It is no exaggeration if someone says that the Covid-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down! Education, health, trade, finance, societies, and businesses – in fact, no sector was spared from Covid turmoil. At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020 industries of all sizes across the world faced great difficulties operating their regular businesses. However, businesses that quickly embraced the right digital strategy in response to the crisis, were not only able to adjust to the changing situation but also captured opportunities offered to them resulting from the crisis.
The spring of 2020 will be remembered for decades when the entire world was jolted due to the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. It was a nightmare for mankind since patients who tested positive for the virus, only think that they have a few days left on Earth. The other people ( who are well. and live a normal life) were traumatized since the virus was highly contagious.
The severity of the virus was so deadly that people needed to maintain a 6-foot distance from one another to stop the spreading of the virus. To contain the virus, governments of all sizes enforced social distancing and lockdown measures. In this situation, businesses and consumers had no other option but to rely on digital for purchasing and selling goods and services. The result was a surge in e-commerce business. In 2019, for example,14% of global retail trade was conducted through e-commerce platforms. In 2020, it jumped to 17%.
The pandemic also brought a major shift in people’s work life. During a lockdown, working from home became a new normal. So do different remote collaboration tools come into action. Remote communication tools like Zoom, and Slack, for example, enabled people to conduct virtual meetings and group work.
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a major disruption in the supply chain system. Significant impacts have been felt in finance, demand changes, lead time, and production performance. Scholars in supply chain management came up with new strategies in response to the challenging situation.
During the pandemic, as the online business is booming, so is the widespread cyber attacks. The sudden emergence of the pandemic baffled everyone including cybercriminals. So there was a significant gap between the initial stage of the pandemic and the first cyber attack. However, this attack became more frequent as the Covid situation turned from bad to worse. The hackers did not even spare the health sector from their malicious attacks. However, the governments of the USA and the UK intervened by forming joint advisories to address the cyber security concerns.
The pandemic while devastating businesses of all sizes, also hastened digital transformation. Digital transformation is the integration of digital technologies into all business-related activities. The outcome of such transformation was there was a drastic change in how the business operates and how it provides value to customers.
Several significant changes were also seen in consumer’s shopping styles while the COVID crisis is hamstrung society. The increase in shopping online was a reality at the time, not a choice. While digital technologies were the solution to people’s livelihood and everyday shopping, it was also the source for providing entertainment to households. Online theatre streaming, for example, has so much popularity since the lockdown forced people to stay inside homes. Playing video games was also quite popular among people to refresh themselves.
Before the deadly outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019, business owners were running their businesses on both traditional and digital platforms. However, as the pandemic paralyzed the whole world, businesses needed to embrace digital technologies firmly for survival.
