As IT leaders meet the challenges of the COVID era, only one thing is assured – more change is coming sooner than you think. Credit: Gremlin / Getty Images The new normal isn’t new anymore. It’s just normal. In today’s off-kilter, work-from-home world, the No. 1 management lesson has been to relearn what we should have known already: One size does not fit all. The first responsibility of IT leaders during the pandemic is to assess the personal situations of the people who report to them and adjust expectations and work arrangements accordingly. This is not a one-and-done task. People’s family, risk, and health situations fluctuate, so check-ins must be ongoing. “How are you doing?” becomes a real question. As it happens, in the midst of so much uncertainty and strife, such heightened awareness is also needed to monitor the shifting state of the business IT serves. The evolution of IT leadership can be seen as a long arc toward greater integration with, and ultimately membership in, business leadership. As the upheaval rolls on, new parts of the business may soar as others decline. IT leaders must be first among those in the enterprise to grasp and accommodate these shifts and how they are predicted to change again when the pandemic ends. Such forecasts will necessarily be part guesswork, so IT leaders must ensure “agility” is not just a buzzword, but an embedded part of IT culture and infrastructure. The recent surge in cloud adoption touted by industry analysts, for example, is not merely a way to avoid capital expense in a time when all bets are off. The hyperscale providers offer cloud-native tools that enable sophisticated applications to be built and modified quickly to suit shifting demands, not to mention monitoring and analytics to reveal the direction of travel. Rapid change is always demanding; the immediate goal is to adopt technologies and practices to make it less stressful in extraordinary times. In this collection of articles from CIO, Computerworld, InfoWorld, CSO, and Network World, you’ll find a wealth of examples and advice on meeting the challenges of managing change at multiple levels, including how to rethink cybersecurity and how to plan for the new hybrid workplace to come. Make no mistake: Those gainfully employed in IT are lucky compared to those working in many other parts of the economy. But IT leaders also need to recognize their increased responsibility to ensure the health of the business, not to mention the welfare of the people who work for them. Related content opinion Where’s the ROAI? The Return on Investment for AI is in the use cases By Chris Selland May 08, 2024 4 mins ROI and Metrics Artificial Intelligence opinion Innovative data integration in 2024: Pioneering the future of data integration This article discusses the latest advancements in the data integration industry and how organisations can successfully integrate these technologies into their existing data strategy. By Yash Mehta May 08, 2024 8 mins Data Integration news Are You the Type of Player Who Makes IT Happen? By Elizabeth Cutler May 08, 2024 1 min Events Artificial Intelligence IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by Adobe 5 use cases for how Generative AI can supercharge document productivity across the enterprise Take a closer look at real-world examples of how we are using GenAI to turn document data into peak productivity. By Maro Eremyan May 08, 2024 6 mins Generative AI PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe