Architects of Change: Perspectives

Adapting in times of uncertainty: my virtual global media tour

Written by Bob Bailkoski | Jun 17, 2020 10:00:01 AM

On 2nd April I wrote about ‘Being of Service During the Crisis’. 

In that blog post I discussed one of the key advantages of being a global group: our reach. This gives us access to real life stories from across the world and, at Logicalis, we see benefit for the wider global community in sharing these experiences. With that in mind, I recently conducted a virtual media tour where I had the privilege of
discussing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Logicalis, our customers and businesses across the globe.

I want to share a summary of some of these conversations, in the hope that these insights may bring some new perspectives to others.

Socitm’s In Our View Magazine

How other sectors home-in on homeworking

Speaking to Steven Mathieson – a freelance journalist writing a feature article for Socitm’s In Our View Magazine, he wanted to understand what insight other industries could pass on to local governments to support their staff to work from home in an effective manner. Our teams around the world, namely in the US and the UK, have been implementing technology to help local authorities to work more efficiently under the current circumstances. The rapid transformation they have had to undertake demonstrates that it is possible to achieve a more agile and effective workforce.

MicroScope

Interview: Bob Bailkoski, CEO of Logicalis

As I stepped into the role of CEO of Logicalis on 1 March 2020, my first 30 days on the job were rather different from what I had envisaged. Simon Quicke, editor at MicroScope, was interested in discussing the current crisis, my vision for Logicalis over the coming years, and how I had to transform my original plans overnight to prioritise the safety and well-being of all our employees as we continue to support our customers around the globe. As I share my thoughts, I believe technology will save society going forward, and I hope international governments will continue to put technology at the forefront of their agendas as we slowly move away from this crisis.

Channel Partner Insight

Zoom In: ‘Everyone’s a bit nervous at the moment.’

Channel Partner Insight was interested to understand how the current crisis has affected partner eco-systems to work together, and the opportunities and challenges that the Logicalis Group will face post-lockdown as we help our customers and employees around the world get back to the office. I discussed the ways our vendor partners have been incredibly supportive during this period and why our commitment to them is stronger than ever.   

Odgers Berndston

A technology CEO on leadership in the age of Zoom, barking dogs and bedtime stories for 800

Odgers Berndston, the executive search firm, was interested in looking at how CEOs have responded to the Covid-19 crisis, and I was the first guest in a series of CEO video interviews talking about how I have been leading the Logicalis Group through this period and what new challenges this has brought. 

As a company in the technology sector, enabling employees to remote work and support our customers in some critical situations was easier to adapt to. Still, the human element cannot be ignored. I shared how the mental
well-being of our workforce has been of utmost importance and the tools and processes we have put in place to help our employees deal with any complications.

We also spoke about how impressed I was with the quality of communications my executive team has been sending out during this crisis – from our HR leader sharing wellbeing initiatives, to our finance leader communicating about our trading performance and our US CEO using unusual and inventive ways to engage his team.

CRN

Logicalis CEO Bob Bailkoski on going ‘deeper’ with Microsoft around Azure

During my recent interview with CRN, I looked back on the last three months and shared how my priorities have shifted since I first entered my new role as CEO. I also delved into the very exciting news that Logicalis has achieved Microsoft’s Azure Expert MSP certification. Our investment in Microsoft means we are expecting our Azure business to more than quadruple over the next year and a half, so this is a very stimulating time for the Logicalis Group as we strive to deliver consistent solutions and services to our customers around the world.

Overall, my conversations with these journalists and the interactions with my global teams have been very valuable and have allowed me to share the experiences of the Logicalis Group from across the globe. I am
confident that our business, as well as many others world-wide, will be more agile and resilient as we begin to emerge from the pandemic and prepare for the ‘next normal.’