Featuring:

Amy DeMartine, VP, Research Director and Alla Valente, Senior Analyst

Show Notes:

The COVID-19 pandemic taught many firms hard lessons about resiliency planning. But how will those lessons benefit them in the future? In this episode of What It Means, we get answers to that question from Vice President and Research Director Amy DeMartine and Senior Analyst Alla Valente.

The episode starts with a review of rapid shifts that caught firms off guard early in the pandemic. The shift to remote work was certainly one of the biggest. “We talked to clients who had to move file cases into employee homes because they still had to shuffle papers back and forth,” says DeMartine, adding that a Forrester survey found that 67% of firms still rely on paper to execute critical processes. DeMartine and Valente provide real examples of organizations in retail, hospitality, and healthcare that successfully pivoted to meet changing customer and employee needs during the pandemic.

From there, the guests discuss the new strategies firms need to apply to ensure they can adapt to future pandemics. DeMartine says this includes a reliable remote work strategy, increased use of automation, and (perhaps most importantly) reliable IT. Valente digs down into supply chains’ need for improved sense and respond capabilities, citing examples of firms and industries that handled the pandemic well and those that missed opportunities.

When it comes to future risks, Valente emphasizes that businesses need to ensure they don’t think of the COVID-19 pandemic as a one-time event. “This [pandemic] gives us a great playbook if we use it as that. Hopefully, this will help us prepare and be better next time.”