7 Ways IT Has Changed According to Top CIOs

“Every cloud has a silver lining” or “There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.” I am sure you might have heard or read these words before. Did you know that these words perfectly fit the IT industry? Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 such as hybrid work, IT leaders have somehow managed to find positive outcomes out of this grim situation. In fact, most CIOs say that the IT industry has changed and improved.

In this article, you will learn about seven ways the information technology industry has changed for the better according to top CIOs.

7 Ways IT Has Improved

Here are seven ways in which the information technology industry has changed for the better and how you can take advantage of it.

1. Increased Employee Engagement

With the pandemic still raising concerns across the globe, more and more businesses have started prioritizing peoples’ lives. Most employers have prioritized the health and wellbeing of their employees without negatively impacting the employee experience.

This made employee’s feel connected to one another despite being working remotely. IT leaders empathize with their team and spend time understanding and helping remote workers overcome challenges that they are facing. This gives employees the flexibility and support they need, which increases employee engagement drastically. 

All this goes a long way in enhancing the employee experience and makes your company a great choice to work for prospective candidates. Eventually, you will notice that your organization no longer has a hard time finding the right candidates to fill in new IT roles.

2.  Breaking The Silos With Collaboration

Silos have always been a major issue in the IT industry. Thankfully, the IT industry has moved beyond silos and are collaborating to overcome challenges posed by this pandemic. For instance, social distancing forced businesses to enhance connectedness and lead to a paradigm shift in organizational culture with hybrid work becoming a norm. This gives employees more flexibility but also helps them stay more connected despite the physical distance. It is the inclusive collaboration that helped organizations overcome many challenges.

This also accelerated the digital transformation journey and helped them bring digital innovation at scale. With diversified input, openness to change and digital transformation, businesses are able to grow faster. Collaboration also led to team members helping each other and realizing their full potential. All this helped them create a long-lasting impact and bring strategic changes. The pace at which organizations were moving before the pandemic did not slow down as they continued to complete projects successfully. This is a remarkable achievement especially when you compare it with other industries that are still struggling to cope up with scars left by this pandemic.

3. Talent Acquisition

The lack of talent is one of the major concerns in the cybersecurity industry. We will have millions of unfilled positions but not enough resources to fill in those roles. According to Enterprise Cybersecurity, the number of unfilled positions in cybersecurity will reach 3.5 million by 2021. 

Organizations need to train their own staff and prepare them to deal with emerging cybersecurity challenges or find and hire cybersecurity professionals and pay them large sums of money. Remote work has also forced businesses to change the recruitment approach and be more open-minded. We are already seeing more and more remote job openings pop up in the IT industry. The focus is on training your current employees so they can easily manage the latest cybersecurity challenges.

4. Technology Takes Center Stage

As the pandemic reached its peak, it forced businesses to close their doors temporarily. Healthcare and education industry went through a paradigm shift. More importantly, it tested the resiliency of our IT systems, best dedicated servers and technology platform. The pandemic has forced businesses to pivot faster than they have ever done in the past. As a result, businesses started looking for technologies and IT-based solutions that give them the liberty to change direction quickly and adapt according to the changing situation. 

5. Better Visibility

Despite working remotely, most businesses ensure that they stay highly visible. Organisations introduced new initiatives such as Drop-in sessions. Day in the Life initiatives, as well as Tech, Round up newsletters to understand what challenges they are encountering on a daily basis while working remotely. This not only provides better visibility but also helps you make the right choices when it comes to which IT solutions you need to deploy and how you can increase the motivation and productivity of your IT team. Teams that adapted well and responded to changes faster are the ones who thrived despite the pandemic.

6. Customer Acquisition Through IT Enablement

Gregory Wolf, CIO UMass Medical School thinks that IT’s relationship with customers has also changed. According to him, “The pandemic didn’t simply extend the walls of the Medical School to our employees’ homes. It opened doors for IT to help in ways we never dreamt possible.”

While sharing his experience, he further adds, “We promote discussions around Diversity and Inclusion and other topics by managing convenient and interactive forums. We teach our customers, particularly the mature workforce, how to best secure their home networks and accounts. This enhanced customer relationship positions my IT team as a trusted advisor on any topic. This trust, a wonderful byproduct of the pandemic, establishes IT as an influencer.”

7. Growing Trust on Leadership

Elizabeth Hackenson, CIO of Schneider Electric thinks that this pandemic has deepened trust among leadership teams. She said, “For over four months, we were on daily calls as an IT leadership team, learning from each other – and then taking those learnings to other parts of the world. We implemented major programs remotely for the first time. With the recent resurgence of COVID-19 in India, we immediately knew how to respond without the daily calls. At the core of this bonding was the newly found trust that we must continue to maintain.”

How do you expect the IT industry to transform in the upcoming years? Share your views with us!