Originally published at corporate.dow.com. Melanie Kalmar is Dow’s corporate vice president, chief information officer and chief digital officer. Dow ranked No. 22 on The Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list in 2020.
In 2020, COVID-19 reshaped our lives. One of the biggest changes was the rapid adoption of digital technologies that helped keep us safe, healthy and productive during a time when homes became our primary hub for daily life. Many people stopped going to the office and began working from home. Schools mobilized virtual classrooms to keep teachers and students connected. And social interactions were limited to video chats. As we move toward a post-pandemic world and the “Next Normal,” the tremendous appetite for technology is causing companies like ours to rethink how we work and find new opportunities to connect at the speed of need.
As a company, our commitment to stay connected to each other and our customers never changed. The early investments we made in our digital tools and capabilities kept us working together as a team, innovating with our customers, even improving the customer experience and optimizing our operations. And watching how our team at Dow quickly embraced the use of technology as our new way of working has been a source of pride.
The proof is in the numbers
Our decision to transition to cloud-based solutions two years ago helped us swiftly move to a work-from-home environment. Suddenly, over 80,000 laptops and devices were going mobile. We were conducting 25,000 virtual meetings a day using video capability, allowing our teams to stay connected to our customers and each other despite the physical distance. We engaged with our customers with nearly 25 times the number of webinars and virtual trade shows versus 2019. And we expanded our e-commerce capabilities and introduced GPS shipment tracking, so our customers could easily transact and better monitor deliveries. By necessity and the resilience of our people, the pandemic showed the capacity of our 123-year-old company to truly be a digital company.
Taking lessons forward
Our rapid shift to a remote work environment also taught us valuable lessons for the future — lessons about reinventing the customer experience, about the value of agility and real-time insights, as well as the importance of designing and leveraging technology to help employees work more seamlessly and intuitively. As we look beyond the pandemic, digital transformation will continue to be center stage in driving innovation, long-term value creation and productivity. That’s why we’re accelerating our investments in breakthrough capabilities that harness the power of digitalization.
Accelerating our digitalization investments
Building on our s