As the world had gotten around to adjusting to a life with the pandemic and work from home culture, we now need to adjust to another “new” normal – a post-pandemic world. This itself comes with its own set of uncertainties. Do businesses go back to the way they functioned pre-pandemic? Is that lifestyle feasible after so long?
The global financial meltdown has led leaders to rethink their approach to the corporate world. They have to rethink and prioritize the best opportunity the situation affords. And now as the world slowly reopens, we can see that some major trends have arisen that will forever change the future of certain industries.
Reimagined supply chains
The pandemic forced businesses to look for alternative suppliers to China. This trend will continue and in the long run will become more diversified to reduce dependency on any one country. Suppliers will be forced to rethink in order to optimize their supply chain and prevent any future harm.
Facebook’s $5.7 billion investment in Reliance Jio makes India an attractive alternate as a manufacturer and a crucial partner for the west. A digitised supply chain may also emerge as the to-go route.
A New energy order
Oil Countries are no longer the ones in power. According to a recent report, the global demand for oil will fall by an average of 9% this year.
It is vital that energy companies take the lead and create a new order which is sustainable and aids in the recovery of the global economy. There is no better time to reboot the system and introduce renewable energy on a mass scale. The pandemic has also given way to an unprecedented collaboration between OPEC and G20 to curb the uptick in oil prices.
Consumer relationship
The pandemic has shown businesses a new and very important facet of consumers – the importance of brand building and maintaining good customer relations. B2C is now possible with no middlemen and businesses need to take advantage of the fact. An online shopping experience is now given preference over a brick and mortar store, which again places emphasis on making your customers as comfortable as possible so they revisit your website.
WFH might be here to stay
The whole world adapting to this model of work environment saw both sides of the coin. The well adjusted ones saw an instant uptick in productivity and quality of work while the not-so-well adjusted environments saw the havoc in work-life balance. Either way, the work from home model is here to stay. Its high time business owners make provisions for the same.
The pandemic has served as a wake up all for everyone, it has pushed boundaries of what we thought was possible and has encouraged us to be innovative in a way that makes our lives easier. This can and must continue only if business owners leverage technology to offer the best experience to not only their customers but also their employees.