Humankind is trying to figure out ways to fight and control the pandemic that has hit the world, causing tens of thousands of getting sick and thousands to be dead, and numbers are only rising till this minute.
Different countries and societies are taking extreme measures trying to be a step ahead of the disease. While the verdict is still out towards the results of those measures, what is evident is that new norms are being set on how everyone is going by their daily lives. Employees are asked to work from home, businesses are searching their playbooks on maintaining business continuity, teams are exploring new tools and processes to ensure projects or work would remain flowing, or we would hit an economic “Ice Age.”
Digital transformation has become a humanitarian necessity rather than just an economic for business continuity in such a context.
Social distancing becomes almost mandatory to limit the virus spread, yet it has proved to be harder to implement as it disrupts the very way we live. Digitalizing activities, performing daily activities, and moving to more contactless modes of operations, becomes a necessity rather than a luxury.
According to Richard Kozul-Wright, Director, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies at UNCTAD, it is predicted the pandemic would cost the global economy around 1 trillion$, according to just for this year.
So while the Human tragedy is yet to come to an end, businesses must explore new ways to go about things both within internal operations or by adopting new business models within their respective markets to survive and support their employees and clients.
A case for digital transformation
Businesses, Governments, and societies believed that we are ready to operate effectively in a similar crisis, yet it is clear now that we were far from being prepared. The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has shown the value and effectiveness of various technology solutions to ensure business continuity, and enterprises that have undergone their digital transformation journey have been the least affected.
Collaborative office, Video conferencing, remote customer management & support have been on top of the technology solutions that lead businesses to carry on with operations during the crisis.
As the community goes through the crisis trying to fight and contain, additional digital forms of services will be required, especially in the undeveloped countries: digital payments, Contactless delivery, Online goods orders, Online education, and many others.
Are we Digital-Transform Ready?!
Many companies have had work from home policies implemented for years, some of which are more mature than others as talent becomes distributed worldwide. There is no need to make a case for remote work.
Is the majority of the workforce “remote-work” ready?
Such a dramatic shift in how businesses must operate to service requires the right mindset, processes, and tools. Understandably, most businesses lack those to enable their workforce to be as effective during such times.
The business pandemic extends not only just to the workforce but how core business operations are being set. While workers and employees will adapt to the new norm, companies may not be set with the required infrastructure, access policies, Data access, and compliance geared for such use cases. Businesses that are not cloud-native by design or haven’t factored in cloud strategies as part of their Digital transformation might suffer a lot in the coming weeks or months as they try to accommodate the new norms.
Digital transformation is not about the tools or digitizing processes. Still, more of a change mindset top to bottom within an organization ensures a business is scalable, reliable, and able to function in a healthy mode regardless of how changing this fast-paced world. So are you ready to do what it takes to get your businesses to survive?!
The Future is now
While the dust hasn’t settled yet, the fact is different businesses and markets will have to accommodate new ways to conduct business not sure to ensure the safety of their workforce but to remain in businesses and serve their community and customers.
- Telehealth and Telemedicine
- Virtual Events
- Online & Remote education
- Collaboration and Remote workforce
Those are only examples of markets that must fast-track their transformation journey through tools, infrastructure, business models, and above all, mindsets to accommodate the new world order that is being laid upon us as we as individuals are adapting to new terms and habits.
Stay Safe, stay healthy, and stay productive.
