IT is the Second Line of Defense

In a health emergency, healthcare workers are the first line of defense. These people face a crushing workload, shortages of materials and equipment and not insignificant personal risk, and we should all be grateful for their dedication.

Behind these front-line workers stand the second line, and it includes IT. The second line of defense consists of all the people who make it possible to continue life as close to normal as possible. That includes truck drivers, checkout clerks, farmers, warehouse workers. And IT professionals.

The second line of defense includes network administrators juggling configurations and scrounging hardware to securely support a massive increase in remote working. It includes hard-pressed supporters working from home, teaching people who have never had a video meeting in their life how to do it. It includes developers cobbling together tactical solutions to solve whatever problem comes up.

This is one of the moments where IT can live up to its promise and prove its value to the business. This is a time where IT does not get hung up on binders of requirements, bureaucratic rules, and meaningless ceremony. This is a time where IT improvises, adapts, and overcomes.

If you are in IT, go make a difference. Your business needs you.

This post originally appeared in the Technology That Fits newsletter. Don't miss the next one, sign up.