Digital is the new 'normal' thanks to the Coronavirus influence

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Has your Business been Forced to be Extra Digitally-Savvy?

We have witnessed how the Coronavirus pandemic has caused worldwide panic with company shutdowns. Many have even closed their doors for good. 

Coronavirus has propelled us into a 'future' world. One where digital has become central to every interaction, forcing both companies and individuals to adopt a new way of learning almost overnight. 

Before the pandemic, companies used to plan their digital strategies across one to three year phases. But during and after coronavirus, they are faced with scaling their digital initiatives in several days or a few weeks.

We now live in a world where digital channels have become the primary customer-engagement model, where automated processes drive productivity, and are the foundations of a more flexible and transparent supply chain. A world in which agile ways of working are a prerequisite to meeting the daily challenges of customer behaviours.

The way in which we learn from, and adjust to, today’s crisis will deeply influence our performance in tomorrow’s world. It provides the opportunity to retain greater agility and build stronger relationships with our customers, employees and suppliers. 

As each country begins to relax their guidelines, and we enter into an economic slump, it’s time to rethink what will happen next.

Will companies continue to stay digital savvy as things go back to normal?

Now is the time to reassess digital initiatives. Re-opening company doors will take some careful planning to establish new operational policies and help get your employees on board.

Below are some guidelines that can help:

Refocus Digital for Customer and Employee Expectations 

When your business reopens, customers (and employees) may be wary about being in an enclosed space with others. For your business to thrive, you must be adaptable, flexible and understand your customers needs.

Assess how the needs and behaviours of your customers have changed, and examine your digital channels against those of your competition.

Reimagine customer journeys to reduce friction, accelerate the shift to digital channels, and provide new safety procedures.

Be transparent and tell the story of how Coronavirus has affected your business. Share what strategies you are implementing to adjust. Communicate what you are doing to support your employees.

Use Data to Improve Business Operations

Collate data that supports the business operations and helps to reinforce new operational procedures.

Start with the customer-facing initiatives that offer an upward increase. Use automation and predictive analytics to isolate difficulties to provide better solutions. 

Look for opportunities to standardise new digital initiatives and support scaling digital solutions across the core business processes. 

Standardisation can help you accelerate projects by reducing confusion and create common tools that everyone in the business can use.

Refresh or Modernise Your Technology

Get rid of outdated technology and update your hardware (laptops, desktops, smart devices etc). Now that you’re working remotely, it makes sense to do it soon. Re-negotiate long-term contracts such as your cloud based hosting or business internet services.

Recruit additional digital talent and accelerate digital education for your employees. This will save you money later on, when your business is flourishing and you don’t have time to stop.

Adapt to the New Digital Reality

Companies that have flourished have adopted a flatter, more agile business model and have shown substantial improvements in both pace and productivity. 

A good example is one of my clients in the hairdressing industry, Stanley & Co Hair. The owner decided to reduce the number of days the salon is open, and instead has increased the operating hours. This has increased appointments, customer base and monthly turnover. The silver lining is that over head costs have decreased as the sales have increased. With my help they are introducing new digital strategies to help increase their income stream further.

Conclusion

Business owners who want to succeed in the digital-led recovery must quickly reset digital plans to meet new customer needs, support business decisions, adjust their procedural models and refresh technology to operate better and faster than before.

It’s essential to set new digital initiatives and measure the progress against them. Being better across digital channels to win the revenue race, rebuild the most critical new procedural models, and increase relationships are goals that are well within reach.

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About the author

Caria Watt is the Founder of Online Business Made Easy and Director, digital strategy and web design at CariaWatt.com based in Sydney. She helps small to medium businesses take the profit-making steps through digital solutions, that turn more online visitors into customers.

For more digital and social media tips tune in to my podcast #CariaCares Digital Strategy. You can listen (and give it a rating) on iTunes, Spotify, Tunein, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

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