The world was not ready for a pandemic that brought everyone’s lives to a standstill. While everybody took a few days to catch their breath and analyze the situation, technology rushed in to fill the gaps in various fields. Businesses started adapting technology that should have taken them a few years, almost overnight. Things never seen before started to become the norm, and companies transformed the way they functioned to survive during this crisis. While most were ill-equipped at the beginning of the transition, they started evolving and optimizing their activities pretty soon. Today it is almost unimaginable to go back to the way things were before, both for ordinary citizens and businesses.
Digital Interactions
Communicating with the customers, business partners, and investors is essential to maintaining a profitable firm. Many companies that held daily meetings or interacted with customers face-to-face found platforms where they could do this digitally. Advertising on social media, YouTube, and other platforms was seen as a much effective way to reach a potential customer base since people started spending hours online. Instagram reels are one of the most popular activity among online users. Businesses now see the importance of driving traffic to your business by purchasing more views to their reels or videos using platforms such as Popularity Bazaar for acquiring traffic and better promotion by social media algorithms. Businesses that were engaged in creating online solutions for other firms suddenly saw a massive opportunity to develop and deploy new products on the market with variations for each user.
Use of AI
Brining back employees proved to be a difficult task since the workspace had to be customized according to various safety protocols. The office space also needed to be redesigned in a way that would ensure proper social distancing and the ability for employees to sanitize their hands as frequently as necessary. There was also a need to ensure that employees followed all the safety protocols put in place. All these tasks were bound to exert an even higher pressure on the company’s resources.
Many businesses in various fields have already been including Artificial Intelligence in their daily functions. From AI-equipped algorithms that can predict the cash requirements at ATMs to AIs that can recognize signs of gambling addiction in sites like www.usafriendlypokersites.com/florida/, the world was already recognizing how important Artificial Intelligence is.
Though AIs cannot wholly replace human employees yet, many companies have recognized how much more cost-effective artificial intelligence is in various tasks. Once purchased and installed, AIs do not require the continuous regulation and maintenance that would have been necessary to support a human workforce.
Inside Sales
Many firms that only focussed on physical and face-to-face sales with their customers realized the need to strengthen their online presence and make their products accessible digitally. Inside sales that include using technology and social selling platforms to reach their customers saw a boom during the pandemic. Businesses that hadn’t even considered digital sales prior to 2020 were going online overnight. They also started replacing salespeople with inside salespersons on social media platforms and various other locations on the internet. While the expenses necessary for supporting an inside salesforce was comparatively much smaller, the productivity was incredibly high.
Contactless payments
Not all firms could entirely shift online. Many shops, supermarkets, and restaurants continued to have customers visit their physical locations. Besides asking them to wear masks, it was essential to ensure as little contact as possible. Contactless paying methods gained popularity in this regard. People no longer had to worry about carrying enough cash in their wallets and could easily carry out transactions with a few clicks on their smartphone. E payment services also realized the opportunity presented to them and expanded their services, bringing in more firms and providing various offers.
Gathering customer data
While conducting transactions and businesses face-to-face, it might be hard to keep records regarding the customers, their preferences, purchases etc. But moving online meant that they could gather an incredible amount of data regarding each customer who makes a purchase at their online marketplace. Companies could acquire insights regarding the buying trends, create customer personas enabling them to tailor-make offers that could improve customer loyalty.
Remote Working
It became challenging for employees to travel and work in unsafe environments. There was a constant risk of catching the virus despite all the means employed to prevent it. Keeping on a mask for hours on end was also not a very viable option. Companies quickly equipped employees with the tools they would require to function efficiently online. Daily staff meetings and client interactions were now conducted over video calls. Companies also started using various methods to monitor the employees and ensure that they functioned well despite being home. Better internet connectivity and software were required to stay connected with the entire firm continually and to ensure that there were no hiccups in the daily activities of the companies.
In Conclusion
From having their employees work remotely to moving their sales online, companies have been using various methods to stay up during a global crisis. This state has almost become the norm today, and it is only natural to expect technology to be more involved in our lives in the future.
