34 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 www.vanguardcanada.com
TeCHnOLOGy
People, defence
and technology
IN A BRAvE NEw NORmAl wORlD
ibm: in a global Crisis,
extraordinary
demands are plaCed on
leaders in both
business and govern-
ment to restore a
sense of safety and
seCurity.
A
s we've seen over the past
few months, Canadians have
relied on the government to
provide guidance on daily
behaviours that would have
otherwise been business as usual. There is
no doubt that we are in need of leaders
to help us navigate this uncertainty. The
COVID-19 pandemic has thrust upon us
unprecedented challenges, and for gov-
ernments and leaders around the world, a
transformation to a new normal is required
and has begun.
COVID-19 accelerated the need for
digital transformation of many sectors, in-
cluding defence programs, defence opera-
tional capabilities, and the priorities that
envelop them. The economy is reopening,
and the sophistication of our digital world
allows us to operate, plan, and respond in
a way that we never could before.
Working Safe, Working Smart
from Anywhere
Through to 2019, the standard operating
model for businesses, government, and
other organizations was location-based:
people would go to work, rather than work
coming to them. COVID-19 changed
that. Like most other government depart-
ments and agencies, the Department of
National Defence (DND) and the Cana-
dian Armed Forces (CAF) have been faced
with three immediate challenges with the
onset of this global pandemic:
• Ensure its workforce is safe and protected
• Adapt quickly to work from home and
elsewhere other than from a static office,
and,
• Ensure business and operational con-
tinuity with the ability to respond to
unique government demands (for ex-
ample, DND deployment to long-term
care facilities as part of the COVID-19
response).
Working safe and working smart requires
reimagining business processes at every
level. To make informed decisions about
employees, buildings, and spaces, the right
data and insights are essential. Artificial In-
telligence (AI) models and applications can
By TOny BaTTisTa and
sHannOn MCCLure,
iBM Canada
