Because when the pandemic hit, we saw dramatically rapid shifts in strategies, supply chains, and processes designed to accommodate a completely different world than existed in February. The most important one, I think, is that urgent need for technology changes drive just about everything, but the technology change has nothing to do with software and everything to do with supporting some new situation that requires a change in the underlying technology – NOW!

In this new normal there is a clear goal for everyone on a team – we must suddenly shift production from fresh salmon to frozen salmon, or from commercial packages of flour to consumer packages of flour – with specialists in all relevant fields applying their expertise to accomplish that goal. Or we have to shift all teaching to online in a week, accommodating teachers who have never taught online and students who have questionable internet access. The list goes on -but the underlying message is the same – it's not about software, it’s about providing the technology infrastructure to accomplish something urgent and important that is much bigger than software. It never was about software, but never has that been so clear as it is now.