As most businesses found out the hard way during the COVID-19 pandemic, the business environment can change overnight. The worst of COVID-19 may be over, or it may yet be before us. Another new epidemic or outbreak may erupt at any time. Other major disruptions such as climate disasters, war, or terrorism may also strike any place. Such changes may render time-honed business models obsolete. It may even render conventional notions of efficiency, such as Just-in-Time inventory, counterproductive. Here are key steps to prepare enterprise IT for future disruption.

1. Improve Resilience of Enterprise IT

Successful businesses are resilient. Resilience comes through flexible processes, good quality tools, and an empowered workforce.

Develop systems and processes that reduce dependence on individual employees. Ad-hocism runs counterintuitive to resiliency. When a pandemic breaks out, key personnel might become unavailable. With established systems in place, it becomes easy for anyone to step in and get the work done. For instance, a ticket system for IT support makes it easy for any team member to track progress and complete tasks.

• Consolidate enterprise systems into the cloud, for any time, anywhere access. The cloud setup saves the business from disruption if an outbreak makes the office inaccessible. The cloud also offers redundant backups.
• Eradicate data silos and centralize information to enable the cloud. Deploy API connectors for seamless data transfer between the CRM and the field management suite.
• Improve visibility and transparency. For instance, develop software systems to see all the supply chain connections and linkages. Such insights make explicit vulnerable spots for remedial action. It also makes workarounds easy, when disruptions strike at any spot.
• Empower the workforce. Empowered employees apply intuitive methods to get the work done. When everything needs approval from the top, the enterprise becomes hamstrung during a pandemic. Success depends on fast decisions and workarounds to overcome disruptions.
• Outsource. Outsourcing offers enterprise access to IT staff who can work from different geographies. This makes the enterprise disaster-proof if an outbreak disrupts life in any one location. Outsourcing also enables easy scale-up and scale-down.
• Invest in robotics and automated systems. Automate routine processes to reduce dependence on vulnerable human employees. For instance, chatbots keep customer support running if the customer support team is down. Robots are handy to clean premises, implement public safety settings, and in pandemic responses.

2. Keep Abreast of Latest Technology

Change inevitably accompanies pandemics and disruptions. The COVID-19 pandemic sped up the widespread shift to digital commerce. Future pandemics may also trigger significant changes on the digital front, though in a different trajectory. The onus is on enterprise IT to remain abreast of the latest and emerging technologies.

• Consolidate e-commerce storefronts. Offer customers the convenience of omnichannel engagement. Online shopping and support will become even more entrenched with future outbreaks. Digital savvy businesses now have a clear lead over laggards.
• Be ready for tech implementation. COVID-19 triggered investments in contactless and voice-enabled technology, social distancing sensors, and more. The next pandemic may trigger the need for a different set of technologies.
• Be ready for automation, as the C-suite seeks to cut HR costs in a recessionary environment brought about by pandemics. Automation will impact almost half the jobs in the US soon. The onus will be on enterprise IT to understand and correct flaws in systems that rely on these technologies.

3. Strengthen Remote Work

Work from home, or remote work, was gaining popularity even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The pandemic accelerated its popularity and made it a necessity. The end of the pandemic may bring to center stage the limitations for work from home, which stifled its widespread adoption over the years. But going forward, work will be a mix of office and remote work. Smart enterprises would do well to beef up their remote work infrastructure, to remain pandemic ready.

Invest in:

• Robust communication systems, to ensure seamless connectivity with remote workers. Dedicated communication platforms streamline communication.
• Remote work techniques such as virtual meeting spaces and conference rooms. Videoconferencing is likely to be the permanent legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• End-user network security. The success of remote work depends on the remote worker having a secure, encrypted device.
• Going forward, successful enterprises will alternate between remote work and office work.

4. Collaborate

The WHO catchline for the COVID-19 pandemic reads “we are all in this together.” Rapid response to a pandemic depends on deep collaboration between various internal and external stakeholders. This includes enterprise IT, other companies, industry associations, public health authorities, and more. Collaboration delivers speed and scale, essential in successful pandemic response.

• Innovate: Future pandemics may necessitate innovation in collaboration. For instance, the urgency of COVID-19 made regulatory agencies allow online product information. The time-consuming obligation of printing the product information.
• Adopt new industry standards that emerge out of the pandemic. For instance, in December 2020, the UK banking regulator issued 200+ licenses for open-banking APIs, making it easy for software developers to build new applications.
• Build links across the IT community and other related circles. Such links will give access to the latest research, live data, and other relevant information. Businesses can avoid panic and make informed decisions based on such live, accurate data.
• Contribute to data collection and analysis. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has generated an enormous amount of data. The size of such data continues to grow by the day. Sustained data collection and analysis offer early warning signs of fresh outbreaks. Innovative forms of data gathering make the pandemic response more effective.

Filter information from authentic sources, to cope with the flood of information that invariably comes in during a crisis.

5. Pay Attention to Risk Management

Strengthen enterprise risk management to cope with the next big disruption.

• Identify weaknesses in internal controls. Beef up such controls based on the enterprise-level appetite for risk-taking.
• Set up risk detection capabilities. This includes the ability to monitor internal and external data points, and anticipate threats from such data. Articulate such threats, including the magnitude of the risk, and risk impact duration. Devise contingency plans, including worst-case scenario planning to cope with such risks.
• Take feedback from the rank-and-file, or end-users of the IT systems. Track the effectiveness of IT interventions, and make prompt fixes. Things left unfixed make things work when a disaster strikes.

The COVID-19 pandemic will inflict economic damage of about $9 trillion to $33 trillion. Preparing for future pandemics now will mitigate the damage greatly.