Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 01 | Page 24

TRENDING “ TO GO FROM 20,000 TO 140,000 REMOTE WORKERS IN 10 DAYS WAS SOMETHING WE HAD NEVER DEALT WITH, AND IT REQUIRED A GREAT DEAL OF CO-ORDINATION AND TEAMING ACROSS THE COMPANY. be better prepared for the next unexpected event. For most, that will mean making additional investments. The survey highlighted the critical role of modernized network technologies in supporting CIOs and their organizations through the current crisis. It’s a theme that we’ve been sharing at Cisco for years. Jacqui Guichelaar, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Cisco study reported that 78% feel the pandemic has had a severe or major impact on their organizations. Beyond that, some interesting insights emerged: • Our survey respondents listed the top stress drivers as security, VPN bandwidth, loss of productivity and tech outages. • The increase in stress from security alone rose by 14% since the pandemic began, and half said that their security fears were connected to the sharp increase in remote work. • Another half said that the move to remote work represented a major cultural shift for their organizations. Navigating the new normal – and looking beyond it These numbers reveal the extent to which we’re all realizing what the new normal looks like and the importance of Digital Transformation in navigating it with less stress. Many of us are already adjusting our future plans accordingly, to And recent events have only confirmed the key pillars of Digital Transformation – rebuilding your infrastructure, reimagining your apps, securing your data and empowering your teams – as never before. Collaboration tools, of course, have been essential through this crisis. Our survey respondents highlighted the importance of regular team meetings using video (86%); unified communication tools that enable faster innovation and iteration (79%) and one-on-one meetings using video (78%). An interesting call out, using video was shown as enabling CIOs to support their own teams’ mental health through the crisis. At Cisco, we’ve done a lot of virtual coffee chats, happy hours, group fitness sessions and more. And though it doesn’t 24 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com