To prevent any interruptions that the spread of the novel coronavirus may cause to workers and operations, employers are rushing to stock up on IT tools, especially those that will be useful should employees be asked to work remotely, The Wall Street Journal reports.
At New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System, for example, CMIO Bruce Darrow, MD, PhD, and his team are proactively ordering new hardware, anticipating predictions that the technology supply chain will be hit particularly hard by the virus; analysts are reportedly forecasting a nearly 10 percent drop in PC shipments this year.
"We're going to be a little bit out ahead of ordering those rather than to wait for somebody to say, 'Hey, I could really use an iPad in this room tomorrow,'" Dr. Darrow said.
Other CIOs are preemptively replacing laptops and other tech equipment that will make any potential transition to remote work smoother, WSJ reports, even as some researchers say those preparations are largely unnecessary.
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