Okay, last work meetings are done for the day. Daughter is downstairs doing soccer lesson by Zoom, son is in his bedroom playing around with his iPad, rice cooker is doing its thing. Time to get this blog written.
It’s clear that while the overall societal and macro-economic impacts of this pandemic have been unprecedented, the effects on any given company are highly varied. Some organizations are running pretty much business-as-usual, but with a few extra precautions. If you’re in this lucky category, best wishes. This blog is for everyone else.
The majority of companies and organizations have been forced to make dramatic changes by radical shifts in demand or delivery. I’ve identified 3 scenarios for doing business during the pandemic:
The Overnight Digital Transformation
Some organizations are operating with roughly the same level of demand, but have undergone a physical-to-digital transformation over the course of a few days or weeks. Examples of industries undergoing overnight digital transformation include schools and universities, non-emergency medicine, entertainment, to name a few. Learn More
Temporary Hibernation
Others face a huge drop off in demand, and have to undergo significant cutbacks to emerge out the other side of this business shock. Travel, oil, brick-and-mortar apparel stores, restaurants/bars, construction, all experienced a near halt to their business. Learn More
The Overnight Spike
Others have experienced a spike in demand and are having to race to make the operational changes needed to fulfill that demand while still ensuring the safety of employees, customers and other stakeholders. These include grocery stores, virtual meeting services, delivery services, internet service providers, and PPE providers. Learn More
Adjusting Your Data Practice
Because the effects are so varied across companies and organizations, there is no one prescription for how to respond. From a data perspective, which is where StreamSets lives, I’m seeing 4 common themes emerge for adjusting your data practice to doing business during the pandemic:
- Deliver the right data as fast as possible
- Make the most of your data infrastructure investments
- Empower your data team: data engineers, developers, and data scientists
- Turn on a dime and mitigate risks
Depending on the scenario you face, your response to these 4 themes will vary. I’ve organized this as a 4 part blog. Feel free to read them all or find the scenario closest to your experience. Either way, I hope this brings focus to the key things you need to pivot in your data practice in light of each day’s new reality, and helps you understand how StreamSets can support the changes you need to make.
We encourage you to share how you are adjusting with us and your #amazingdatastories.