How has Digitization Helped Companies to Survive in the Pandemic

1. How has Digitization Helped Companies to Survive in the Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic-led disruptions have hit the global economy hard. Business enterprises have been forced to halt their operations to avoid the virus from spreading among the employees through contact. Customers too have been mostly confined to their homes for the fear of contracting the disease given that lockdowns or severe restrictions on the movement of people have been strictly enforced around the world. To meet the extraordinary situation, most businesses and institutions have gone digital and made “work from home” the norm. Institutions like schools, colleges, universities, or skill development centers, among others, have shifted to online classes and lectures using video conferencing tools such as Zoom, Google Meet, and others and eLearning software solutions. Businesses too have found such tools handy to connect with their employees, clients, and end customers.

2. If companies across the board were reluctantly warming up to the idea of digitization in the pre-pandemic days, the pandemic drove them to embrace digitization on a full scale. So, if on one side, companies in sectors like hospitality, logistics, travel and tourism, manufacturing, and others, had a tough time managing operations and other areas due to the absence of workforce or customers, the ones riding the digital wave not only survived but came out triumphant as well. The companies in the latter category were mainly from the e- commerce or IT sector that did not face any disruptions and could switch to the “work from home” model with ease. Let us understand how digitization can help companies survive the pandemic. How digitization can mitigate the disruptions caused by the pandemic The pandemic has restricted the movement of people where in-house operations became difficult to sustain. This has made employees and other stakeholders from companies or organizations across segments stop going to their their workplaces. This disrupted their operational pipeline or value chain resulting in work stoppages. At the same time, since people stopped travelling for the fear of contracting the virus, companies catering to them in the travel and tourism, entertainment, and hospitality sectors (and many others) faced uncertain times. So, how to manage the situation using digitization? Let us find out with some examples: # Uber happened to be one such company that faced the brunt of the pandemic with people curtailing their commute time drastically. So, Uber drivers were asked to add UberEats food delivery to their services and deliver food items at the doors of their clients. # Companies in the hospitality sector have leveraged the advanced technological tools to offer personalized services to their end-customers. These include biometric-based room access, and mobile check-ins, among others. Also, virtual reality (VR) vacations have been offered to the customers who don’t want to travel, to enjoy sightseeing from the comfort of their homes. # Even though the entertainment industry suffered a lot with cinemas closed, OTT platforms saw a phenomenal rise in their business. For instance, Netflix added a whopping 15.8 million paid subscribers to its kitty in the first three months of the pandemic. Also, the entertainment industry took to the digital

3. platform to release their movies and stay relevant. # Companies can embrace a hybrid working model where employees can switch between working from office or home for a few days in a week. This can ensure less people to be present in the office thereby mitigating the spread of the infection. Conclusion Since most people have turned to the digital channels to access various products and services, be it in e-commerce, education, skill development, entertainment, or remote working, companies need to rise up to the challenge and digitize their operations to the extent possible. They must allow their critical operations to be executed remotely and sustain in the uncertain times. Source: https://www.vingle.net/posts/4246735 Anudip Foundation Email: info@anudip.org Phone No.: +91 33 4062 4187 Visit Us: https://www. anudip.org/ Stay Connected Via: https://twitter.com/anudipf https://www.facebook.com/AnudipFoundation https://www.instagram.com/anudipfoundation https://www.anudip.org/videos/