Prophecy is a tricky trade. Currently, everyone is anxiously waiting for the day after the COVID pandemic is over but no one can still pinpoint the exact timeframe for this event. With that said, there seems to be a consensus that “life as we’ve known it” won’t be exactly the same as where we left it when this crisis started.
Businesses worldwide have been impacted by the pandemic. After the initial shock, many have settled into the “new routine” dominated by an ‘everything virtual’ modus-operandi, change of behavior and change of attitude. Change was everywhere and it wasn’t necessarily all bad.
How an invisible virus is rewriting the future of business
Although the Coronavirus pandemic inflicted many wounds on the business community it has also created many opportunities. One could argue that it has fundamentally changed how we conduct business in more than one way.
In a recent Harvard Business school article, the following virus related impacts were noted as reshaping the future of business:
- Employee engagement and trust – stay at home and social distancing guidelines forced organizations to fully embrace remote working whether they wanted or not. It’s safe to assume that many companies will fully adopt remote working as a new way of life which in turn will require a change in how employers view their “trust culture” with employees.
- Remote working becomes strategic – during the pandemic it became clear how remote conferencing tools such as Zoom are strategic and essential for business continuity. Companies will continue to embrace this work method and will support technical setup environments (including the necessary security measures).
- Revisit Standard Operating Practices – a disruption of this magnitude is an excellent opportunity to truly revisit how standard operating practices are conducted and change anything that is counterproductive. As the pandemic coincides with Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s proven to be a great business driver for “spring cleaning”.
- Digital Transformation Fast Track – although digital transformation has been happening for years now, for many businesses it was still in its infancy. The Coronavirus pandemic is likely to expedite digital transformation projects and activities across the board.
- Rebuilding the supply chain – the onset of the virus and the subsequent lockdowns nationwide and worldwide have exposed the fragility of our supply chains. Critical health equipment but also essential goods (did we say toilet paper?) and the many empty shelf pictures were a stark reminder of how we’ve become so dependent on suppliers who are on the other side of the world and how complex and dependent we are on others. Globalization, once deemed a positive movement for all of humanity has come back to bite businesses worldwide.
In a recent interview on ABCNEWS, Janine Pelosi, Zoom’s Chief Marketing Officer noted “Working remotely, and using video conferencing, is not going to go away. If anything, I think it will speed up the adoption of these technologies”. This one might be the single most important change businesses will see for the years to come.
Are you ready for the day after Corona?
At Dot Compliance we remain focused on providing the support our customers and life science community need at these challenging times to ensure business continuity. Our goal is to empower life science organization with the quality and compliance tools they need at any given time. For more information check out Dot Compliance’ response to COVID-19.
