I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Mike Ettling, CEO of Unit4, an ERP vendor focused on people-oriented service sectors. This conversation was refreshingly different from several others in the industry because he talks about the impact on higher education, nonprofits and professional services sectors. He also brings out the impact of the COVID-19 crisis across Europe and Asia and expects recovery to vary considerable across countries, and states in the US.
I particularly enjoyed the "building dikes" section to protect the franchise. He has told his team to be tactical, focus on executing to budgets, not on scenario planning. He and the CFO will focus on the strategic and react to the nature of the recovery, however it may occur.
I also liked his thinking around return to work. As you can hear, he has (at least for now) simplified what will be a complex process for many companies. As he says, the lockdown was relatively easy compared to planning for return to work.
