Manage the Corona Impact

IT Infrastructure is the critical backbone of a company, as each business process today essentially relies on IT systems. Hence, critical infrastructures need to be identified and monitored. Furthermore, critical know-how must be identified and documented. While a clear plan for fall-backs and contingencies will keep delivery up, it is essential to establish remote work via remote secure access and provide collaboration tools and sufficient bandwidth. Focusing on critical IT operations also means stopping non-essential projects and optimizing IT spend.

IT managers need to act fast to ensure operations with the following actions:

• Adapt processes and guidelines for remote work
• Identify fall-backs and contingencies
• Establish agility and a “quick response” culture
• Enable digital processes with smart and quick to implement digital solutions 
• Reprioritize IT investments and IT project portfolio
• Identify and implement quick-win cost reduction measures within IT

Once IT operations are stable, IT managers should prepare for the time after the crisis:

• Realign IT strategy and IT operations according to lessons learned
• Establish newly identified business and IT needs according to new strategic directions
• Sustain good practices proven in times of crisis

The crisis will reinforce the effort to further digitalize processes and business models and will lead to a new "digital normal". Hence, IT needs to establish itself as an enabler for efficiency and growth. An update to the digital strategy and Business-IT collaboration model will lead to an adapted IT project portfolio. As a result of the increasing digitalization, IT management requires optimizing the IT operating model for operational resilience and scalability.