COVID-19: How it is affecting Digital Transformation in 2021?

The COVID-19 pandemic has paved the way for tremendous digital transformation. In this blog, we have highlighted the changes that are going to be effective post-pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic took everyone by surprise and even the world of digital marketing wasn’t spared. Businesses had to continue even during the lockdown, social distancing, and other challenges. Therefore, some underprepared businesses had to take the toll while other prepared businesses flourished in this state of turmoil. COVID-19 paved the way for digital transformation at an unprecedented level.

The digital marketing experts at Esolz Technologies Pvt. Ltd. have come up with a list of trends in digital transformation that will revolutionize the year 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — to better prepare businesses for the future.

• Tools for Online Collaboration: Businesses are required to identify, evaluate and have the correct ensemble of online collaboration tools for employees and partners alike to work remotely. While giants like Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and many more have already integrated online collaboration tools into their business model, there are loads of niche players also that are flourishing in this domain. The choice of selection should be based on available budgets. However, you need to be careful while subscribing to online collaboration tools. The factors that you have to keep in mind are the security and scalability of your business.

• Sales Channels Strategy: You are required to rehabilitate your sales channels strategy to survive in the pandemic. With the new mantra — Pivot or Perish — you are either going to adapt to the changing situations or go out of business. COVID-19 has forced businesses to come up with new ideas and techniques for selling all the while maintaining the protocols provided by the respective government authorities. Lockdown and social distancing have changed the way buyers interact with products and services. More of them are willing to go online to search for essential goods and services even after the lockdown and might stay this way even if the pandemic is gone for good! Therefore, businesses need to gear up for the future that beholds. According to a report by the McKinsey Group, 80 per cent of all product searches happened online even after the vaccines were rolled out. This shows a trend that consumers are more likely to trust an online store than they would with a brick-and-mortar store.

• Business Continuity Plan (BCP): Most businesses had a business continuity plan that exceeded several hundred pages but was of no use when the pandemic struck. Therefore, you need to have an Agile Business Continuity Plan. These strategies need to be triggered with zero hesitation in no time. Instead of conducting half-yearly or yearly BCP drills, businesses need to put them to the real test by making ‘work from home’ a mandatory provision. This needs to be done every month. Some companies have already made ‘work from home’ a part of their company policy.

• Hybrid Cloud Strategy: Businesses need to utilize a hybrid cloud strategy as a part of their tactic to future-proof their digital transformation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And those who still haven’t integrated this system into their business model, are requested to contact us. We will help you in setting up your hybrid cloud strategy. The most logical place to start would be to set up the BCP/DR site on the cloud and test it regularly as part of the company’s routine drills.

• Dark Industry: During the COVID-19 pandemic, most manufacturers had to close their manufacturing units or work with a limited workforce. This was most apparent in the case of the essential goods sector. The entirety of the global supply chain is facing huge pressure trying to meet the demands. Therefore, Industry 4.0 or Dark Industry transformation needs to be implemented after the COVID-19 pandemic is gone to solidify the digital transformation. Now, you may ask: What is the concept behind ‘Dark Industry’? Well, the concept of Dark Industry states that there needs to be full-fledged automation in the factories with minimum or no humans on the site. This is to ensure that businesses are better prepared if we are to get hit by another more destructive pandemic in the future.

• Information Security: The need to secure the data of the organization, customer and other sensitive information is of paramount importance in the road to digital transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown saw plenty of security breaches due to an upsurge in working remotely. The most relevant security concerns happened over Zoom, unknown joining private meetings.

However, to address such issues, companies need to work in close cohesion with their partners and employees, ensuring the safe handling of data. The focus of the businesses needs to be on making ‘Information Security’ a part of their overall business model rather than a last-ditch effort.

Conclusion

There needs to be an equal emphasis on securing all IT assets like servers, laptops, mobiles, and so many more by using the correct tools for security.

Most of us don’t possess extrasensory perception, but we can be optimistic that by the time this pandemic is over, there will be enough room for development so that we don’t face these difficulties anymore. Team Esolz, hope that global business dynamics will change for the greater good. The economies will bounce back harder than ever before, hence, we are required to stay motivated and prepared.

We also have to align our digital strategies to ensure maximum output even during trying times. Let’s also pray that the world heals and hope that we don’t have to face this kind of pandemic in the future.

Last but not least, we have come up with our range of digital marketing services to future-proof your business. Reach out to us for exponential business growth.