The COVID-19 pandemic has changed businesses in many ways. The traditional workspaces have changed from brick and mortar offices to online spaces, and sales are driven now, more than ever, by how technologically savvy your team is. Businesses that took an early hint and adopted technologies that suit the new normal are now reaping from their proactivity. Braced with high technology in whatever you do, you stand a better chance than your competitors. Technology improves the cost of production, efficiency in marketing and smoothens customer service.
But it is never late to adopt new technology.
Before we go into the nitty-gritty of how you can use technology to align your business to post-COVID normal, here is how different parts of your business have been affected by the pandemic.
What Has Changed?
COVID-19 has changed the business manager’s perspective towards the definition of business and the customers’ expectations from companies. Even though many specialists project that the pandemic will end soon, most of the practices it came with might last a lifetime.
So, how has the pandemic changed different areas of business?
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The Customer is In the Cloud
Traditionally, your primary customer walked into your door. You had the opportunity to smile and exchange warm pleasantries, read their facial expression as you explain the workings of your products and services, and shake their hands after you close a sale (oh boy! can you remember the feel of a friendly, firm handshake?).
However, the pandemic has made it such that the customer stays at home, and you have to find a way of getting your business to them. Consumers have learned how to use digital tools to find companies that provide solutions to their challenges. Also, customer expectation of digital solutions has changed with the pandemic.
If your business is to survive, you have to change your business model to suit the new customer expectation.
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Marketing is More About Information
Traditionally, you relied on adverts that talked about how great your product was, its unique features, and how your products and services were better than your competition. All you needed was to find a script, an attention-grabbing voice, and a camera, and boom! You had an advert.
Not anymore.
The current consumer is attracted to information. You have to use artificial intelligence to understand your customer’s level on the buyer’s journey to provide the information they will find useful. As such, most businesses use cookies to improve their customers’ experience and monitor their visitors’ activity on the website.
Additionally, prospective customers synthesize marketing information better when you post it on business blogs, social media platforms, and other digital places. Businesses also use bots on their websites that answer customer questions instead of having a customer care representative on standby.
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Businesses Data is Accessible from Anywhere in the World
After the lockdown orders, most businesses had to adapt to the requirements of remote working. Companies had to, for example, find new ways of sharing information with a remote team. Managers had to look for ways to ensure that their teams met the set targets while taking care of their psychological stability.
Data accessibility also came with another challenge in data security. Some companies learned the importance of data security the hard way after pertinent customer data fell into the wrong hands. Fintech companies, especially, had to scale the uphill task of assuring their customers that their platforms were safe to use given the delicate nature of their clients’ data.
To survive in a world filled with ingenious hackers, you need to invest in modern data security plans.
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Business Processes Automation is the New Normal
The world is moving fast, and there are new technological innovations happening for each of your business processes. If it is not innovative 3D technology, it is a new virtual reality, new creative marketing software, computer learning, or customer service bots, among other innovations.
Automation of various business processes means that you have a system for all areas of your business. Some of the areas that you can easily automate include marketing, sales, customer engagement, finance, logistics, supply chains, among other places.
There are different benefits your business will gain when you adopt automation. They include:
- High efficiency with minimal chance for error
- You will find it easy to track various business processes
- You will quickly meet customer’s demands
- You will save a lot in salaries costs
- Automation enhances transparency
- Evaluating your business metrics become easy
The above list is inconclusive and is only meant to show you how marketing automation can improve your experience.
How Can Your Business Join in Digital Transformation?
By now, you might agree that the pandemic has affected various aspects of our lives, and especially how we do business. We, therefore, need to move away from manual processes to more updated automation techniques available. You can join the digital transformation in the following ways:
- Continuously train your staff: The business world is a dynamic place, and it can unsettle your balance in a snap if you are not prepared. There is always someone coming up with a different way of doing something. As such, ensure that your staff gets internal and external training on new technological advancements in your business field.
- Invest in Modern Technology: Do not be the business whose business processes use 1950s solutions to 21st-century challenges. Take your time to research and find what is new and efficient in your line of business. If you have not been keeping up with the latest digital transformation, then maybe it’s time for a complete, long-term technological overhaul of your business processes.
- Continually improve your product: As you have read above, the new customer has various demands of businesses, and yours is no different. You should, therefore, always improve your products and services to suit the market needs.
Above All Invest in Modern IT Equipment
Office equipment has grown past the furniture and photocopying machines to include internet connection, modern computers, computer software, and working telephone systems. You may have all the fancy software, but if you do not have the IT equipment to run it, you might fail your digital transformation endeavor.
