The world is braving through Covid-19 pandemic. Due to this, health of billions of people is at risk and world’s economy is going to face a catastrophic situation in the coming days. Experts are making different terrible predictions and forecasts but one thing is very clear that business will change after Covid-19 pandemic for sure.
Some businesses will never come back to the previous position. New practices and ways of doing business will take over many organizations.
Let’s see what are some of the most obvious changes business is likely to experience in the near future.
Culture of Remote Working
People has been using internet for many years. Even with increased availability of internet and web-based communication tools, working remotely was not accepted as norm. Before Coronavirus pandemic many of organizations had been following a policy to discourage practice of working from home.
Here comes Covid 19 pandemic and it has changed the situation all together. Now it has become an accepted norm and has become a new normal. Today millions of new users have shifted to communication tools like Teams, Zoom and Google Hangouts. For instance, Video calling and conferencing app Zoom was the ranked as highest downloaded app in the US in the month of April.
It has become a habit now and it is not going away soon even workplace situation improves. Organizations and employees will adjust themselves with working remotely and it will become culture of the future work.
Culture of Flexibility
Many organizations still have rigid policies and structures in place. They have been still living in the the age of Industrial Revolution. They have strict bureaucratic hierarchies and control systems. But Covid-19 pandemic has changed this situation and forced such organizations to replace their static structures with dynamic set ups.
This will also become a norm in the business organizations to have flexible structures and policies to meet the challenge of this kind. They will rely more on technological solutions and need to have quick decision process to keep the business running smoothly in situation like this.
Minimum Travel
Travel and especially international travel will not be the same. Given the risk of getting infected associated with air travel, people will avoid international travels. Social distancing also demands less physical interaction even for business purpose.
Organizations and leaders are increasingly using communication tools for video meetings. More efficient and easy-to-use communication tools are coming up to provide smooth business communication. These technological solutions will also help in reducing unnecessary travel.
International travel is expensive and many organizations will not be in position to afford this travel in the future. Many tend to reduce international travel to make up its losses in Covid-19 pandemic.
Online Events
People has been using communication tools for video meetings but not adopting to online events. Organizations were spending a lot on seminars, conferences and other business events. In such events, main cost includes international travel and stay of guests which will not be preferred by many in the future.
In post Coronavirus pandemic, the business world is likely to rely on organizing online events. Many IT experts are already working on this and they are hopeful to provide new innovative solutions.
The question here is that whether people will return to physical conferences and seminars once current situation gets back to normal. Obviously, there are some benefits of physical events and many people will prefer to go back to physical events. Yet, one thing is sure that people will get a workable alternate which will work for many.
Rapid Automation
Many organizations were already shifting to automation prior to this pandemic. But what did this pandemic do is that it accelerates the pace of shifting. Robots and Artificial intelligence (AI) which otherwise are expected to take ten years to replace people are now becoming reality of the near future.
It is so because some organizations want to reduce large-scale dependent on humans. Being more prone to risks, humans will not be considered a dependable resource in the future. Its replacement with automation will be faster now.
Paradigm Shift in Supply-Chain
The current supply-chain management will never be the same in the future. The disruption caused by this pandemic exposes the fault lines in the existing supply-chain across the world. The dependence on supply of material from other countries halted the manufacturing in other country.
Many business leaders stress upon that creating more alternative sources of supply and also rebuilding localized supply-chains. Organizations need to redefine the risk posed by such pandemic and also find innovative solutions to ensure undisrupted supplies in the future.
According to this article published by The World Economic Forum, the experts are emphasizing on three ways Supply Chain need to evolve in the future.
Due to disruption in supply, many businesses are thinking to shift to 3D printing technology. Recently in Spain, a 3D-printed ventilator designed in less than a week time.
Take Home Points
- There is no denying the fact that business will change after Covid-19 pandemic.
- Working remotely will become a new norm.
- Organizations will become more flexible in terms of working hours, HR policies and management style.
- International travel will be minimized as people will have more options to communicate with each other.
- Since huge gatherings are now not possible so technology will be used to have more online events.
- The rapid automation will be seen in almost every business. The presence of robots with Artificial Intelligence are going to replace humans.
- New paradigm of Supply-Chain Management and alternate solutions are needed to mitigate the risk.
