The Key to Enterprise Resilience

The COVID-19 Pandemic is proving to have all the elements required to create extreme turmoil in business and how we interact. First and foremost, we urge all organizations to have appropriate procedures to ensure the safety of their employees, their families, and to follow the advice of Health Experts in their respective jurisdictions.

It is quite probable that the effects of the outbreak will be felt for months or even years to come. Throughout history, one constant that does remain is that the organizations which have been able to weather storms do so through their ability to scale-down and scale-up quickly. At this point, managers and organizational leaders hopefully have had contingency plans developed and adjusted business processes accordingly. If they haven’t, the present is a good time to work through this with the help of objective firms.  It will be important for organizations to scale-up quickly once the storm has passed, to think through their immediate decisions, and ensure that these do not hamper the curve to normalcy.

Firms will most likely augment current WFH policies, or implement these, to assist employees and customers in continuing with normal activities. The ease at which this can be done is dependent on proper process development and having the appropriate architecture to support these processes. Investing in a modern architecture will ensure that new technologies and systems required to weather the storm are responsive, stable, and secure. 

Now is the time for managers to answer with certainty the following questions:

• Does my architecture support all the technology we need to conduct business in times of turmoil?

• Does my architecture allow for the appropriate security mechanism to ensure that our and our customers’ information is secure?

• Does my architecture allow for information to flow seamlessly across my systems?

• Do I have the correct support to ensure that my architecture will remain stable?

• Will my architecture enable my organization to scale-up quickly when normalcy returns?

Hesitancy or incomplete answers should be a flag to leaders and managers to turn their attention to  once they have ensured the safety of their employees. Both strategic thinking and specific assistance are required to support the development and adoption of the appropriate architecture. Experts in modern architecture can help leaders navigate through implementation while remaining objective and focused on prime opportunities, while leaders and managers can focus on running operations through the turbulent period.