TECH ADVISOR
Technology for the Interim New Normal
Services Experiencing a Surge in Demand Include Home Networks, Zoomification, Home Entertainment, and Outdoor Lighting By Henry Clifford
Photo: iStockphoto.com/ArtistGNDphotography
One of my friends shared a whitepaper with me last week that really hit home. He outlined where we’ve been since March 2020 and the beginning of COVID-19 using three phases: Crisis, Interim New Normal, and New Normal. We’ve been working heads-down inside my custom installation business, Livewire, to be proactive and to position us to weather uncertainty in the world. It wasn’t until my buddy outlined his Interim New Normal phase, however, that I realized that we had transitioned out of the Crisis phase, which had us all hunkered down in March, April, and May. I wanted to share what the Interim New Normal
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Residential Tech Today | Winter 2021
(INN) looks like for us and where we see the next six to 24 months shaking out. Crisis Phase: March to May 2020 In the early months of COVID-19, we were dealing with issues as they arose, focusing heavily on communicating with our employees and customers to let them know what we were doing to address COVID-19. This meant many emails, phone calls, and allhands meetings aimed at calming fears while assuring everyone we were being proactive. This phase was characterized by living in the moment and tremendous uncertainty.
Milestones included securing our Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan and realizing our business benefited from the lockdown because people need their technology infrastructure to be rock solid when working and playing from home. Interim New Normal: June to ? We’ve seen customers more willing to have us in their homes while many offices are staying closed with a strong bias toward remote work. This plays well for our business model since most of our clients tend to be high net worth professionals who are working from home and
