While many businesses are recovering from the pandemic, many forward-thinking managers and owners are already thinking about the next one. Many companies felt the sting of lost productivity and customers during the lockdown so you will want to avoid that from happening again. Fortunately, modern technology is here to help.
Here are some changes that you can make to your company that will get it ready for the next big shakeup:
Remote Working Implementation
One of the first things disrupted by the pandemic was the workforce. People were not able to work properly because of the restrictions on travel and gatherings. But people figured something out and one of the solutions was to start remote working. This was quite effective and a lot of office work was shifted to a work-at-home basis.
For your company, you might already have a work-at-home solution cobbled up during the pandemic. But with the recovery starts, you should make it more robust and take steps to ensure that it is better than it is now. You can give your workers an internet allowance so that they can get a better connection or you can issue them optimized laptops for better work-from-home operations.
Adding Automation
While some people were working from home, there is some work that you can’t bring home with you. This is especially prevalent in the manufacturing sector. Many companies had to slow down production because of the lack of workers. But your company can avoid this the next time it happens. Robotic automation allows for companies to be as productive as ever with the minimum amount of workers.
Companies such as JHFoster can allow you to add robots to your workforce. Automation is very effective nowadays. Besides providing you with constant productivity, it allows for efficient processes and more bang for your buck. Automation can pay for itself considering how much money it saves and how constant production you can have.
It is not heavy work that can use automation. Software automation can allow your workers to get more effective work done with processes that handle all the minor work.
Flexible Hours
The disruption in schedule also showcases the weakness of the 9-to5 work schedule. Combined with work-from-home, people are seeing how effective it is to work with no set times. The important thing to remember with flexible working hours is that it is going to be difficult. While it is essentially based around freedom, you need to be a bit strict in the beginning.
For one, you need to define your flexible working policy. This determines how you determine how much work is done, how it is tracked, and the proper compensation. Some companies are very free-form and track only the final results. Others require a set number of hours per day with the work being tracked by monitoring software. Defining your policy and educating your staff about it is only the beginning. You’ll need to refine it and decide whether it works for you.
Ready Alternate Sales Strategies
A weakness that the pandemic disruption revealed was that the normal sales strategies will often go out the window during major crises. Many companies were not able to sell to their normal clientele because of the pandemic. A good example was the many restaurants that specialized in dine-in experiences. This forced them to start making take-out boxes and offers when they normally didn’t.
Instead of being caught unprepared like them, have multiple sales strategies available. This is so that when one channel fails, you can redirect your efforts in another direction. For example, if your cleaning company sells mainly to businesses, you could also start offering retail products so that you can have more potential customers.
Enlarge Your Online Presence
The biggest factor that binds the world together right now is the internet. People would be doing anything if there was no internet. This makes it very necessary that you increase your online presence. If you already have a website, that is a good beginning. But you need to expand online. Have online chatbots for immediate customer response while also developing an online sales platform. You might also want to expand your online marketing campaign. In the future, you will want your online presence ready to pick up the slack when real-world connections are unavailable.
While the pandemic may seem like a once-in-a-lifetime thing, disruptions like it will come up again. Implementing changes so that the next time something like it happens is only good business. With your company ready to handle a massive emergency like COVID-19 again, you will surely be able to prosper despite whatever happens.