It’s been a year since Covid-19 took root in the United States, and lockdowns rolled out across the country. It’s been a trying time for small businesses. Thousands of them have gone under, leaving only those with access to capital and the ability to adapt hanging on.

However, the pandemic hasn’t been all doom and gloom for business. It accelerated many positive trends and positioned many firms to take advantage of the opportunities they will be presented within the post-pandemic future.

How to Do Business in A Digital World

The digitization of the business world arrived before the pandemic. Many businesses were already experiencing the benefits and were well positioned to operate in the pandemic’s touchless, digital space. Not all companies had gone all-in on the new digital world. Many were resisting the change even as more and more customers demanded digital and automated experiences. The harsh realities of the pandemic have required businesses to go all-in on digital to survive. The digitization of business operations extends far beyond how we process transactions or how we communicate. It touches every aspect of business operation in some way.

Digital Sales

The pandemic challenged businesses to rethink the way they pitched new clients and showcased products. In person meetings were out.  New inventive ways of making sales had to be devised. Many businesses leveraged video as their sales medium. Video sales have its limitation, like inhibiting your sales team’s ability to read the room and quickly establish a connection with the client.  The video meeting medium does have its benefits.

• It allows sales teams to conduct more meetings per day at a lower cost. It eliminates the time and financial expenses incurred during travel.
• It removes some geographical barriers on who your sales team can engage with and how often.
• Video meetings also enable sales teams to access their local assets and databases, giving sales teams more information during meetings.
• Sales teams can better prepare for each meeting by using time previously used to travel.
• Video meeting platforms allow sales teams to have more control over the experience. How?

Work from Home

One of the biggest lessons 2020 taught businesses is how to operate remotely. The policies and technology adopted to enable this have removed one of the biggest hurdles to expanding talent pools. Companies previously limited to their local talent pools can extend to surrounding cities, states?, or the whole country. This has the effect of increasing the caliber of employees and can reduce labor costs.

The infrastructure built to allow employees to work from home has also given employers the ability to give their teams more flexibility. This flexibility gives your employees the means to establish a better work-life balance. Also, it can be used to attract more and better talent to your businesses.

Maybe the most important benefit of remote work infrastructure is that it makes businesses more resilient—to weather unforeseen environmental and economic challenges.

Refocusing on Culture and People

A business’s employees are its lifeblood. To keep our economy alive in 2020, employees put their lives on the line, pivoted to working from home overnight, working more hours, and taking on more responsibility. The organizations that coped best with the challenges 2020 presented were those that developed a resilient workforce. The pandemic has driven home how crucial company culture is in cultivating dedicated and resilient employees.

Company values that shined during the pandemic were communication, employee wellness, and Training.

Communication

Organizations that had established good communication strategies before the pandemic adapted quickly to the changing conditions. Where communication channels allowed for two-way communication between employers and employees, organizations effectively addressed workers’ concerns and minimized the pandemic’s damaging effect on morale.

Training

Training also played a vital role in an organization’s ability to implement new processes and technology. Businesses with a culture of learning had a mechanism in place that enabled them to educate their workforce quickly and effectively. Since learning was part of the organization’s DNA, the companies encountered less resistance. They were able to minimize disruptions in productivity.

Wellness

The intrinsic nature of the pandemic’s effects on health brought companies’ approach to health and wellness to the forefront. Organizations with strong health benefits strengthen the bond between employee and employer. Employees were motivated to do everything they could to ensure the business’s success. Companies whose programs extended beyond just health insurance and took a holistic view of wellness could provide mental health and preventive resources to their employees. Those resources helped employees deal with lifestyle changes and increased stress. This helped keep employees healthy and motivated, boosting organizational resilience and the likelihood of survival.

For better or worse, 2020 has changed how we do business, consumer habits, and how we work. Some changes won’t last, while others will. Organizations will drive down different paths to find success. Some will try to claw back the world we left while others charge into the world COVID left behind. A few things will not change – Organizations will need to continue being resilient, adaptable and learn the lessons challenges leave behind.