The COVID-19 pandemic has expanded to nearly every country around the world, and businesses across different industries can now felt the financial impact. The disruption caused many companies to close down their physical offices to help reduce the spread of the virus. The current lockdown in many countries also triggered businesses to stand down many of their employees to mitigate further financial loss.
As the health crisis continues to develop, many businesses are facing workforce challenges, and the need to respond rapidly is vital. Here are two factors to consider to help companies to respond to the viral outbreak.
Planning ahead of the crisis
Being able to identify possible scenarios and prepare beforehand will help your business recovery efforts after the outbreak. Unlike a typical strategy, the plan needs to cover all areas of the business, including workforce planning, supply chain management, and aligning brand strategy.
Preparing for the “new normal“
This global disruption will create a shift in the preferences of expectations of many individuals and businesses. Companies that reinvent their businesses to make the most of what they learned during the global outbreak will likely succeed. The digital transformation and contactless commerce will most likely prosper in ways that will reshape the business landscape and consumer behaviour in the future.
Opportunities to push for digital transformation in the workforce will be accelerated by the need to drive productivity when local labour is unavailable. As we can observe, many businesses effectively adapt to a remote workforce and have discovered many opportunities to implement this strategy. A digital workforce will make a business more resilient to disruption, enabling businesses to further provide continuous customer support.
