Making the most of the new normal
Making the most of the new normal
These past few months have resulted in unprecedented changes in how organizations are operating, interacting with customers, and engaging their employees. With the impact of COVID-19, and the way it has disrupted all aspects of our lives, digital transformation that was to happen over the course of years has, in fact, happened over the last few months.
COVID-19 has completely changed the face of our economy from physical to digital, and we need to prepare ourselves for this new reality. To run with these fast-paced changes, we would need to learn to become more and more digital to adapt to the new environment. Whether it is embracing the virtual meetings, interacting with our customers through online events, networking through digital platforms, hiring new employees through e-interviews, and orienting new hires via online training tools, we will need to be highly agile and adopt new technologies at various touch-points in our business lifecycle to be able to take full advantage of the digital economy.
Amidst all this chaos there also lies opportunity. And, this digital disruption would allow many new sectors to spring up. Some of these sectors that are already seeing the light of the day and are expected to see increased investment during and post-pandemic can be identified through the following trends:
- A lot of firms were already allowing a portion of their employees to work from home. But COVID-19 forced almost all organizations (barring a few essential services) to allow their employees to work from home. This brought in increased adoption of virtual meeting apps, digital tools for team collaboration, online project management platforms, etc.
- We all thought that this was not business as usual and we would be back to our normal lives within a couple of weeks. But, with seemingly no target date for when this would end, everyone has now gotten used to or gradually getting a hang of this new normal and adapting to changes that it has brought along. This has resulted in increased usage of avenues that allow for virtual events to connect with customers, clients, and audiences. Right from startups to the tech biggies are investing in platforms that enable hosting of virtual webinars, digital events, and online networking opportunities.
- With the kids stranded at home and missing out on their school year, graduation ceremonies, and even physical exams, online learning has been the key. Ed-tech platforms, virtual classrooms, online examinations, assessment tools, and pre-recorded video tutorials would be flooding the market and with the ever-increasing appetite for up-skilling, are sure to have many takers.
- Another sector that one never thought could see digitization so early on is healthcare. With clinics only focusing on emergency cases, online appointments are being encouraged and physician consultations are being done via video conferencing. The pandemic has also made everyone realize the importance of taking care of one’s mind and body and hence even the self-care space is seeing an advent of digitization, with increased consumption of online content around physical as well as mental health.
A lot of sectors are undoubtedly facing the brunt of this economic slowdown that COVID-19 has resulted in, but in this grim situation, there is a silver lining for a lot of other industries and sub-sectors that have or will see a lot of traction. And, it is up to us to identify those opportunities and make the most of this new reality.