The New Normal in IT: How the Global Pandemic Changed Information Technology Forever

The global COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally reoriented the perspectives of organizations around the world. Industries that were focused on deploying IT solutions around physical office buildings and data centers were required to rethink their delivery of applications, knowledge management systems, and technology infrastructure to accommodate hybrid and remote work arrangements.

In The New Normal in IT: How the Global Pandemic Changed Information Technology Forever, veteran IT expert Gregory Smith delivers a collection of experiences of Chief Information Officers and Chief Technology Officers from a diverse array of sectors regarding post-COVID-19 technology deployment.

The book emphasizes what the post-pandemic “new normal” looks like for IT leaders responsible for resource sourcing, collaboration tool curation, and future planning. It also focuses on risk mitigation, disaster recovery, and worst-case scenario preparation, as well as new IT governance strategies and KPIs that are better adapted to post-COVID-19 realities.

The author explores the value of a distributed and hybrid workforce, as well as how to unlock that value with new techniques, tools, and strategies optimized for the post-pandemic world. From the increasing dominance of cloud and mobile solutions to updated research and Chief Information Officer priorities, The New Normal in IT provides readers with a complete blueprint for IT best practices, skills, and approaches that will prepare organizations not just for the next pandemic, but for the distributed and flexible reality in which we now find ourselves.

Perfect for IT professionals―from middle managers to directors, VPs, and executives―as well as undergraduate and graduate students of technology management and information systems, The New Normal in IT will earn a place in the libraries of anyone seeking to implement the latest strategies in IT deployment and management.

Praise for THE NEW NORMAL IN IT

“COVID-19 for those whose roles are to provide technical leadership and continuity added an additional responsibility: keeping their enterprises running as we went through the pandemic and emerged into what is becoming the new normal. The web conferencing tools, cyber security, and staff training now had to really work. Everything has now changed and in more ways than most of us have imagined. Our culture, view of government, how we work, and our view of our own vulnerability is all different now. Author Gregory Smith explains what the new normal is to IT professionals. It is very different and far reaching than most of us imagine.”
―ED ANDERSON, former CIO, International Monetary Fund

“From the extensive consequences of the 2020 pandemic to the expanding cyber attack surfaces, this book explores brilliantly the multifaceted challenges that CIOs are currently facing and how emerging digital technologies are set to disrupt the future of organizations.”
―FREDERIC LEMIEUX, PhD, Faculty Director, Georgetown University

“Since the pandemic disruption, businesses have essentially been conducting a collective global pilot program on massive-scale disaster recovery, resiliency, the future of work, and the modern technology infrastructure needed to enable it all. The most important insights derived from these ‘pilots’ are assembled here by author Gregory Smith in the form of his own experiences as CIO, lessons learned by dozens of corporate executives, and the most profound findings of major workplace studies conducted over the past two years. The result is a clear, comprehensive, and compelling roadmap forward – one that technology leaders should use to help guide their companies safely and profitably through a decade likely to see continuing waves of coronavirus and other broad-scale disruptions.”
―RICHARD PASTORE, Senior Director, IT Research Advisor, The Hackett Group

“Higher education organizations quickly had to pivot to remote capabilities during the height of the pandemic. Gregory Smith has captured the strategy and tactics many of these organizations had to exercise as technology enablement for the academic and business enterprise became more relevant than ever before. Technology enablement has always been the driver for many digital transformation initiatives and the pandemic has clearly accelerated innovation for many. Through his research and own experiences, Mr. Smith has gathered insights that truly identify what organizations are doing to thrive, not just survive, during this extreme time of change. This blueprint will help guide many in developing strategies to drive the academic and business missions, while gaining important insight into their own operational readiness in this time of constant change.”
―KENDRA KETCHUM, Vice President, Information Management and Technology, University of Texas, San Antonio