How covid-19 affected businesses?

As of 23rd march 2020, Covid-19 has crossed infected cases over 250000 across the globe. Apart from thousands of lives, this pandemic costs jobs and livelihood of people, which ultimately affects their life standards.

If you see the statistics of the outbreak, most affected areas (China, Middle East, South East Asia, Western Europe, clusters of the USA) represent nearly 50% of the global economy. Covid-19 is attacking the core of the economy-trade, supply chain, businesses, employment, etc.

According to the World Bank Group, the damage is already conspicuous.  With major public events and conferences getting canceled, travel and tourism industry saw a steep decrease in demand due to travel restrictions, manufacturers connected to global supply chains face disruptions, several companies are facing cash crunch which forcing their operations to scale back and lay off employees, MSMEs have very less capital compared to big companies so they are vulnerable to major economic shocks. So even if the outbreak is contained, the global output will be affected in the first quarter.

As local, state and national governments all over the world are insisting people stay home and maintain social distancing we have started to see the real-life impacts of coronavirus on economic activities.

You can see how traffic in various industries affected by the chart below:

#stayathome affected companies at large. Because business as usual is not possible.  Large scale quarterine and remote working definitely make the working mechanism less effective. Many companies even lack technology infrastructure to promote work from home.  Let us help you to find out how technology can be used in various industries.

How to keep pace with fast-tracking digitalization:

Coronavirus outbreak has forced some industries to go digital such as Healthcare, Education, Conferences, and events.

Remote working is also possible through many software offered by well-known technology companies without hampering the productivity of the firm.

Here are a few of them:

• Google is allowing special access to premium features of Hangout to meet for free to all G-suite and G-suite education customers globally.
• Microsoft offered a free 6 month trial of its top tier of Microsoft Teams to schools, business to be operated in a lockdown situation.
• LogMeIn gives free access to Emergency remote work kits to it’s all existing users and also free quarterly access to healthcare providers, educational institutions, municipal corporations, and NGOs.
• Cisco has expanded its free Webex services in the countries where it is available and provides a 24/7 assistance for businesses.

Do #workfromhome change the business functionality permanently?

Coronavirus outbreak has forced companies of any size to work on half-strength or completely remote working. The sudden increase of working from home has both opportunities and problems of its own.

Corporates are experiencing real quirks as creating large scale virtual infrastructure takes a lot of time and resources and apart from this shifting your entire workforce to VPN can surely hamper the usual business activities. Internet service providers are also facing some pressure to lift the cap on bandwidth so that employers find it easy to work remotely. There is always a chance of employees to get distracted and work might get affected.

Although working from home doesn’t change the regular work, it’s just working from a different environment. Millions of people get a chance to stay with their families and away from all the inflexibility of the traditional culture of work.

It looks like we are slowly moving towards remote working culture. Even if the crisis will get controlled, the working pattern might not get back to where it was. Employees also don’t get back to offices even after the closure is lifted.

But work from home is not equally effective for every industry, e.g. Education, construction, manufacture, etc. And sometimes even the introverts would feel the need for human interaction. Let’s not hope, but if the crisis gets extended for a longer period then there is a possibility of shifting permanently towards work from home.

Summing up:

Certainly, it’s important to note that coronavirus is way much more than digital marketing and business opportunities as the lives of people are at stake. We extend our condolences to those who are affected. The primary goal now is to minimize the spread of this virus. We are also working from home and we insist you guys distance yourself from public exposure and work from home. The sole purpose of writing this blog is to help people to go on with their life without affecting their work and find the business idea that helps people survive in this crisis.

Stay safe!