can get great advice from Gartner, which recommends three immediate actions CIOs should focus on for handling coronavirus pandemic.
Sandy Shen, senior research director at Gartner, notes that the pandemic is a prime example of how businesses can suffer if they concentrate on short-term needs rather than looking at what needs to be done for a business’ long-term health: “When traditional channels and operations are impacted by the outbreak, the value of digital channels, products and operations becomes immediately obvious. This is a wake-up call to organizations that focus on daily operational needs at the expense of investing in digital business and long-term resilience."
"This is a wake-up call to organizations that focus on daily operational needs at the expense of investing in digital business and long-term resilience."
With that as a backdrop, Gartner’s first recommendation to deal with the pandemic is to establish and put into effect remote working solutions, including the use of mobile apps, messaging, collaboration and file sharing. CIOs also need to ensure access to enterprise applications including enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM), among others. They’ll also need to “assess risks and address staffing gaps, such as identifying mission-critical service areas. CIOs can see how digital technologies such as AI can be used to automate tasks, for example, candidate screening and customer service.”
Second, they should “engage customers and partners through digital channels, and maintain sales activities.” That includes using existing mobile apps, social media, and websites. But it should also mean tools such as videoconferencing to engage with customers as well.
Third, Gartner says, “Establish a single source of truth for employees. It warns, “Confusing data from unverified sources — or the sheer lack of data — can lead to ill-informed decisions being made, escalating employee anxiety and making organizations underprepared for returning to normal operations.”
"Organizations should set up a site, app or hotline to share this information on a regular basis. Employees can also use these platforms to notify the company about their health conditions and seek emergency support and care services."
As to what that single source of truth should be, Gartner says, “Organizations should set up a site, app or hotline to share this information on a regular basis. Employees can also use these platforms to notify the company about their health conditions and seek emergency support and care services."
Enabling CIOs and IT Teams to Respond Quickly
Mobile apps are key for every one of Gartner’s three recommendations. To build them you need to choose the right development tool. Alpha Software is working with CIOs to help their organizations and development teams quickly build the new mobile apps and mobile data collection tools they need during this critical and uncertain period.
Alpha TransForm allows business users or developers craft mobile data collection apps in minutes, such as time logs, project punch list apps, employee checklists and more..
Alpha Anywhere is a low-code solution that can help development teams serve a newly remote workforce by speeding development of more complex apps that integrate with any database or web service, offer built-in role-based security and include advanced offline functionality.
Need help getting apps built quickly or getting your team up on a mobile app development platform that can turn their development time from months to weeks or even days? Contact Alpha Software
To find out how you can scale use of remote work, see “3 Steps To Scaling Remote Work In The Era Of COVID-19.”
For information about building mobile apps for remote workers see “Remote Work And The Coronavirus: How Mobile Apps Can Help.”
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