The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how the world does business, forcing consumers, learners, patients, and organizations of all sizes online. Entire workforces moved from office buildings to remote work. Students move from traditional classrooms to distance learning, and 17 patients now log in to see their doctors. Even our downtime has gone online with an increase in Zoom happy hours and online gaming among friends and family.
These technologies are certainly not new; the pandemic has merely amplified them and accelerated existing e-commerce, e-learning, telemedicine, and online gaming trends — all in a matter of months. This boom has led to a variety of shortages affecting both consumers and organizations. For example, as schools switched to online learning, demand for laptops, Chromebooks and iPads grew overnight.
Likewise, an increase in cloud computing, gaming, telemedicine, e-commerce, and other digital services required data centers to scale up their datacenters dramatically. According to the Washington Post, Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, released a statement in 2020 that said, “We’ve seen two years worth of digital transformation in two months.”
Imagine manufacturers increasing laptop and tablet production and datacenters undergoing two years of digital transformation in just two months. That’s a lot of electronic components that have been taken off the global market. NAND Flash, for example, was in short supply earlier this year due to increased datacenter demand. While OEMs have likely increased their production of indemand electronic components accordingly, the global supply chain is more dynamic than ever.
Has the pandemic-driven technology boom affected you? Whether it has or hasn’t, now is a good time to revisit your product allocation strategy or develop one if needed. We can help. Contact us today to learn more.
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