Major Changes Covid 19 Brought To Business Growth

It has been over two years since the COVID 19 pandemic and it was by far one of the biggest challenges that most businesses had to tackle. Its long term impact on the economy is yet to be revealed and unfortunately, some businesses have collapsed due to the unexpected pressures endured. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives in ways we could never have imagined, and these changes have also led to shifts which has been sudden and dramatic, with millions of people moving from an office setting to working from home almost overnight. While many companies were already using remote work, particularly large tech companies like Google and Amazon, the pandemic has forced others to adapt quickly as well.

WORKING HOURS ARE BECOMING MORE FLEXIBLE

The conventional 9-to-5 schedule is slowly becoming obsolete, and this is one of the most significant changes in the way we think about work. The need for social distancing has forced companies around the world to embrace remote working.

This means that employees can work from anywhere with flexible hours and more control over their daily lives and schedules, which increases productivity in the business.

MORE FOCUS ON TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS AND SOFTWARE

With an increasing number of companies going fully remote or adopting hybrid working models, there is a greater demand for digital workplace solutions like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. These productivity suites provide organizations with cloud tools that let employees work remotely on projects, collaborate across teams, and manage their workflow seamlessly. The use of project management tools has been on a steady rise, but has increased effectively since work from home is adopted and of course, its use will only continue to grow.

Embracement of digital or technological solutions, either through online services or information-sharing platforms like Zoom, has kept people connected around the world. Digital savviness will become a necessity rather than an alternative, for schools, businesses, and healthcare providers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed our experiences, as customers, employees, citizens, humans and our attitudes and behaviors are changing as a result. The crisis is fundamentally changing how and what consumers buy, and is accelerating immense structural changes in the consumer goods industry. For example, as immediate threat of the virus has passed, companies will need to consider the impact of these changes on the way they design, communicate, build and run the experiences that people need and want.

With these emerging new behaviors, organizations have an opportunity to accelerate the pivot to digital commerce, by expanding existing offerings and creating new lines of service, like the retailers rallying to provide “contactless” delivery and curb-side pick-up services for consumers. This acceleration will force organizations to reimagine their digital strategies to capture new marketplace opportunities and digital customer segments, which enhances the growth of the organization.

HIGHLIGHTED IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING AND UPSKILLING

Remote working in varying degrees will be here to stay for the foreseeable future, and during the initial adjustments resulting from the impact of the pandemic, employees had to adapt quickly to new systems and software. But the most significant change which affected most, was communication in general. Some people settled well into a virtual communication space, where others have struggled to get on board with the concept, so employers have a duty to support their staff through such changes and allow time to allocate for personal development. Essentially, in order for a business to survive and thrive now, everyone within the organization has to continually improve upon their digital communications skills, and many businesses are now updating their training packages with skills like resilience to reflect the needs of today’s business operations, in order to protect the growth of the company, alongside the wellbeing of staff.