Aim’s Reed: Deploying IT to Support Remote Workforce
John Reed, chief information officer and vice president of information technology at Aim Transportation Solutions, and a board member at the Youngstown Business Incubator, is hanging tough. You can read more about John at the Aim website.
What are some ways the COVID-19 outbreak has changed your work life?
Since our trucks, drivers and many of our leasing customers are part of the supply chain that keeps America running, our industry is considered essential. As such we had to continue our operations across the country while doing our best to protect our employees. This protection meant a very large portion of our employees were able to continue their roles at home while respecting the stay-at-home order. As you might imagine, moving 70 or 80 percent of your workers from offices to home was no small feat. Our IT staff worked diligently through the early weeks of the pandemic making sure our people had what they needed in order to continue to perform their job functions. One of the hardest things to become acclimated to was the lack of face-to-face meetings. While we’re all getting used to the video calls, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t miss the personal interaction and is hopeful of that returning someday.
How about your personal life?
Although I am fortunate to have the distraction of reporting to the corporate office daily, things did immediately change. Once the work day ends you either go home or go home. There was literally nothing to do so you watch TV, read, listen to music or just find chores to do. With the warmer weather finally here, those things become even more boring.
What steps are you taking to hang tough?
From the IT standpoint, we’re busier than ever trying to support all the new remote workers, deal with the latest round of hackers and just keep everything moving along. What’s odd is that we’re so busy that time is actually flying by. The minutes of this pandemic seem slow but the weeks are a blur. The only step I’m taking to hang tough is knowing that there will ultimately be an end to this and I feel that globally we’ve all learned now what we can and can’t do without.
What advice are you sharing with the people you love?
I wish I had something unique and profound to say but with 7 billion people impacted, coming up with something new is a bit of a challenge. All I can say is, “Everything has a beginning a middle and an end. We’re in the middle now so the best part is almost here, the end.”