How badly COVID – 19 has impacted businesses and industries?

Lockdown has been – by far – the one of the best response strategies to tackle the COVID – 19 pandemic. That being said, we must look at the economic implications of GLOBAL LOCKDOWN too!

Should everyone be worried when the IMF says ‘As a result of the pandemic, the global economy is projected to contract sharply by – 3% in 2020’?

Because at the same time, the World Bank says ‘global growth is projected to edge up to 2.5% in 2020, 0.2 percentage point below previous forecasts, as investment and trade gradually recover’!

Livelihood is as important as life! We may defeat the COVID – 19 eventually but then we must ensure that humanity doesn’t end up facing a bigger and scarier challenge of recession and poverty.

“Only 12% organizations are highly prepared for the impact of coronavirus”

Gartner’s Business Continuity Survey

Impact of COVID – 19 on global businesses

Global businesses are facing challenges on predominantly two fronts: Finance and Operations. But there are so many other ways in which the COVID – 19 has impacted business.

1. Impact on Finance

The world was already reeling from a financial crisis before the COVID – 19 bummer hit the economy in the face. Global businesses have almost come to a standstill and this has impacted the earnings of the entire business hierarchy negatively. More, the governments are investing in healthcare infrastructure and disease control measures which have left them with less money for economic stimulus.

2. Impact on Operations

Operations are feeling the biggest disruption at the moment. Enterprises are looking at a new model for operations by automating routine tasks with human + machine models. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION REVOLUTION has arrived where everyone is a knowledge worker. The business development activities ae set to go virtual while production and services are set to go on automation.

3. Impact on Experience

The experiences have changed for customers, employees, management, and everyone else in the ecosystem. This has in turn changed the attitude, behaviour and thought process. But this is a positive impact, because it will take us to a NEW WORLD ORDER. The new demands and the expectations of experience are here to stay. If an enterprise can understand and bang on it, it’s their success.

4. Impact on Customers

The COVID – 19 outbreak has given a new way of customer contact. Every organization has understood that they need to establish new contact touch-points and leverage them to deliver customer experience. Customers now feel comfortable with augmentation and automation of services. Also, the social distancing and isolation norms are likely to continue in future so customers have accepted this new reality.

5. Impact on Leadership

Gone are the days of lethargic decision making and red-tapism. The policy makers and the management professionals have felt the need to review their processes. The leaders – be it a nation or an organization – are facing an unprecedented situation. The leaders who have a proactive approach and who can generate trust among the customers as well as employees, are likely to surge ahead successfully.

6. Impact on Systems

Businesses were taking a slower route to DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION before COVID – 19. However, when lockdown created immense pressure on their systems, they all seem to realize the need to have a new system which can address issues related to business continuity risks, sudden changes in volume, real-time decision-making, workforce productivity, security risks, etc. The workplaces are set to be revolutionized.

Getting back to work: Is it as hard as it seems?

A report by Andres Cadena, Felipe Child, Matt Craven, Fernando Ferrari, David Fine, Juan Franco, and Matthew Wilson, titled ‘How to restart national economies during the coronavirus crisis’ outlines the best way out possible.

Rethinking social contracts

There will be a new mentality and attitude towards economy, when people come out of lockdown. We need to rethink the roles of individuals and institutions and create a new model of rapid development.

Defining the future of work and consumption

New technology has transformed all the aspects of personal & professional life – Remote working, communication and learning tools have become the new normal. We must define new SOPs to reduce costs & maximize profits. IConflux offers the best TECH SOLUTIONS to organizations across the world, for DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION.

Mobilizing resources at speed and scale

Investing in new tools and ecosystem to mobilize resources has become a very important aspect. Governments and entrepreneurs need to build capacity and policy framework that allows efficient mobilization of resources.

Moving from globalization to regionalization

Dependence on vulnerable nodes in global supply chains has become too risky. We need a massive restructuring of production and sourcing of resources. We need to localize or regionalize the supply chains.

Conclusion:

Humanity has not faced a pandemic for the first time! There are numerous examples of countries which RISE FROM THE ASHES, throughout the history. We shall get over this COVID – 19 situation too. And when we do it – we will become a new – updated version of humanity. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION will become a vital key to the economic resurrection of the world. IConflux has been offering end-to-end DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION solutions which can equip any organization to survive and thrive even in difficult times.

Think of COVID – 19 as an opportunity to transform your organization. Get in touch with IConflux on info@iconflux.com.

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