NOVEMBER 2020CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM8he COVID-19 pandemic has created new problems that demand new solutions in nearly every aspect of business operations.Despite this reality, too many companies are stillclinging to old plans that were designed for a different world. As someone who has spent his professional life leveraging technology to transform companies, I'm proud that my company, Novolex, is reacting to the world as it is, rather than as it wishes it to be. Icame to Novolex, a fast-growing paper andplastics packaging and foodservice products manufacturer, to put in place operations that could scale with expansion and implement newtechnologies across the breadth of Novolex's brands, facilities, and functions. But when the pandemic hit, we ­ like many others ­had to change course to reflect new priorities and realities, both for our business and our customers. Change is never easy, but we chose to leverage our new reality as a pivot point for Novolex's way of doing things ­ a choice that is already proving to have beenthe right one. I encourage all business leaders to do the same, evaluating whether their currentsolutions ­ IT or otherwise ­fit their problems, and identifying the best path forward during and after the pandemic.No one knows what our economic and public health future holds. But when it comes to digital transformation, we can and should take what we've learned over the past few months and apply it to the future. As Novolex has worked its way through this crisis, I've come to learn three lessons.Lesson 1: COVID-19 offers an opportunity to adapt IT strategies to evolving business priorities.It's impossible to separate business strategy from IT strategy because the IT approach must follow the business environment and consumer needs.Novolexhas closely followed purchasing trends during the pandemicfrom the brand level at the IN MY ViewTVic VenturaHOW EMBRACING CHANGEIN UNPREDICTABLE TIMES IS ALLOWING ONE COMPANY TO ALIGN IT STRATEGIES WITH BUSINESS PRIORITIESVIC VENTURA, CIO, NOVOLEX
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