target audience: TECH BUYER  Publication date: Apr 2020 - Document type: IDC Perspective - Doc  Document number: # US46225520

Post-COVID-19: A CIO Recovery Guide — Scenario Planning Your Responses

By:  Serge Findling

Content



Get More

When you purchase this document, the purchase price can be applied to the cost of an annual subscription, giving you access to more research for your investment.



Related Links

Abstract


This IDC Perspective suggests that IT senior executives should leverage scenario planning and look at extreme scenarios to start grasping the new, evolving normal post-COVID-19.

Most CIOs never had a scenario for a COVID-19 pandemic. In hindsight, we should have known in advance what work could be done remotely and which could not. It would also have been useful to better understand which work can wait and which cannot. Business partners may now also understand how some noncloud applications may lack necessary remote functionalities and wish their apps were more mobile.

In a period of uncertainty, it is impossible to predict the future; however, it is important to evaluate the range of possibilities. The goal is not to be able to play all the scenarios but to become more agile and be ready to adapt to a new scenario, even an unanticipated one. In a period of uncertainty, not doing anything is a decision with a cost and with consequences. Some are direct and immediate consequences; long-term effects may be more significant and are far more difficult to predict. When dealing with dilemmas, deferral, flattening the curve, or kicking the can down the road may be the best tools.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for CIOs to make a difference, stepping up and helping beyond their historical domain," says Serge Findling, vice president of Research at IDC. "CIOs most urgently rework their plans and adapt to the unknow business environment laying ahead."



Coverage


Do you have questions about this document
or available subscriptions?