Adopting advanced technologies in your business processes is no more an added advantage today; it has become a necessity to survive in the job market of tomorrow. Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain technology, virtual reality, Internet of Things (IoT), and big data analytics are some of the technologies that are changing the very nature of how businesses have operated traditionally. Though companies across the world realized that they would need to adopt them in the near future, they didn’t predict the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about those technological changes that businesses were only planning for the future. Every industrial sector, be it retail, manufacturing, education, governmental agencies, healthcare, or aviation, realized the need of shifting its operations online as countries introduced indefinite lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus. In a way, the pandemic accelerated a decade long process of digital transformation in all countries.
The education sector, for example, saw a sudden shift to the eLearning mode from the traditional physical classroom. As schools, universities, and other educational institutes were compelled to shut down for some months, the learning of millions of students couldn’t be compromised. The only option left was to shift to the online mode of learning. The shift was evident because online training platforms saw a sudden spike in the number of users accessing their courses. The schools also either partnered with these existing edtech players or upload the lectures on their websites.
Online learning wasn’t only limited to K-12 and graduate students during the pandemic. Professionals also leveraged these platforms to upskill themselves and survive in these unprecedented times. Millions of laborers lost their job when businesses couldn’t continue operating during the lockdowns. As such, many of them understood the importance of gaining digital skills and remaining relevant in this technologically advancing workplace. Online training platforms helped such professionals by offering courses on a wide range of job areas like cloud computing, project management, data analytics, software development, digital marketing, and more. For instance, professionals seeking a managerial position could enroll in a Project Management Professional or PMP course to gain an in-depth knowledge of project management.
McKinsey has also asserted that the road to COVID-19 recovery will be migration to digital technologies. CEOs of various companies are trying to avert the COVID-19 crisis by digitalizing at least some part of their business to protect employees and serve consumers satisfactorily. Banking and financial institutions started promoting remote sales and service teams and worked on digital outreach to customers to offer flexible payment options. On similar lines, hospitals started offering online consultations to people who couldn’t visit them in person. Using a mobile application, patients could book an appointment online, consult with a designated doctor, and get a digital copy of the prescription.
A recent Global Survey of Executives by McKinsey offered some interesting insights:
● The share of digital or digitally enabled products in the portfolio of the respondents has accelerated by seven years.
● Companies are 3 times more likely now than before the pandemic to say that at least 80% of their customer interactions are digital in nature.
● Companies acted 20 to 25 times faster than expected to respond to a range of COVID-19 related changes.
● Respondents found remote working and cloud migration to be more cost-effective than pre-COVID norms and practices.
All these insights are
enough to conclude that companies are taking the adoption of technology as a
top priority to revive their business in the post-COVID times.
A number of countries are working hard on the road to recovery in various stages. So, now is the right time for companies to reset, pivot, and think big to transform their business operations and match the latest digital expectations that have emerged. People have turned to digital channels for transactional, purchase, educational, or personal purposes. This trend has made it necessary for businesses of all verticals to transform their operations using advanced technologies to give customers the experience they expect. Adopting technology would enable leaders to tune their organizational models and tech stacks to operate at the highest effective pace.