The pandemic has broadened the applications of digital technologies, making work-from-home a new paradigm of professional life. ICT has become an empowering solution for organisations, facilitating business transformations, opening new opportunities and bringing consequences that need to be reflected upon. To discuss the role of digital technology in changing work practices UKAIS, the eBusiness and eGovernment SIG of the British Academy of Management, the International Journal of Information Management and the TIME research centre at Kent Business School co-organised a webinar. The webinar featured a talk by Prof Yogesh K. Dwivedi, the Editor of The International Journal of Information Management (IJIM), which had a special issue on the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Information Management Research and Practice. The speakers at the event, Dr Crispin Coombs, Dr Noel Carroll and Prof Rahul De, presented the papers published in the special issue that explained their perspectives on the new work normal.

Prof Yogesh K. Dwivedi highlighted key areas of debate raised in the published research. The special issue was the opportunity for leading authors in the field to shine light on many aspects of the use of ICT at work. One of the themes in the research was related to the role of IS in rapid change and agility. Articles explored digitalisation as a way to enable change management, maintain business operations, adapt business models and improve human resilience to new working conditions. The discussion in the papers signalled the need to explore the adaptability of people and organisations and examine ways of addressing digital inequality. In terms of practical implications, the papers suggest that managers need to reimagine business practices and transform digital capabilities. The second theme focused on the use of IS in the management of the pandemic. The discussion was driven towards technology privacy and security issues, the emergence of fake news, the use of innovative applications to manage the spread of the virus, AI-driven decision making and data analytics. The findings of this research stream indicated a need for more efforts to cope with the impact of the pandemic on minorities. The third perspective in the published articles concerned cultural and social impacts in terms of social integration, teaching and education. Long-term implications of online education and reflection on people’s and organisations’ adaptation to change need further examination.

Dr Crispin Coombs from Loughborough University presented a review of the debate on the impact of COVID-19 on Intelligent Automation (IA) adoption (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102182). The increasing need for non-human workforce during the pandemic has renewed interest in IA. Consumer preferences for non-human interaction, the increasing awareness of the advantages of technology, and organisations’ confidence that robotic equipment can ensure the continuity of business practices favour the adoption of the technology. The adoption entails some limitations, though, contingent on the reliability of Big Data, human-oriented tasks, high availability of human workers and narrow capabilities of IA technologies. The jobs requiring creative input, emotional intelligence and ambidexterity can hardly be implemented by robots. Apart from limitations in skill-sets, the massive layoff of people discourages the adoption of IA. The analysis of arguments for and counter-arguments against the adoption of technology opens new paths for future research in IA in relation to Big Data orchestration, skill-combination strategies and the dynamics of IA adoption. The research also suggests that practitioners need to focus on the limitations of IA use in work practices.

Dr Noel Carroll from the National University of Ireland Galway presented research that examined the current thinking and approaches used by organisations for switching to remote working (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102186). Due to the rapid nature of this change, little training has been introduced in organisations to support employees in adjusting ICT to suit the new workplace context and tasks. The research drew on the Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) to offer some guidelines to researchers and practitioners as to how to normalise work practices. Normalisation is the concept that describes a way in which organisations embed and sustain change. Based on the theory, the implementation and integration of technologies can be described through concepts such as coherence, cognitive participation, collective action and reflexive monitoring. They determine how organisations and employees make sense of and engage in new tech-driven practices, how they embed them in the work routine and assess the outcomes. These concepts can be used in future empirical research and practices for evaluating the readiness to change, planning change management and assessing organisational environments.

Professor Rahul De from the Indian Institute of Management shared the actual and potential impact of digital surge during the pandemic and the research implications that arise (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102171). Introduced lockdowns have led to an increase in internet traffic and issues relating to infrastructure management. Internet traffic increases due to the ramping up of digital infrastructure, the launch of new start-ups and the shift to working and studying from home. The workplace change will likely contribute to the re-emergence of gig workers, the intensification of virtual collaborations and stricter monitoring, which may cause technostress. Social restrictions have also resulted in the growth of online shopping, increasing the amount of digital money being circulated in the virtual economy. This, in turn, has led to growing cases of privacy and security issues. From the political perspective, digital transformation is likely to continue after the pandemic, which will require the development of regulation in regard to the use of the Internet. From the societal perspective, digitalisation will result in a digital divide and consequences for those lacking access to online services. In light of such events and scenarios, the research stresses the importance of the development of innovative solutions to address current security and privacy issues. The research also indicates a need to examine the psychological underpinnings of remote working, as well as the societal and regulatory implications of digitalisation.