Lessons Learned in 2020, How They Impact Business Today

Sponsored by ConXhub.

At the end of 2019, and throughout 2020, a little-known city called Wuhan became the center of the world. People around the globe focused on the health-care systems and the cultural diversity of a place that few had heard of before. What came out of that city affected the world and continues to disrupt businesses today. 

There have been many lessons that we can take from these past few years, and certainly many businesses have changed their operations because of these past 32 months. Let’s take some time to reflect on how these enforced operational changes have affected our businesses, and what we have learned as a result. 

Technology Supporting Operations

Obviously, some industries were hit harder than others. Industries like hospitality, travel, tourism and leisure were severely damaged; many businesses were decimated and had to close. These sectors were hit the hardest and provide some of the most extreme examples of “adapt or die.” These industries have, however, like all sectors, been forced to adapt and those businesses that have adapted the fastest, have survived—and in some cases thrived. 

What Did Companies Do Differently to Support Operations Today?

With the emergence of food delivery apps on mobile phones, many kitchens and restaurants were able to continue to trade. Many of these businesses had not offered roadside pickups or deliveries before, but people still needed food, so there was an opportunity to build a different element of their businesses and for them to flourish.

Restaurants bought food trucks, offered roadside cooking, took to the internet to offer cookery lessons and even went on Zoom offering sommelier lessons from their wine waiters. This adaptation of technology into a sector normally focused on human-to-human contact was unprecedented. It was motivational to see that even businesses that were completely reliant on foot traffic could adapt in the darkest of times. 

Kitchens were downsized, premises closed and workers relocated to smaller, more focused work environments. Rent was reduced, overheads cut to the bare minimum and, in some cases, profits soared. YouTube videos, Zoom tutorials and menus created by graphic designers emerged and replaced the basic website model that offered little more than an address and telephone number before.

Technology Offering Opportunity

Many staff members, unfortunately, lost their jobs, but were replaced by drivers, couriers and applications built in a rush to sustain the need for the service and to feed the stay-at-home workers of the local community. Even in the most extreme of industries so badly affected by the pandemic, there were success stories and examples of innovation that have guided other businesses in the less affected sectors to adapt to the new normal.

These success stories spawned a business model that we can look at and see is still working today. It is similar to a model that other businesses adapted in the less affected industries of office work and commerce. The simple formula of reducing overhead, adapting technology, increasing automation, multi-skilling a workforce and continuing to offer high levels of service can be seen across many different businesses today. 

Omnichannel services are providing better quality customer support and embedding an immersive multimedia experience that shows people trying on clothes, eating food or otherwise enjoying the products for sale. 

Integrating Technology into Operations

We are coming out of the pandemic but many of the cost-cutting exercises created out of necessity are supporting business growth across industries that were previously customer-centric. 

Retail shops have better websites, and the online shopping experience has developed into a multimedia omnichannel experience. Shops offer online demonstrations of products, guided tours and a virtual shopping experience supporting their new operations. Customers shop more online but now understand color schemes and body shapes better due to these educational shopping experiences. Voucher codes and discounts are freely available to entice customers to spend more through these websites and automated services that do not require a member of staff to ask, “How may I help you today?”

Offices offer a hybrid model for staff, with some working from home, connected via Skype, Zoom and messaging applications and others working in the office sitting next to empty seats that used to be full of colleagues and chatter.

Factories improved their logistics offering a direct delivery service to customers where previously they only delivered to businesses or delivery centers. They now deliver straight to the customer’s door, cutting out the middle man. 

The legal profession had previously relied on clients coming into offices to have their issues resolved, but it has adapted to Zoom calls, long emails and document delivery services with e-signed documents replacing the old pen and paper signature processes—again, cutting overhead and reducing waste.

If an industry has survived these past 32-months it is due to the formula of reducing overhead, adapting new technologies and changing core operations. 

So How Does This Affect Businesses Today?

Where we used to rely on people power, we now look to automation and technology to fill the gaps first. If technology can not offer the solution, operations are changed and people are multi-skilled to provide the service required.

These Businesses' Profits May Have Increased, but at What Cost?

When fewer people are needed to sustain a business, where does that leave future generations? Some jobs have been replaced by technology, other jobs streamlined, and hours reduced where they are deemed not necessary. Omnichannel customer service experiences like detailed FAQ pages, tutorial videos and live chat communication have replaced the shop assistant or the customer service adviser. Chat bots have automated and intuitive communication, with artificial intelligence and constant learning technology, gathering information about commonly asked questions and scenarios so that even fewer call-center agents are required to service customers.

Technology Replacing Operations

Call centers, financial institutions and other services offering information and products over the phone have moved to an app-based operational focus, with voice recognition technology so even the password and the telephone banking PIN number has been replaced.

Technology is moving at a faster pace to replace the old way of working, moving people slowly but surely towards an automated, technology-focused way of working. 

Technology is replacing human interaction, with virtual worlds, chat bots, emojis instead of words, and self-service checkouts instead of Doris at the cashiers’ desk asking how you are, talking about the weather and what discounts are available today. 

It is commonly reported that the younger generation is moving away from voice communication and social communication to living life through their phones using text or chat. Where technology is replacing customer service, streamlining business transactions and reducing the need for employees, there are always opportunities for faster expansion and for more technology to be developed. There is a risk that the low-skilled jobs will be replaced with applications, so we should always look to up-skill the workers that we have.

Where Is Technology Taking Us?

In summary, going back to the restaurant industry—where Sandra used to come and take my order for coffee and pastry. I now have an app for that; with the touch of a few buttons, my coffee and cake are waiting for me on the counter, without the need to speak to Sandra at all. Personally, I miss Sandra and Doris! 

In my business at ConXhub we have always looked to technology first, at the same time we have always trained the staff that we have to keep pace with today’s rapid workforce changes. We offer training to multi-skill staff into tech development, project management, marketing, sales and operations. Where there is passion for the product, passion can guide innovation, and in communications, there is always a need for human content!

You can learn more about ConXhub at conxhub.com and you can follow on social media for the latest updates on Twitter @ConXhub, Facebook @ConXhub, Instagram @ConXhub, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Sponsored by ConXhub.