With the pandemic going on and on, most businesses still have to figure out how to deal with the disruptions caused by it to their workflows. Though we’re months into this crisis, many companies still struggle to get used to new ways of doing things, mostly dealing with a remote workforce, digital transactions, chain supply delays, and new ways of doing business in general while addressing shifting consumer demands.
In such a context, it’s only natural if you have shifted your attention to the short term – there are so many challenges to worry about today! Yet, that’s not the way to approach this crisis. While you need to have a swift response to the new business world during the pandemic, it’s also essential to consider the post-pandemic scenario as well. Thinking about where your business will stand after the crisis is over is critical to make the right moves today.
The right moves are those that address today’s concerns while providing you with a better platform to deal with the COVID-19-free world of tomorrow. Let’s see what that means and how outsourcing services can help you prepare for such a difficult transition.
What Your Business Can Prepare Right Now
When the stay-at-home orders started to pop up around the world, businesses that could choose to do so fully embraced the remote working model. Thus, they asked their employees to keep working from their homes using any available tools. The first few weeks for those businesses surely were chaotic – meetings were a mess, tracking project progress became an almost impossible task, and a lot of people started to be unintentionally kept out of the loop.
The chances are that those businesses found some adjusted workflow during the weeks that followed and might even found a new pace for everyday tasks. Yet, that doesn’t mean they are entirely prepared for what’s to come. Sure, having specific remote tools and processes is key for a post-pandemic world where a remote workforce will become a standard – but it isn’t enough. Some of the things that you need to prepare for include:
- A new mindset – the pandemic emerged with such speed and fierceness that it brought health systems in many countries to the verge of saturation. That prompted governments to adopt severe lockdowns to prevent the spread and keep people safe. That people-first mindset remained for the months after and will probably be with us in our return to the offices. In that way, having security protocols to ensure all your employees’ health is something you’ll need to have ready when the first day of the new normalcy arrives.
- A new strategy – the plans you had before the pandemic? You know that they are over now. The goals you hope to achieve were surely scraped by the Coronavirus, so you’ll need new ones more appropriate for the post-pandemic context. That means you’ll need a new strategy to keep with your business. Maybe that means developing a new product, hiring an offshore web development company to create an ecommerce store, or shifting the focus of your business. Whether the alternative you end up going to, you’ll need to have a new strategy to meet the unique demands, markets, and opportunities.
- A new view of the workforce – putting people’s security first and creating a new business strategy are the first steps towards a new way of doing business. Next, you’ll need to embrace the new view of the workforce that’s already coming out of the pandemic – the remote workforce. Now, you might think that such a view only implies that some of your employees will be working from home, but that’s not all there is to it. It also means that the workforce as a whole will become more dynamic than ever before. This will allow you to leverage teams from all over the world for just a project in what will surely become a new norm.
- A new digital infrastructure – you might argue that the pandemic is already long enough for you to have all the digital infrastructure you need to tackle the new requirements brought by remote working. While that may be true to some extent, you need to assess your performance and see where you might be lacking. Using Zoom, Slack, and a CRM might be enough for you, maybe not. There are plenty of tools out there that might boost your processes or be a better fit for your company. What’s more – you could benefit the most from custom software created precisely for your needs.
How an Outsourcing Company Can Help
Now, all of the things cited above are things you can tackle on your own with your team – but you’d be better off collaborating with an outsourcing company. How come? There are several benefits in doing so, some more evident than others. Here are some of them.
- It can boost your digital infrastructure – the most obvious reason you’d hire an outsourcing company is to develop your digital infrastructure. Outsourcing has always been associated with custom software development, so it’s only natural for you to think of them when you need new tools and platforms. Given that the time for developing those is today, hiring an outsourcing company can help you build tailor-made applications to bolster your internal processes and meet the new customer demands.
- It can open your eyes to the possibilities of remote working – although a lot of companies already realize the benefits of working from home, there are many more that are still undecided about it. If you’re among them, working with an outsourcing company can show you how beneficial it can be. When hiring outside help, you start to see that you can unload a lot of the daily burden on them. You also understand you can have access to a bigger talent pool while also gaining the flexibility to scale up or down at leisure without astronomical costs or complicated processes.
- It can help you with the definition of your new strategy – when you outsource your software development, you’re doing something more than just partnering with a team to build your tools: you’re gaining access to experienced and talented people versed in the newest technologies around. That means that you can benefit from deep insights about the digital world that could come in handy in a post-pandemic world that will surely be more digital than the world we have today. The pandemic has accelerated the implementation of cutting edge technologies (such as AI and big data), which can completely change the game for you.
As you can see, working with an outsourcing company means more than just collaborating with a specific process (such as the development of a web application or the creation of a custom CRM). It means opening up to the possibilities of the digital world and remote working, both of which will be defining aspects of the post-pandemic world.
In that sense, partnering with an outsourcing company feels like a strategic step you should take as soon as possible. It can help you better prepare for the world that’s coming while helping you tackle the challenges you have right now. Consider it as you work to adapt your business during the crisis since doing it can mean a huge difference in the mid- and long-term.
