COVID-19 has accelerated the digitalization journey of businesses all over the world. Stay-at-home orders, work from home decorum and social distancing have pushed companies to adopt new ways of doing things such as business techniques which mainly include digital tools to communicate, collaborate, work and track overall process and progress. We cannot ignore the catastrophe that COVID-19 has caused, but what is more important is that we do not lose sight of the digital metamorphosis and computerization spurting across the world.
With more people staying at home and getting almost everything they need online, firms and seasoned companies are investing their money where the eyeballs are. With every new phase of this pandemic, companies are changing their focus from earning more to protecting their business to retooling. Pre-pandemic transmutations were mostly driven by customer-based needs and a desire for more efficient and transparent processes, but the post-pandemic digitalization journeys are different. Global health and safety, increased communication and collaboration, social distancing, and a higher degree of adaptability and pliancy are all now the determining factors for the new digital transformation.
Coronavirus pandemic is battering global markets. The global crisis is hurting businesses- but not all companies are losing money. Businessmen and industrialists are reframing their business tactics and preparing their businesses to survive the lockdown strategies. Due to this, digital transformation, communication, collaboration and working is becoming the new normal. This is influencing business activities and models and is enabling new forms of cooperation between different companies.
Whether we take a look at the TV based political debate shows or news headlines- these examples show how the COVID-19 pandemic has developed from a designless stress test into a bombing catalyst for the digital transformation of our society. Furthermore, be it in schools, industries or medical care units; the last months have shown that in the fight against the contagion, digital acceleration and computerization has gained considerable momentum in all areas of our lives.
Across the globe, digitally predominant countries face new and dynamic competitions everyday. For example, in 2003, the confinement of SARS in China catapulted digital habits such as adoption of ecommerce and mobile telephony. Today 33% of retail transactions in China are online, when most of the countries barely reach 10%. In this post-pandemic world, three drivers will push an unprecedented wave of digitalization around the business world: first, consumer habits; second, state regulation; and third, public and private investment.
Quarantine has consolidated some digital behaviors, introduced new habits and extended some to other population segments like online shopping or video calls.
Some behaviors will be circumstantial, but others will become structural. The second driver will be state regulations around data and privacy, starting with the mobile applications to trace infected people, to safety and hygiene in public spaces like parks, airports, stadiums and finally environmental regulations that could affect our daily commute, as many of us are working remotely and the air of our cities is supposed to be cleaner. The third and the final driver will be public and private investment. Public investment will come first, as private capital reduces investment to manage risks. Entrepreneurs, pushed by unemployment, will create new digital startups. This would include corporate investment searching, more digital marketing, more online events and corporate ventures. Nevertheless, venture capital reduces at the beginning, but then increases investment in all digital things. COVID-19 will bring winners and losers. Those businesses or companies who want to win should be ready to remove old stoppers and become much more digital.
Starting into the post pandemic new normal with courage; what do these experiences of the last months show us? Being hopeless is not favorable in uncertain times and instead, direct and a positive initiative is needed to overcome a crisis like the current one. One thing that is particularly encouraging is that we are all experiencing and embracing the positive power of digitalization. We had and continue to have the opportunity to recognize that digitalization enables our companies and institutions, our society as a whole and each and every one of us to make a positive new start into the future.
The writer is an English Literature and Linguistics graduate based in Islamabad.
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