There is no denying that 2020 has been a unique year, mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world from as early as January. Not many people were able to meet their annual resolutions because of the economic impact of this crisis. What started as an unknown virus has now become the focus of every governmental and non-governmental health department. As the experts continue to look for a vaccine that can be used against the said virus, most people have now learned to live with it.
It’s not only individuals that are trying to survive this pandemic; nearly every business is in the same situation. Five months ago, no one knew what the future held, with lockdowns and curfews being the order of the day in most countries. However, due to involuntary adjustments, many companies have started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
One huge impact that COVID-19 has had in the world of business is the acceleration of digital transformation. Some features that were projected to be in use from 2025 or so are now part and parcel of every business. So, how has the current public health crisis sped up the work of digital transformation agencies like Lolly Co?
Previous Barriers Have Been Broken
One of the main reasons why most experts expected the process of digital transformation to take a bit longer is because of various political and social inhibitors. For instance, certain government policies prevented businesses to make the move, perhaps, due to online business security risks. The same fear has always been shared by many people who are not yet convinced that it’s the right time to make the move. Consequently, this has created a culture that’s been quite tough to break even after several educational sessions.
Another hindrance to digital transformation over the past few years is the lack of flexibility. In fact, this is one of the reasons why many businesses had to close down when the pandemic hit hard. Such companies found it difficult to experiment with new strategies within a short period. However, their time off the market gave them enough time to overcome this barrier. Perhaps, one of the most significant players in this scenario is the company’s budget.
Over two-thirds of companies have always experienced a tough time trying to adjust their annual budget so as to create room for digital transformation. However, this same group of businesses has had to increase its budget to cope with COVID-19’s impact. A great deal of these extra resources has been channeled towards matters digitization. For instance, most managers have had to adopt modern communication methods since a lot of customers can now be engaged through social media and other online platforms.
Forced Business Policy Changes
The only businesses that have survived these unprecedented times are those that have been quick to adjust their strategies. The first rule of thumb for any company is to be flexible, and this year has tested that area of business management. Going back to 2019, no one knew what was coming in the next year. As such, every enterprise was slowly adopting the digital approach, but with no hurry. Of course, these changes may take a significant percentage of your budget, so it’s reasonable to take one step at a time.
Fast-forward to early 2020, most countries started implementing lockdown rules given the surge in coronavirus infections. As such, some businesses had to close down their operations due to lack of revenue and enough workers to even carry out the tasks, However, one reason why health and food-related organizations reaped a lot of profits is because of their delivery policy adjustments.
Ordering products through remote methods, such as calls or online stores, has always been around, but not all companies took advantage of it. However, at this point and time, nearly every business has that provision coupled up with quick delivery. Also, since offline marketing strategies, like street promotions, are no longer as effective, most firms are striving to increase their online presence. By so doing, they’re convinced that they can attract more customers and even keep their current clients close. Such scenarios would’ve happened even without the help of COVID-19, but the rate at which companies adopted these changes was never anticipated.
Remote Workers
There is no disputing the fact that remote workers have been around for quite some time now. However, not so many companies adopted this technique regardless of the technologist’s efforts to trumpet the potential modernization of the workplace. Nearly half of all businesses never allowed remote working because they were never convinced that it would work in their favor. As such, they maintained their old-school ways of operation, with slight changes implemented every year.
What happened in 2020 was unprecedented, and it’s fair to say that most companies were caught by surprise. The coronavirus rules demand that people keep a one-meter distance from each other, not to mention the limited number of employees per room. To maintain your productivity as a business, you have only two options: create more room to fit all workers or let others work from home.
Of course, the latter is the most favorable choice since it only requires new software and a few tweaks to your schedules. Due to these changes across all industries, the technologists were motivated to come up with more innovations that will further enhance the work-from-home strategy. As such, you can only expect more advancements in that regard within the next few months, something that was never anticipated one year ago.
Conclusion
Since the dawn of the 21st century, there have been a lot of talks concerning digital transformation in various industries. With a couple of decades gone since the initial movements in that direction, it was expected that most—if not all—businesses will have adopted the modern strategies by 2025 or so.
Although COVID-19 has brought a lot of social and economic suffering, there’s no disputing it impacts on digital transformation. The previous barriers were broken, with business owners opting to invest more so as to cope with the new trends. Perhaps, the most evident change is the number of people working from home, and this might be the new normal.
