Whilst many may be (already) tired of the focus on Corona Virus and Covid-19’s impact on our personal safety, whether at work or at home, we cannot deny the accelerated use of digital tools and channels to help keep the workplace alive and the economy going.

Considering Covid-19 and digital in the same thought.

Business is now having to consider alternative ways to maintain customer and supplier relationships, management of resources and staff and importantly, financial stability.

Communication to customers needs not only to be reassuring about measures being put into place to protect personal safety in the retail marketplace, but that all is being done to maintain and sustain a supply chain that can still deliver at promised quality levels. There is either panic buying or concerned isolation – companies need to be able to reach out to both types of patrons. Now is the time to ensure that your digital properties are managed and leveraged to maximum opportunity. New or altered services must be shared with customers to provide peace of mind for them and continued revenue streams for business.

Interactions with suppliers are being forced to rely on digital platforms, with past strengths of the business relationship helping to ease both parties’ concerns about continuity. We need to work together to drive more efficient methods of procurement and delivery, so that solutions are win-win. Now is not the time to lord it over your supplier or client, but to work in beneficial harmony.

IT departments have become overworked as they seek to manage resources to support staff working remotely. This obviously has a major impact on digital capacity. New tools are being investigated and exploited more than ever before and investment into such resources will be beneficial for the future, as long as there is wise decision-making now. Many software companies have come to the “greater good party” and are offering free versions of remote interaction applications. Sadly, there will always be some companies unable to handle this pressure with drastic consequences all round.

The People Factor.

What are we doing to support our staff? We need to give them guidelines on a different sort of time management, ideas on how to master working in an isolated environment and how not to be casual about keeping to the same productivity schedule. A policing attitude is not the only approach to take.

Business processes have, in some ways beneficially, come under the spotlight. Perhaps now we can understand how some meetings are no longer necessary (and were just meetings to plan meetings). Processes don’t have to be re-engineered, but rather re-constructed (or better still enhanced) to provide the same or a better result without relying on face-to-face interaction. Although there will likely be some financial considerations here, catapulting us into the 4th Industrial Revolution has become a timeous reality for many who were slow on the uptake.

Whilst we are subjected to all this change, it is crucial that company leadership is focused, measured and generous in consideration of the variety of response to a new way of working as experienced by the employee base. Production facilities are particularly vulnerable at this time where there is much hands-on work to be accomplished without risking infection for all stakeholders.

Huge changes in lifestyle.

On the Media and publishing front, the 100 day Lockdown has seen closures of publishing houses, magazine titles no longer printed and/or moving to digital platforms. The latest of these is taking place at Media24 (July 2020). Consumer’s habits changed dramatically during Lockdown and the marketplace is having to respond accordingly, whether it is reading, shopping or even leisure activities.

Economically Speaking.

South Africa was already in a tight economy before the outbreak of the Corona virus and the impacts are being felt almost exponentially. We continue to grit out teeth with financial indicators, as demonstrated in the indicators below on 23rd March.

May our leaders both in Government and the private sector be able to have great wisdom in navigating the murky waters of our current circumstances. Those with more experience will be able to use the learnings from the past to innovate in new ways and keep businesses afloat.

Small business is hugely impacted by the current disruptions and big business will do well to be a ‘Big Brother’ in the best sense of that term by looking to harness expertise from the more agile sector of the economy.