Thoughts on 2020 from company President, Kevin Kelly.
Ctrl+Alt+Delete is the multi-key combination originally designed to restart a computer without the need to power it off completely. If this widely accepted keystroke combination could ever be applied outside the computing world, the year 2020 deserves a hearty Ctrl+Alt+Delete!
In late 2019 we all heard rumblings of a highly contagious virus originating in China. My thought was, I had heard of it before. I'd heard about SARS, Bird Flu and N1V1, but none of these contagions ever impacted me, or anyone I know, directly. It's not as if they weren't serious or didn't affect anyone; they just didn't hit close to home. How could this one be any different?
Enter Covid 19 – Boom! It arrived with stay at home orders, hospitals overwhelmed, businesses shuttered, inescapable news stories with charts, graphs, positive test cases, and worst of all, daily death statistics. Throw in the overarching themes of social justice, climate change, and a divisive political climate that I don't ever recall seeing in my lifetime, and 2020 could easily be a year to forget.
But there are lessons to be learned from 2020—thus the need to Ctrl+Alt+Delete/restart rather than completely power down.
Over the past year, the lines between home and work have become permanently blurred. Living rooms, kitchen tables, and spare bedrooms worldwide have become a replacement for traditional office space. Once used exclusively for business meetings, video conferencing has now enabled remote learning, online happy hours, and video cooking classes. Internet connections became maxed as we found new ways to not only work, but entertain ourselves while we worked, without the standard 8 to 5 office parameters. We binge-watched streaming services while charging through our e-mail inboxes and simultaneously listened to a conference call. And then we wrapped up the day by ordering our dinner through a smartphone app and picking it up curbside!
Today's technology helped us to work, learn, and play in a whole new way. So as we Ctrl+Alt+Delete /restart and move forward into 2021, let's continue using the human ingenuity we've seen play out so well in 2020. I challenge everyone to continue to find ways to use the tools and resources at our disposal in a safe, fun, and productive way.
Happy New Year, and Cheers to Your Success in 2021!
Kevin Kelly
President
I-Evolve Technology Services
