CIOs representing a portion of New York’s largest organizations met virtually to discuss business continuity amidst the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19. At the time of the town hall on April 21, New York remained the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. No state had been hit harder, but some signs that New Yorkers were “flattening the curve” started to appear.

In this virtual gathering, participants discussed the execution of their pandemic plans in an unprecedented moment. To set the stage, New York CIOs responded to a survey prior to the town hall indicating the following:

36% said business operations continued, but at a reduced level

49% expect business operations to return to normal in less than 3 months

50% report a high or extremely high impact on their organization’s revenue

52% predict a high or extremely high impact on their organization’s budget

The conversation was led by Earl Newsome, CIO and VP Americas at Linde Plc; Dutt Kalluri, senior vice president in the office of the CIO at Broadridge; Robert McCowan, vice president and chief information officer at Regeneron; Eileen Mahoney, executive vice president & chief information officer at PVH Corporation; and Jeff Wilkinson, CIO at Delaware North. The town hall gave them a chance to reflect on what had changed at their organizations over the past several weeks and how their pandemic responses had worked.

Immediate Response

One of the words that came to mind for many CIOs about the coronavirus pandemic was “unprecedented.” Several saw what was happening in China with offices and operations closing there and prepared for a remote workforce. But the CIOs also noted that supporting the work-from-home environment had been one of the easier parts of the response. Several said there was almost no disruption in making that transition from an IT standpoint.

One surprise for all was the speed at which the pandemic spread around the globe. Another challenge was how to handle PII for those employees who worked with that data and typically did so from the office. They are also seeing an increase in phishing and intrusion attempts, requiring them to keep their eye on cybersecurity.

Some CIOs had their employees or businesses deemed “non-essential,” leading to a bigger challenge: adapting to enable business continuity. The executives have had to rethink supply chains, processes, operations – and even the business model itself.

Quite literally everything has changed: the way in which we interact and the way we work is all unprecedented.

Executive Leadership During the Crisis

All CIOs reported an increased focus on communications with employees, contractors, strategic partners, and customers. One thought his leadership team had become better at communicating only what was most important. They felt one of the things that helped with communications was to sharpen the company alignment. They reprioritized to focus on what was truly business critical and ensured they were very aligned in how they drive toward those goals. 

The IT leaders are participating in regular town halls, coffee sessions, digital chats, and all types of forums that are considered critical now. Some of the strategies are not so much about getting information out, but about checking in with everyone and seeing how they are coping. The other important point for CIOs is keeping the communications human, personal and transparent. At most companies, the CEO is out front, bringing the company priorities into focus and reinforcing what’s essential to know.

One noted that communications were critical day-to-day in the beginning with things moving so quickly; now, they are more focused on explaining the recovery. Some reported that they were trying to be sensitive and transparent with those employees who had been furloughed. But it’s not an easy task to communicate clearly about the future when nobody really knows what future timelines look like.

Technology & Future Planning

Despite the disruption, CIOs noted that the speed and breadth of this change presented opportunities for their IT teams and companies. It was leading them to ask – what has worked and is worth keeping, and what should we stop doing?

One CIO wondered whether organizations need a force on the ground for a deployment when they had managed during the crisis without one. Another noted that it’s a good time to review how dependent they are on third parties for their technology stack, and others said that this created a lot of moving parts in their IT and security ecosystems.

They also wanted to take the time to evaluate whether everything had scaled as they wanted it to and if there were ways to simplify their processes. All felt that the way people work together had changed permanently – some even called their teams “hyper collaborative.” In the near term, they are focused on the return-to-work scenario and what that “new normal” work environment will look like. 

by CIOs, for CIOs

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