FOUR WAYS A BUSINESSES CAN SURVIVE DURING A PANDEMIC

There is no doubt to say businesses and business owners have undergone and still undergoing a lot of challenges due to the shocking waves of the COVID -19 pandemic. No matter the size of your business, it probably has been caught in the crossfire of COVID-19 in one way or another. The pandemic has brought businesses to their knees, fighting to keep customers and finding new ways to stay innovative and grow. Let’s say is because we did not see it coming or that we were not prepared for such catastrophe. What if we come across an even more serious pandemic than COVID-19 how can we  survive the crisis to keep our businesses alive?

Businesses can survive during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s going to take a lot more than government-driven financial aid to do it. The real work starts behind the scenes with business leaders. In this article we are going to talk on FOUR ways businesses can survive during a pandemic.

FLEXIBILITY

With the volatile economic climate and the ever-changing rules of re-opening the economy, business owners need to learn how to be flexible. Flexibility means that you shift to a new strategy to address something that may not be working well within your company. This can be something as simple as a company changing its platform from software to an app. Or it can be something as complex as changing their entire business model. Flexibility in a company’s strategy and knowing when it should update can be crucial in both surviving and thriving in the marketplace.

GO DIGITAL

The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to structural shifts including in customer preference of digital engagement and moving to remote working models for employees, which are likely to remain even post-COVID. An online presence is gold right now. If your business operated only physically until now, it’s time to move it into the digital world. Consumers have generally moved more toward online shopping and digital services than taking advantage of physical stores and services, even as lockdown orders lift. Your presence online through a website or different social media platforms could be what gets your business noticed. The challenge of the pandemic for businesses has not only been to sustain productivity through digitized operations, but to refocus on new opportunities spurred by digitalization for their work and workforce. It is in part a cultural shift, where digitalization is seen less as an acceptable solution to a problem, and more as a catalyst to change the business model creatively for the better.

PRIORITIZE THE PHYSICAL HEALTH OF EMPLOYEES

Keeping yourself and your team healthy while limiting the spread of the virus should be your number one priority. As a business owner, you should have already started to refine your COVID-19 corporate policy that aligns with official recommendations and highlights your infection-control efforts. Make sure you continue to monitor the public health guidelines for employers on a daily basis. Here you will find information on how to respond to the crisis as an employer and look after your team’s physical health. You should also continue to educate your employees on ways that they as individuals can prevent the spread of the infection. There are still times they will come into contact with others during lockdown. Keep directing them to official sources of information, such as the government’s stay at home guidance and WHO advice.

SOURCE FOR FREELANCERS

With more limitations on staff size and in-person office spaces as a result of preventive barriers to Covid-19 pandemic, businesses of all sizes must think outside of their network for staffing. With these restrictions, we are seeing more businesses no matter the size bridge the gap by outsourcing work to freelancers rather than hiring new employees, especially for marketing services, project management and CRM. Not only can businesses benefit from freelancers due to their specialized skill sets to address your every need, but they are increasingly more affordable and flexible without a long-term contract. Beyond that, leveraging freelancers makes it possible to attract world-class talent that would be unavailable to most organizations on a full-time basis.

CONCLUSION

The world is heeling from Covid-19 with certain economies cautiously opening up but the past few months have forced scrutiny of our existing business operations and its inefficiencies. While it is difficult to know what will happen next, it is possible to draw on the lessons of the past few months and to see them as opportunities for improvement. Businesses need to work on responding to the current crisis while simultaneously building to thrive in a new reality that focuses on flexibility, digitization, personal health, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. These four components are interrelated and need focused strategies to ensure success.