How did it all start? What might have resulted in this? Where did it begin? We have all found ourselves in conversations that have had us wondering about how certain ways of living or things came to be.
It is said that every dark cloud has a silver lining. Even in the case of COVID 19, the pandemic has resulted in some positive changes that hold the potential to change the way we live, and how businesses work in the future. So what might we fondly remember this pandemic for?
1. Work from Home Culture
I used to be against the notion of work from home because I felt that teams work better when they sit together and collaborate. Even when I didn’t have an office space, I used to meet my team at a Starbucks shop and work together. But having gone through this experience of working from home, along with managing 2 children, I am coming to see its benefits. I no longer see myself going to the office 5 days a week.
The number of organizations planning to adapt to work from home culture is huge. Twitter has announced work from wherever forever. TCS has declared to make 75% of its employees working from home by 2025. With reducing costs of rentals and other expenses, the pandemic might become a highlight for many organizations conforming to remote work in the future.
2. Reducing needless travel
As people are getting more comfortable and efficient with digital interactions, traveling for that one meeting to another city might soon become obsolete. Businesses are already dealing and closing big meetings and mergers over video calls now. This will be the new normal; saving companies money and time, and reducing their carbon footprint.
3. Saying goodbye to long meetings
Digital interface is surely revamping our meetings. Initially, a meeting used to go for 1-1.5 hours with multiple interruptions and pleasantries exchanged, and now they get wound up in 30 minutes. Many organizations might gratefully reminiscence the pandemic for cutting down on futile chit-chats and increasing the efficiency of meetings.
4. Boosting new business domains
Just as demonetisation boosted the digital finance platforms and gave a lift to ventures like PayTm, Google pay, etc. COVID-19 has its own line of businesses and platforms that it has favoured. Health and hygiene products like sanitisers, masks, etc.and businesses operating in video conference platforms like Zoom, dating apps, e-learning platforms, gaming industry, etc have seen a huge boost and are going to thank the pandemic for their growth.
COVID-19 has left a profound and long-lasting imprint in our lives. For many of these changes, and especially its impact on how businesses will operate in the coming years many will recall the pandemic with a smile.