Each month, Tony Uphoff, visionary CEO of Thomasnet.com, joins Cloud Wars Live for a recurring segment. “Uphoff on Industry” will explore the innovations, upheavals, and breakthroughs reshaping the the world of manufacturing and industrial markets. Join Tony and me as we discuss disruptive new trends in the digital-industrial world. These include how we design, source and manufacture products. And also the new ways in which industrial companies are getting up to speed on marketing, sales and customer experience.
Episode 12
In this episode: Tony shares some of the coronavirus-related trends that Thomas has been observing and new data they’re collecting.
About 8 weeks ago, they started to see notable upticks in demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) and prefabricated building materials, such as China used to construct a new hospital in a matter of days. Now, Thomas is monitoring changes in global supply chains. As COVID-19 spread rapidly within the country and China closed off from the world, Canada, the United States, and Mexico stepped in to fill the links in supply chains for industries like auto, electronics, aerospace and more. Tony expects that it’s going to be tough for China to recover that business, at least in the short term.
Next, Tony and I peer a bit into the future to explore what positive consequences might come from the disruptions coronavirus is causing in workplaces. Seeing employees thrive from home may have business leaders rethinking their fixed infrastructure. Using video conferencing to communicate with clients may transform how companies think about marketing and account management. Neither Tony nor I is a futurist, but we felt some excitement in considering these possibilities.
To hear more of what Thomas is learning about the impact of coronavirus, check out Tony’s podcast. It’s on all the major platforms as well as https://ThomasNet.com. You can also subscribe to Thomas’ daily email newsletter at https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/.
You can also stream this episode in audio-only format:
Highlights
'At a time like this, you do come back to that sense of, does your company have a soul and a character and a culture where people can know what the right thing to do is, know what the right thing to do by customers?' #CloudWars Click To Tweet 'In the markets that we serve, I think it's going to be less about remote work but far more about remote connection and video connection with customers.' #CloudWars Click To Tweet 'If you stay close to the customer and stay close to your prospect and stay close to your users, I think they will guide you to opportunity to not only get through this but also potentially for opportunities on the other side of it.'… Click To Tweet
Cloud Wars Live Digital All-Stars
Tony Uphoff is one of our regular Digital All-Stars. The All-Stars are experts who will appear in regular video podcasts focused on the critical themes shaping (and re-shaping!) the business world in the digital age of 2020. Our intention is to provide regular chunks of timely ideas, insights and conversations on high-priority subjects from industry veterans with diverse backgrounds.
