How has COVID-19 impacted me to date?

Here I sit in my home office on a rainy Tuesday in Manchester (UK), amazed at the impact COVID-19 [1] has had on society, the markets [2], and the way we work in such a short space of time.

As the Europe CTIO for the largest European IT service provider, traveling for work and meeting lots of new people every week is part of my life – or at least it was. I presented at a conference just a few days ago. Now it feels like it might be a long time until I might travel again.

Country by country more and more prevention measures are being applied. Yesterday the Italian PM announced a full lockdown of his country [3], Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu imposed a 14-day quarantine for all arrivals [4], and the UK is preparing to ask even mildly sick people to stay at home [5]. Also, yesterday saw the biggest fall at the New York stock exchange since 2008 [6] (although some calm has returned today) [7].

These preventative measures are currently the only weapon we have against the coronavirus, and given that we still don’t know for certain how long the incubation period is or how exactly the virus is being transmitted [8], it’s essential we take them very seriously, not just to protect ourselves but to slow the virus’ spread. Stringent measures certainly seem to work, as Singapore is currently demonstrating [9] – although it will be difficult to replicate some of those measures elsewhere.

One of the most striking but unintentional results of the travel lockdowns and quarantines in China was a dramatic fall in air pollution. Observations from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel 5 satellite showed NO2 levels plummeting across China from January into February, and were well below seasonal norms [10].

As similar travel bans and lockdowns spread across the world, the impact on emissions of greenhouse gases may be just as dramatic.

COVID-19 is, rightly, the prime concern right now, but I think a lot of people are already seeing this global crisis as a foretaste of a much bigger global crisis hanging over our heads – climate change. From that perspective, it’s perhaps encouraging to see what we can do to change behaviour and respond to big challenges. If it’s possible to slash travel – and emissions – in just a few weeks, perhaps we are seeing a model of what governments will have to do in the future to tackle the carbon challenge. If it’s possible to build new 1,000-bed hospitals in just a few days, as the Chinese authorities did, perhaps it’s also possible to build carbon capture or clean energy infrastructure at the scale and pace needed to make a difference.

On a personal level, there is still much I can do to ensure we are still fully open for business:

1. Shift more meetings to calls / video calls (making more use of built-in video conferencing facilities in Microsoft Teams)
2. Make more use of online services (again) like Teams where you can work in a SharePoint deck, WinWord doc etc. together with other colleagues at the same time
3. Prepare social media content in advance. Not traveling means I have more time to focus on developing material (like this post)
4. Focus on research; limited travel also will allow me to focus more on research in more areas. I might even learn something.
5. Re-connect with colleagues I have not spoken to for a while and develop new ideas and concepts / resurrect previous ideas that were parked due to time restrictions
6. Start focusing on the events and workshops that will happen once the restrictions have been lifted.

Each country is applying different measures are different speed. However, one thing is clear, we all must adapt to stem the spread and give us the time to find a cure.

Gunnar Menzel

Expert in Innovation, Technical Delivery, Transformation

Driven by business impact, passionate about technology and focused on real outcomes, I have successfully led multiple €500m+ Global Accounts, Programs and Projects as CTO, Chief & Enterprise Architect as well as Head of Architecture. With a total of over 6000 Architects, I am one of only 2 globally certified Master Architect and IAF Master across Capgemini Group. I work directly with customers, enabling business driven IT transformation, covering sales to delivery across multiple sectors and technologies.
As a certified Master Architect and IAF Master, I am a member of Capgemini’s Global Architecture Board and as a senior leader within Capgemini’s Global Architecture Community, I play a key role in the direction of the architecture profession across the Group and developing our future talent.
Recent work includes:
CTO/Chief Architect for a number of large Accounts like Heathrow, Schneider Electric, Environment Agency and Learning and Skills Council
Designed and planned the migration of 400 applications across 10,000 servers
Created the Technology Strategy for a large UK based Utility company
Led the definition of a new agile based target operating model for a large global bank
Designed and deployed one of the largest Guidewire basesd insurance solutions onto a public cloud platform
Since 2005 I held a number of CTO, Chief Architect and Enterprise Architect roles. I am skilled across the full lifecycle from strategy, business development, successfully selling, solutions scoping and shaping through to delivery and running.
With over 30 years IT experience, I combine an extensive and deep seated technical understanding covering application, data and infrastructure, with strong consulting, sector, stakeholder management, people management and leadership skills in order to maximize my clients return on investment.
I am fluent in English and German. In my spare time I am an avid runner, having completed 23 half and 7 full marathons.
I am also a lead author of Capgemini’s TechnoVision trend series.