We are excited to present our 7th Annual Women Influencers issue, featuring our cover story on three women industry leaders with inspiring stories about how their career paths brought them to the office technology space.
Our Women Influencers theme continues with a panel discussion, including five women who represent different segments of the industry, as well as a piece on Canon U.S.A.’s WiLL program, an initiative that promotes diversity. And it’s only fitting that this month’s CR—CONNECT—2020 Dealer Tour takes us on a virtual visit to a woman-owned business, Woodhull LLC.
Virtual visits during the COVID-19 pandemic represent #BusinessAsUnusual for The Cannata Report. This pandemic is unlike anything any of us has experienced in terms of its far-reaching effects. It is arguably the most significant historical event of our lifetimes.
COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on the economy and taking it to a micro level, the office technology industry. As difficult as 2020 has been, we are optimistic that things will improve, and this industry will pull through. One reason for our optimism is the innovation we see in this industry. Companies are responding to the pandemic by creating solutions and services that they might not have otherwise. You can read about it in the article, “Innovation in the Time of COVID-19.”
We continue our coverage on the pandemic in Cary Sherburne’s “Cover Up,” which offers guidance on choosing the most effective mask to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We were inspired to publish this piece for multiple reasons. One was the masks we received from Sharp, which the company is producing and making available to its dealers. Another is witnessing how LD Products sells masks and other protective products alongside its traditional supplies and consumables. These organizations are taking the pandemic seriously. (The mask I’m wearing in my photo was made by our own Carol Cannata.)
But what inspired us to publish “Cover Up” most of all is that the pandemic has personally impacted everyone at The Cannata Report. We firmly believe that wearing a mask is a health and safety issue. We either know people who have caught the virus and recovered or died from it. My daughter, who works in the lab at Great Ormand Street Hospital in London has been suffering from COVID-19 for more than three months now. Fortunately, she hasn’t had some of the more serious symptoms beyond a fever that won’t go away even though she was briefly hospitalized. Believe me, this is no hoax and the seriousness of this virus should not be dismissed.
This has been a challenging and frustrating time for all of us, and we look forward to the day when we no longer conduct business as unusual. Until then, our wish can be found in the title and lyrics of the Stephen Foster song, “Hard Times Come Again No More.”
Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor
There’s a song that will linger forever in our ears
Oh, hard times, come again no more
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