2020 was a gruelling year. But now a vaccine is in place, there is light at the end of what’s been a very long tunnel.

A global pandemic brings with it a tsunami of lessons – highlighted by the fact that so many businesses were unprepared for the ultimate worst case scenario. This is perfectly excusable. Who could have predicted life could reach a point where staff would not be allowed into offices?

As hard has 2020 has been, looking for a silver lining in every cloud is important. If we can learn from Covid, we can equip our businesses to perform better and with resilience.

Orbits IT Managing Director, Jim Lewington, describes the biggest IT lessons in the wake of Covid-19:

When lockdown first hit last year, it was IT that provided the solutions. We saw demand for our IT services and support increase in April 2020 by 80% on the same period in 2019.

With offices closed and people isolating due to illness or travel, the disruption brought about by Covid created a desperate state of chaos. While many businesses scrambled to function, those with modern IT infrastructures sailed through.

As our client, Citizen’s Advice Bassetlaw, explained:

Technology proved itself as integral to the successful management of this crisis, to even the most technology adverse.

Before the pandemic hit, there were lots of organisations that got by with very simple and outdated IT infrastructures. But as the world came to a halt, so did the ability to function. For many, Covid exposed and exacerbated IT weaknesses.

For example, we onboarded a new client just days before the lockdown was imposed on 23 March. This client was not equipped to work from home and spent the first two weeks unable to work, while we migrated systems and data over to new hardware and a fit-for-purpose corporate network.

This loss of work could have easily been avoided with a proactive approach to IT. A proactive approach actively identifies weaknesses and corrects them before they become an issue.

Businesses have discovered new ways of working that can be for the better. Flexibility and choice to work from anywhere is accelerating, and almost three-quarters of the workforce believe companies should embrace some level of working from home.

Global real estate services specialist, Cushman and Wakefield, maintain the new normal for 50% of the workforce will be a Total Workplace Ecosystem: “The workplace will no longer be a single location but an ecosystem of a variety of locations and experiences to support convenience, functionality and wellbeing.” [1]

Working from home can also have a huge impact on the reduction of corporate carbon footprints, which can be a great bonus for sustainability-driven companies.

Emerge from the pandemic stronger with Orbits’ IT support

With a comprehensive range of IT services and support packages, Orbits IT is ready to take your business through 2021 stronger and more resilient than ever. Get in touch today to find out how

[1] Cushman & Wakefield. 2020. The Future of Workplace. https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/insights/covid-19/the-future-of-workplace