The new normal: Six articles about life during and after COVID

As we continue to weather the COVID-19 pandemic together, it’s interesting to see how people and businesses have adapted to the “new normal.” The world has learned the challenges of quarantining and working from home. We’ve enlisted tools like Zoom and Skype to fill some of the void created by social distancing. Hopefully, it will soon be safe to start learning how to go back to work in this new world.

But exactly how has this changed the way we live and work? What’s in store “on the other side” when the pandemic is over and decision-makers and employees consider the benefits of remote work?

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Here are six articles that seek to answer those questions.

1. Will COVID-19 Kill the Data Center? (SDxCentral) – COVID-19 will affect the data center; at the very least it will change how businesses address storage as we know it. Sidney Sawaya discusses the impact, the role of cloud computing, and what the new normal means for businesses moving ahead.
2. Remote 2.0: Virtually closing the gap in IT training and sales (BetaNews) – The arrival of COVID-19 has brought in-person meetings, events, user groups and training sessions to a halt, impacting IT training & education as well as sales enablement. Our own Dr. Zvi Guterman offers tips on how to elevate your game and bridge the in-person/virtual gap.
3. Cybersecurity staff are being transferred to IT support. That’s adding to the risk of data breaches (ZDnet) – COVID has impacted so many areas of business. In this article, Danny Palmer describes how cybersecurity departments, and their companies, have been impacted by changing conditions, based on survey data by (ISC)².
4. Zoom Fatigue Is Real (WSJ) – Can there be too much Zoom? Joanna Sugden breaks down the ins and outs of moving our social lives online.
5. How Starbucks plans to reopen 90% of stores by June and what the new normal for its coffee shops will look like (Business Insider) – Starbucks run? In this photo essay, Joanna Sugden offers a glimpse of what life on the other side may be like and shows how the coffee retailer will be doing business and keeping employees and patrons safe.
6. COVID-19 Will Fuel the Next Wave of Innovation (Entrepreneur) – As restrictions begin to be lifted in some areas and people are going back to their lives, many wonder how COVID will impact the future. Hazma Mudassir writes about a few ways in which the pandemic will spur innovation for both businesses and society.

For more ways to stay productive during these very different times, please read this post “Keeping IT Training and Sales Personal in an Age of Social Distancing.”

Keep safe out there!