The world has seen a huge amount of disruption over the last six months. The Covid-19 pandemic has swept across the globe at a rate that took many companies by surprise, in just how disruptive it has been to the workplace. With governments, companies and citizens alike underestimating the impact that this particular strand of coronavirus would have, it is fair to say that the next normal is here, and the way many companies are going to operate has changed forever.
Make no mistake, businesses will not want to be caught out in the same way that they were back in January 2020. With huge numbers of employers caught on the hop’, now is the time for enterprises across the globe to put into place plans for future events of a similar nature, and plenty are heeding the call to do just that. Companies that formerly had rigid structures in their workflows are now learning to react quickly to changes in working conditions, to enable them to continue their day to day practices with minimal disruption.
For some, it is already too late, as a quick glance at any economy section of a news site will attest to. Doors have closed permanently on some huge names in the retail sector in particular, but for those that have survived, the conversion to a business that is ready for the next global catastrophe in a post-Covid-19 world is starting to ramp up extremely quickly.
Tech at the heart of change
The tech sector has been one that not only reacted relatively well to the pandemic, but it is also intrinsically linked to the survival of every other sector within the business world. The movement of the workplace from huge corporate offices to employees‘ homes has hinged on technology, in the form of video conferencing software, remote desktop programs, and cloud-based infrastructure.
Any enterprise company that weathered the recent (and still ongoing) pandemic has most probably leaned heavily on these services in one way or another, and with no definitive end date to the issues we are all currently facing, are more than likely to be relying on them heavily in the near future.
From cybersecurity to automation and remote collaboration, the digital sphere is where the innovation was always happening in the enterprise world, but the speed at which this is now becoming a crucial part of every single business sector is astonishing. A successful business post-2020 is one that can work from anywhere, meet virtually, and pivot towards crisis-resilient ways of doing business.
It isn’t only the companies themselves that have changed their tack, but customers too have found themselves moving into the next normal. With apprehension about returning to the exact way things used to be pre-Covid-19, businesses will have to adjust to meet the expectations of a customer base that has gotten used to leading their lives is often very different ways than that of just six months ago. A company that refuses to innovate quickly in ways that customers demand is a company with its head on the chopping block, something that retail stores, in particular, have worked out.
From adversity comes opportunity
There is one school of thought that says the pandemic actually has not changed the path that many companies were on, it merely accelerated the rate at which change has been facilitated. Ever-increasing population growth (especially in major cities) has meant that workers are spilling further outside the catchment areas that are accessible by public transport in an attempt to navigate the higher properties prices, and as such, commuting into a workplace has started to become problematic for many.
The simplest answer to that particular problem is to have employees working remotely, something which is expected to become the norm in the coming decades, and in some companies was already becoming the defacto working principle way before the pandemic hit.
While it can be tempting to look at the need for change as something of a problem that companies need to address, there are reasons for enterprise-level businesses to actually embrace this digital metamorphosis. The more positions available in a company that are fulfilled by remote workers, means that they can cast their net far and wide into the talent pool, rather than looking only to the local workforce to provide for every role. It is also an opportunity to outperform rivals who are not quite as nimble in the digital space, and push brand trust ahead of the pack.
So, the next normal is here, and as business changes to cope with it, those which look at it as an opportunity rather than a burden are sure to reap rewards in the long run. Change is not always a bad thing, and in a situation such as a worldwide pandemic, where everyone is in the same boat, it is often about how you react to adversity, rather than the situation itself that will decide the long term outcome for a business. And in the post-Covid-19 world, agility will be the key to success.