When the COVID-19 pandemic came onshore, the scenario of lockdown began and became a huge challenge for the continuity of businesses. The major challenges faced by the global economy during lockdown is the business continuity and maintaining social distance. The pandemic is present all over the world and lockdown was implemented everywhere to flatten the curve. Since we have not found the vaccine yet or any cure for the virus, continuing the lockdown is helping the virus to contain. Because of the lockdown and social distancing measures, businesses are at standstill and it has affected the economy of the countries. Many organizations have managed to stay consistent with the aid of technology but a continued lockdown is going to strain further.

The pandemic and lockdown brought in some interesting changes in the lifestyle that may also change the way we used to do business forever. The humans are showing up on the internet in huge numbers as now they are locked in their homes. The “New Normal” concept is going to stay with us with a new phase of technology.

How Technology Became a Big Part of the “New Normal”

The “New Normal” referred by the people is in the context of technology and how they are using it to keep the daily operations going. Work from home is made possible due to video conferencing, messaging applications, cloud infrastructure and of course, the internet. Technology is taking the businesses towards the new normal by the following means –

Virtual Conversations – People are not allowed to meet each other in person to maintain social distancing and this is helping so much in flattening the curve. The video calling platforms then came up and the business meeting and communications were replaced. Everything can be replaced with virtual conversations now and so the travelling for business does not have much importance. One cannot simply avoid the effectiveness of virtual conferencing during and after this lockdown.

Digital Payments – In order to maintain social distance during the business deals, digital mode of payments have gained much popularity since the lockdown. They will be in use even after the lockdown as businesses are realising its other benefits including better insights for cash flow, reduced fraud risk, seamless user experience and many more. RBI also pushes digital payments such as net banking and other wallets as a very major risk is constituted by physical cash.

E-learning and E-governing – Anyone with a laptop today can attend the lectures online as the colleges and schools are taking online sessions on video calling applications. With more time available, people are taking up new courses and the demand for existing online courses is on the rise. For the meetings and communication with the citizens through media, the government has also moved online. It is not limited for just education.

Health Tech Apps – Since people are relying much more on technology now, they are not only downloading health-tech apps but many others which help them in becoming healthier. This pandemic has provoked a fear amongst people who used to avoid their well-being. These applications will be with them forever now, be it during or after lockdown.

Demand for Virtual Reality – As people are adapting for work from home model, they will need more bandwidth and internet speed. It will result in the rise of demand for 5G, AI and VR services more than ever. In the time of crisis, the automated redundant tasks will be of great importance for AI. Virtual reality has been accepted by the people during the lockdown more than ever and its demand will be increased after it.

Remote Working Training – Organizations will now provide training programs and execution plans to the employees for the “Work from Home” model. They need to be prepared with contingency plans for such a situation and crisis in the future.

Read How Technology is helping battle COVID-19 in our blog – https://synergytop.com/blog/how-technology-is-helping-battle-covid-19/

Implementing New Strategies Post Lockdown

The government is allowing relaxation in lockdown in a phased manner. The businesses need to ensure that they comply with the government guidelines to keep their people safe and active. The businesses should implement these few steps once the lockdown gets over –

• A detailed plan for identifying who really need to come to work and who can continue work from home even after the lockdown is lifted. The clarity should be made before resuming the businesses.
• The companies need to ensure conveyance or transportation for their workers. There should be checkpoints in the premises in which testing can be done. The employees or workers should be provided with a red flag which they can show if they are feeling unwell.
• Only 25% or 50% of the workspace should be actually occupied to avoid crowding in the office spaces.
• Similar planning is required for the supporting staff such as security guards, cafeteria staff or receptionists. If there is no need of them in the beginning, they should be called in a staggered manner.

Learn How IT Industry Is Surviving COVID-19? in our blog – https://synergytop.com/blog/how-it-industry-is-surviving-covid-19/

Final Words

The world is not going to be same after the lockdown and so the business life is going to change on a greater level. Technology will be remembered for its significant role played in fighting the pandemic and during the lockdown.

The new business plans have to be well thought out efforts to make sure that if we are opening our offices, we are also taking every step possible to ensure the safety of our employees and to minimize the impact on them.

About SynergyTop

SynergyTop is a leading custom software solutions development company. We can help you during and after the lockdown in developing Web Applications and providing E-commerce solutions.

Write to us at info@synergytop.com if you need any help in keeping the business going during these tough times.

Also, Should You Adopt PWA Amid COVID-19 Pandemic? Read in the blog – https://synergytop.com/blog/should-you-adopt-pwa-amid-covid-19-pandemic/