In today’s typical creative agency environment, there is art, science and a bit of magic behind producing, managing and distributing the multitude of assets demanded by clients. At the heart of the ecosystem is the all-important workflow, essential for making sure everything runs smoothly. But as we’re all aware, there are always challenges and nothing runs perfectly all the time.

By now, few of us haven't seen or shared a video of unfortunate souls attending a video meeting while only appropriately attired from the waist up. Bearing those horrifically embarrassing and forever cached on the internet moments in mind, I'm going to start this blog with the conclusion. The number one rule for working during a pandemic is Pants Are Required. Regardless of the humorous nature of those moments, and while we haven't completed this particular journey, I think we can reflect on the lessons we've learned so far.

There’s little doubt that technology exists to make our lives easier. But in today’s environment there is also a level of complexity that exists when multiple technologies are used within an organization. A case in point is your creative or marketing departments; you’ll most likely use a number of systems, anywhere from three to 10, to help your teams deliver on client campaigns. Everything from digital asset management and usage rights management, to project management, distribution and campaign management and tracking.

This article by Renate Sandland Henriksen originally appeared on our Alliance Partner, Brandmaster's Blog and we wanted to share with our readers. Your brand is a living, breathing thing, which means it’s constantly changing. It’s also very susceptible to external factors like news, trends, and current events. Your brand identity is what makes you instantly recognizable to your customers. Your audience will associate your brand identity with your product or service, and that identity is what forges the connection between you and your customers, builds customer loyalty, and determines how your customers will perceive your brand.

At IO Integration, our sole focus is bringing the best possible experience to our customers. This past month we gathered all of our employees from around the globe to meet for our bi-annual company meeting in St. Simons Island, Georgia. This is the one time that we gather to discuss ways to improve our overall business and deliver to our customers the best possible experience when partnering with IOI. This provides us a unique opportunity to analyze our service offerings and to ensure we are bringing the most value to our clients.

As we see companies, event organizers, and local governments preparing for the for the likelihood that the coronavirus outbreak will continue to spread, several tech industry leaders and local governments have already begun telling employees to work from home. Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, and Google have all made public announcements and informed their employees to work remotely in an effort to do their part in preventing any further chance of outbreaks in their offices and communities. We are also seeing state and local governments declaring state of emergencies in places like Washington State which has been the most severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. New York and Austin, Texas have additionally declared their own states of emergencies respectively, and in Austin, canceling that city's largest event, SXSW, which was scheduled for March.