What the ‘new normal’ means for the future of business

From entrepreneurs to SMEs to big corporates, we’ve had to make massive changes in response to the Covid-19 such as accelerating process automation, moving into e-commerce where possible, making durable changes to strategy, rethinking human resources and employee working models – every aspect of corporate life has been shaken up and reassessed.

Additionally, many projections and plans from the pre-Covid era had to simply be torn up as the future is now moving in a distinctly different direction.

Disruption doesn’t come bigger than a deadly global health crisis after all.

This major disruption is not necessarily a bad thing – but it does mean people need to quickly get on board with the so-called ‘new normal.’ This term refers to?the landscape that has emerged in the wake of Covid-19. The pandemic rapidly altered the way that people live and work and as a result, businesses and customers alike are now living in a challenging and transformative climate.

Before the virus struck in early 2020, organisations were already undergoing?digital transformation at varying paces. But as we enter the new normal, it is no longer a process or future end goal – it’s a need that will define how (or whether) organisations continue to survive.

Digital strategy is now as important as business strategy – it’s that simple. ?

So, having a well-developed plan of how to implement new digital capabilities and software systems to maximise and scale business goals is essential. Without it you run the risk of wasting money on expensive technology without having a clear idea of how the software should be leveraged to achieve business objectives.?

Technology has been a massive enabler in helping us reorganise how we execute actions during a crisis. Industry experts predict that AI alone – which is just a small fraction of the technology available to us today – will add as much as?US $15.7 trillion to the global GDP by 2030.

Along with new tech, there is a new understanding that ‘innovation’ isn’t just another buzzword – it is absolutely crucial. Businesses must get much better at adapting their offering and identifying new opportunities in order to grow. When Covid struck it was the companies that managed to ‘pivot’ quickly that not only survived, but even thrived.

The winners in the new normal business realm will be those who have the imagination to think well beyond whatever they see in front of them.

Because as Forbes recently put it: “The pandemic was a wake-up call underlying the simple fact that the unanticipated and the improbable are more possible than anyone would have expected before.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/05/05/from-pandemic-to-endemic-transitioning-your-business-into-the-new-normal/