How Have Businesses and Their Technology Been Impacted by COVID-19?

There is no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has had no small impact on the way that business is conducted. A considerable part of that impact is directed toward the technology that powers these businesses. One way or another, the way that businesses use their technology is bound to be influenced before all this is over.

Let’s go over a few technologies that have come to the fore, and a few that will likely fade away somewhat.

Hardware

As one may anticipate, fears of germ transmission will likely run rampant amongst many of your employees, making them hesitate to use the equipment that’s in the shared space within the office. Furthermore, there’s the challenge present in allowing people to work from home if it requires them to haul their desktop back and forth each time they come back.

As a result, Bring Your Own Device is likely to rise even more in popularity, as employees will have the security of using a device exclusive to them and that they are more comfortable using. On a related note, mobile devices and laptops are likely to become even more of the office standard, as this hardware is inherently easier to bring around and work from anywhere.

Infrastructure

Likewise, cloud solutions are also likely to come to the forefront over on-premise solutions. Not only does this potentially simplify your employees’ access to their resources, it can also make the management of your IT so much easier for your business. After all, if there was to be an issue in your IT infrastructure when people aren’t in your office, it becomes far more difficult to resolve it. With a cloud provider, that is less of an issue, as maintenance and management is their responsibility.

Cloud solutions are also far more scalable than on-premise infrastructures, so that’s a considerable benefit in and of itself.

Collaboration

While in-person conferencing solutions were once all the rage, the moratorium on meetings and other gatherings have necessitated a shift in focus to solutions that can virtually bring people together. This will require both the hardware mentioned above and specialized software solutions to facilitate this cooperation.

One way or another, the means that businesses operate are bound to see shifts from this point forward. Embracing the IT solutions that will support these shifted operations will be important for businesses to prioritize. Firelands Computer Services can help you put these solutions in place and support your team as they put them to use.

Give us a call at (419) 626-6767 to learn more.