It’s Do Or Die – Survival Strategies For Business In The Post-Pandemic Era
Did you know the number of businesses plummeted from 15 million in Feb 2020 to 11.7 million in just three months? It was one of the largest drops on record.
There is no denying that the coronavirus pandemic has caused massive humanitarian and health crises. The pandemic has upended the health domains and various businesses around the world.
From collapsing customer demand, economic recession to supply chain interruptions, and regulatory modification, world-crises have significantly increased. The USA economy remained mired in a plague with sluggish job growth and shuttered storefronts.
However, according to Mckinsey, the good news is that 2021 can be the year of “transition”. After barring this unexpected calamity, businesses have now started to look for ways to shape their future. While the companies have decided not to grind themselves in the present anymore, they need to find ways to recover.
In fact, many organizations have taken a “no regret” approach to emerge from the health crisis. These leaders are all set to face the problem with a reinvented spirit- establishing flexible cost structures, escalating digital transformation, and implementing fast and agile operations.
But remember that whether you’re a startup or an established business, you need to master some must-do post-pandemic survival skills to keep up with evolving tactics and changing operations.
Here are some “must-dos” for post-pandemic survival to lay out the groundwork for your business recovery.
Must-Do’s for Post-Pandemic Survival
Plan success for Tomorrow
Planning is your course of action towards the position you want to attain in the future. It must explicate your action plan for “today” to accomplish your business goals tomorrow. You may begin with planning, strategizing, and budgeting.
But it is essential to assess your position in the market to evaluate how the pandemic has impacted your company.
Consider checking these;
- Has customer demand decreased, increased, or remained steady?
- How are the working conditions in the business? Have most of your staff opted for work-from-home arrangements?
- Do you get services from suppliers on time?
- Have things changed in your delivery options
Once you get a snapshot of your business standing, you will be able to identify the areas that need your attention. Plus, you can find the opportunities you can avail yourself of during the pandemic. It would be best to create an initial plan and prioritize what you need to address.
This will not only give you a comprehensive framework but also enable you to create a timeline. This could be an excellent opportunity to launch a new service or product line based on current customer demands such as errand services and commercial cleaning.
Prepare for the Market
Considering how your local market and economy could look like in the next two years is extremely important. To survive a post-pandemic scenario and thrive in the market, you must map out or forecast your business’s future standing.
Think if reconnecting with your existing customers will be the best option or if attracting new ones would be more beneficial. Will these pandemic-related changes affect your budget?
Keep in mind that staying flexible with each project is mandatory while creating new projections on the evolving COVID-19 situation.
Be prepared: Map out for different scenarios.
It is not wise to prepare for a business to survive without exploring the influence of pandemics on the economy down the road. Here is a rundown on what your forecasting about different scenarios may include.
What will the new normal for businesses be? Some possible scenarios are:
- Moving to a permanent work-from-home scheme for all employees
- Offering curbside product delivery
- Offering or expanding digital service delivery
- Moving to various shorter shifts of temporary workers
- Opening your business for buyers by appointment
- Reducing office hours
Leverage Digital Operations
The pandemic has sped up digital transformation by 59 percent in many organizations. Though stay-at-home work has more mandates and lets workers spend time online, you must invest in digital operations wisely. You could split the business budget for eCommerce or digital if you run a brick-and-mortar business.
We say this because consumers may ditch the option of online shopping when the pandemic’s restrictions are over.
Nurture Workplace Culture
More than 50 percent of business leaders believe that positive culture influences creativity, productivity, firm value, profitability, and growth rates.
If your business place is not operational anymore, think of the downtime opportunity to strengthen the non-tangible assets. In short, you must find innovative ways to not only nurture your company’s culture but also support the well-being and mental health of employees.
Remind your working teams about the business’s unique culture via regular emails, Zoom calls, or chats. Find ways that help you draw all employees together through virtual social gatherings or socially distanced meet-ups and get-togethers.
Remote Proficiency
COVID is an inevitable catalyst in increasing remote work culture. While remote work has a generational appeal, the format is not for all. Since working in a collaborative, in-person space has become difficult, you need to learn high-quality work-from-home tactics to survive post-pandemic.
That means your business must have a strong backup for communicating, working, and collaborating while being thousands of miles apart.
Shift to Touchless Payment
The pandemic has driven seismic shifts in the way consumers shop or pay. As per the recent report of the Visa Back to Business Study, approximately two-third (78 percent) of customers will switch to contactless payments. This is when you need to consider;
Does your business have the technical tools to accept contactless payments?
If not, this might be a vital must-do you should consider working on. The future customer will require the option of Touchless tap-and-go app payments.
Summing Up
When it is about surviving the current financial crises, making definite business plans is hard for an organization. However, businesses must know the expected changes in the post-pandemic world and try implementing the changes accordingly.
Thus, the given tips or must-do’s are based on current facts and may help you strategize your business plan for the future.
