The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the business landscape drastically. Companies have been forced to change how they run and manage their business, customers, and employees. With much of the world having moved online during the pandemic, digital adoption has taken a quantum leap – working from home has been widely adopted; companies have been compelled to switch to digital business solutions to maintain operations.
In this article, we will dive into some of the digital strategies companies have since embraced to keep their businesses afloat during and beyond the pandemic:
1. Taking businesses online
Operating digitally was the only way for businesses to remain active during mandated shutdowns and movement restrictions. Many consumers flocked online to buy essential items, pushing e-commerce sales to new heights. As a result, companies that had never considered going online were suddenly forced to digitalise their businesses.
Thanks to e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Wix, and EasyStore, businesses were able to create a website relatively quickly and easily to sell products and services online. These platforms offer a full suite of features that help companies launch and manage their online stores.
Even when physical retail stores are now able to open, the lasting effects of the pandemic on online retail sales will still loom large as we continue to see increased growth in online shopping trends. We also see solutions such as StoreHub providing comprehensive POS and online inventory management platforms to integrate both off and online stores.
2. Remote work
The outbreak and rapid spread of COVID-19 prompted many companies to quickly implement work-from-home practices. This presented unique challenges that do not necessarily always have streamlined solutions. Thanks to technology, it is easy to keep in touch online to interact with employees on workload and schedules.
Below are some tools that have come into their own since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Project management
Working remotely requires a top-notch project management tool to keep your team on track and manage regular workflows. Productivity tools like Monday.com, Trello, Asana, and Basecamp allow companies to assign and break down tasks, and enable status updates and project progress to be viewed at a glance.
Video conferencing
In a contactless world, video conferencing enabled the vast majority of interactions with customers and employees to take place virtually. Software such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet all replicate the benefits of face-to-face meetings and include screen-sharing capabilities, recording and live chat, adding an extra layer of interaction and understanding to your meetings.
Chat/instant messaging
Communication within the team can be the biggest challenge when your workforce is remote. Chat software like Slack, Chatwork, and Microsoft Teams emerged to help your team stay connected. As compared to emails, these tools provide real-time collaboration between team members, departments, and the entire company.
Expense management and online payments
Newly incorporated companies may find it difficult to obtain corporate credit cards due to lack of credit history. This is problematic in today’s digital world where payments for subscriptions, social media advertising, and countless other transactions are conducted online. The alternative of reimbursing personal credit cards is far from ideal. Swipey provides corporate payment solutions that help businesses manage and track its business expenses by providing virtual and physical prepaid cards with pre-defined limits. This allows businesses to have real-time spend insight with proper controls and minimise manual payment processes.
Company administration
Companies have moved towards digital corporate services platforms (such as Quadrant Biz Solutions) which provide company secretarial, book-keeping, payroll management, and other necessary services to ensure company compliance and administration. Gone are the days of maintaining paper records and manual retrieval of forms / submissions. Our platforms ensure that all pertinent information is securely held and easily accessible by the companies. Communication between parties is recorded and addressed at a pace that is now expected in the New Normal.
The New Normal – Here to Stay
The pandemic has permanently reshaped the way we live and work. Some of the behaviours developed in crisis – including wide-scale digital adoption, are set to have a long-lasting impact beyond COVID-19. If we have learned one thing from the pandemic, it is that things can change in an instant. Businesses must always be ready to adapt to the changing world.