Strategy in TECH...
We are now beginning to see a rapid deterioration in economic data in the wake of the impact of the Coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic sweeping the country. Stunning new numbers are dropping at a rate never seen before and suggest we may yet have a long road to recovery. Unemployment claims skyrocketed to 6.6 million new jobless claims at the end of the month, and mortgage applications plunged 24% in March year-over-year.
You don’t need me to tell you…the entire world has changed dramatically in just a few short weeks. Deadly viral outbreaks forcing government mandated ‘Stay-at-Home’ orders is something we haven’t seen in our lifetimes. Well the good news is, Savant remains committed to supporting their dealers and has aggressively taken action to more effectively configure their company’s support systems to meet the challenges of today’s environment.
A relatively large number of readers and industry sources have reached out to Strata-gee with word of cutbacks and layoffs at various industry brands – as the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) takes its toll on the U.S. economy. As was reported in a post just a few days ago, jobless claims jumped dramatically – by 33% in just one month – only to be exceeded a few days later by a massive jump in claims of 3 million more unemployed workers.
New research conducted this month shows another major impact of COVID-19 Coronavirus – the crash of consumer sentiment. A statistically significant survey of a representative sample of all Americans has reached concerning conclusions about consumer sentiment now and likely to prevail for months after the COVID-19 crisis passes.
Yet another trade show bites the dust as CE Week joins a long list of shows canceled due to the nationwide Coronavirus epidemic. This cancellation is no surprise, as CE Week was only a little more than 60 days away and planned for the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan – a facility that is in the process of being converted to a large hospital for victims of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic that is hitting New York City and New York State very hard.
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development announced this week that sales of newly built residences fell in February 2020. Housing starts also fell in February. This housing market downturn is likely a precursor to much more dramatic declines when figures for March 2020 are reported – a time period when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic began to really take hold across America, forcing State and City governments across the U.S. to order residents of all non-essential businesses to stay home.
Most economists have come to the conclusion that a recession is imminent – if not already here – as the drive to stamp out the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has businesses being shut down and employees sent home. Many of these employees are either being officially laid off, or effectively laid off if they are hourly workers. Unemployment claims have already jumped and based on estimates from people way smarter than me – are going to go way higher soon. So now what do we do?
Emerald Holding Inc. (NYSE: EEX), formerly known as Emerald Expositions Events Inc. – a national exposition company that is home to both the CEDIA Expo and CE Pro magazine – has announced that they are postponing all events for the first two quarters of 2020 due to the rapid spread of the global pandemic Coronavirus (COVID-19). Given their position as one of the largest producers of B-to-B trade shows in the U.S., this is a major development with huge impact on the various industries their shows serve.
ProSource wrapped up their annual Summit, this year known as Summit 2020 on March 11th. The event had barely wrapped up when within days many other organizations began canceling their events due to the rapidly propagating coronavirus epidemic sweeping across the U.S. ProSource barely got their event completed just as health authorities around the country began restricting gatherings such as conferences like theirs which congregate a lot of people in one place at one time.
And now we know that there was another attendee at the ProSource Summit 2020 – coronavirus COVID-19, an uninvited guest, visited the group’s annual event..
This week, Strata-gee launched a survey designed to get a sense of the level of impact on Tech businesses by the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic now sweeping across the United States and the globe. Thinking that the timing of this survey was very early in the spread of the epidemic and likely to reveal a calm baseline reading, respondents surprised us with results that are fairly dramatic and showed that many are already feeling the impact.
