This is the seventh and final article in the series on Covid-19 and Cloud Integration.
Earlier in this series we looked at the strategy to move forward in a Covid-19 world and the immediate actions we need to take in addressing the pandemic. We followed this with a look at specific Covid-19 business scenarios where integration technologies can assist in our progress in Shopping and Supply Chain, Business Status and Accessibility, Government processes, and Service businesses, Recreation, Entertainment, Travel, and Risk management.
While these scenarios have been driven by Covid-19, some of these are here to stay as we arrive back to “normal”. Some customers will prefer the new approaches and the new interaction patterns as an alternative in the new normal.
We have covered a lot of ground and barely touched the surface. This series of articles is far longer than I initially anticipated but could go on to cover even more topics and scenarios. Marks & Spencer has identified behavior indicators that I did not cover including:
- People shopping less often but buying in larger quantities,
- People increasingly cooking from scratch driving increased sales of vegetables, yet on the other hand,
- Stretch clothing is selling much better than formal wear.
While these examples focus on retail purchasing, Covid-19 is affecting all industries in all parts of the world.
Consider what behavior indicators are changing in your environment:
- How are your employee needs affected?
- How are your internal business processes affected?
- Do you need to interact with current business partners in new ways?
- Are there new business partners (or internal capabilities) required to help you provide new customer centric offerings?
- What new interaction patterns are required to support your customers?
- What information about Covid-19 do you need and how will you integrate it into your business?
- How will government regulations and recommendations affect your business operation?
From your employees and internal processes to ecosystem relationships to your customers, interaction patterns have changed and continue to change. Integration capabilities are frequently necessary to respond to events, interact with others, and combine information from multiple sources in a secure manner to provide the new and changed solutions needed. A robust set of integration capabilities in your toolkit is required to help digitally transform your enterprise to the new normal and handle the spectrum of new interaction patterns as you move forward.
In closing, I hope you stay safe and healthy in this difficult time. If you are considering what you can do, please share your stories or feel free to reach out to me for help. If we work together, perhaps we can shorten the time to get back to normal and make the interim more palatable.
Additional Resources
IBM provides business thought leadership through an organization called the Institute for Business Value. New articles, videos, and papers are published frequently on the Covid-19 topic. Here is a link to this site where you can continue to find current information on Business Insights around Covid-19.
If you have questions or want to engage, please let me know. Connect with me via twitter @Arglick or Linkedin to continue the discussion.
Alan Glickenhouse is the IBM Digital Transformation and API Business Strategist. Alan assists clients with their business and IT strategy for Digital Transformation and the API Economy. Starting with an understanding of the business direction, current IT strategy, and existing environment (both business and technical), Alan helps businesses successfully adopt a Digital Transformation strategy that fits their environment. He meets clients in all industries, all geographies, and of all sizes and brings knowledge of best practices shared with and by these businesses. Alan is the author of over 150 papers, articles and videos on these topics.
Graphics courtesy of Pixabay.com – Bev and Jan Alexander