The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted business operations throughout the globe. It challenges the workflow of business operations in the modern world while imprisoning humans in their homes. During these difficult times, many industries struggle to continue their operations traditionally as they used to before the pandemic. High turnover, absenteeism, lockdowns, and restricted socializing have adversely affected many corporations.
But where most industries have suffered significantly, several businesses have made peace with this pandemic situation. Concepts like work-from-home, virtual offices, and telemedicine are widely practiced to prevent companies from shutting down completely. Restaurants have whirled to services like takeaway and home delivery. Meanwhile, the fitness industry and gyms now offer outdoor classes with social distancing.
This article highlights how different companies have coped with Covid-19 interfering in their goals and business operations:
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Virtual Offices
As the pandemic restricted us to our homes, remote work has become the new norm. Due to restrictive socializing policies implemented by governments throughout the world, many organizations had to reconsider how much office space they require. Consequently, the idea of virtual offices rose in popularity. For those who don’t know, a virtual office is a service that allows businesses and their employees to work remotely by offering several essential facilities attainable via the internet. It also allows corporations to create their existence in a preferred location without paying a lease for an actual space. In a nutshell, a virtual office allows business owners to reap the benefits of a physical office without paying for an actual place.
Rather than halting their business operations, many firms have established their businesses through virtual offices. Business owners and employees can now work remotely and carry out business operations without being physically present. Today, you can find many companies that have a virtual office address and are operating remotely worldwide. These enterprises have learned how to thrive during this pandemic and found a new way of accomplishing their goals.
Work From Home
Generation Z has always hated the idea of working hours in the office without a break. But the introduction of the work-from-home concept has been a sigh of relief for many of them. The idea of work-from-home generated when people had to practice social distancing to control the spread of the pandemic. But since a busy office served as a sanctuary for the disease to spread, many businesses had to limit their workforce and business operations. Although the pandemic spread got under control, corporations faced challenges like profit loss and reduced productivity.
The work-from-home concept opened a gateway of opportunities for businesses who thought this was the end of the world. With the ability to continue business operations while practicing social distancing, the idea of work-from-home was a blessing in disguise for many corporations. On top of that, employees were able to work from the comfort of their homes. Work-from-home also promised the extravagance of flexible working hours, which was an added perk for housewives or pregnant women. Despite the challenging situation, many corporations have prevailed by implementing work-from-home and establishing a work-life balance for their employees to create a win-win situation.
Home Delivery Service and open-air dining
The food industry has been one of the most flourishing industries throughout the world. Everyone loves to eat delicious food and try new dishes from their favorite restaurants. But as Covid-19 continued to spread, restaurants were forced to ban dine-in services for the public. The situation was challenging since many restaurants lost most of their customers, resulting in reduced sales and profits. Under these difficult circumstances, restaurants finally introduced more takeaway and home delivery services with added incentives.
Developing a practical home-delivery framework was challenging during the pandemic, but it became quite popular. People started placing food orders from their favorite restaurants using smartphone apps. Home delivery services had minimal health risks involved while promising customers their favorite food at their doorstep. Many restaurants introduced promotional offers that encouraged people to acquire home delivery services and quickly turned the tides in their favor.
Wherever the pandemic was starting to get under control, governments lifted some restrictions, excluding the ban on indoor dining in many countries. Hence, restaurants coped with this situation in the best way by arranging outdoor dining spaces for their customers! In short, home delivery services and open-air dining were a breakthrough for the food industry to continue its business operations during these difficult times.
Healthcare Services
The Healthcare industry was amongst those industries that received a great jolt in the form of Covid-19. Initially, doctors and healthcare experts were completely helpless against the Coronavirus due to a lack of information. People had no clue how to deal with this disease, while doctors could not prescribe preventive measures. With time, researchers and healthcare professionals studied this pandemic carefully and communicated preventive measures to the public.
After thorough research, healthcare companies were finally able to find the antidote to prevent the Coronavirus. With the launch of Covid-19 vaccines, healthcare facilities could mitigate the health risk posed by the pandemic. However, the concept of seeking medical advice completely changed during these few years. Instead of in-person visits, doctors embraced telemedicine. Telemedicine is the concept of receiving medical attention from medical experts through telecommunications technology. Ultimately, doctors had to diagnose and treat patients using technological means such as video consultations on Zoom.
Outdoor Fitness Sessions
Covid-19 has challenged the fitness of people all around the world. With social restrictions imposed by regulatory authorities, gyms and fitness centers were a no-go for the public. The physical and mental health of many was starting to get compromised. Thus, the fitness industry introduced the idea of outdoor training sessions.
These outdoor sessions provided every training facility a gym offers while ensuring the implementation of SOPS, such as social distancing. The gym equipment shifted outdoors, and there had to be a reasonable distance between two people during every session. This idea minimized the risk of becoming a victim of Covid-19 and allowed people to train and improve their fitness levels.
Conclusion
The outbreak of Covid-19 has severely affected business operations throughout the globe. Many businesses continue to face a financial crisis, supply chain disruption, decreasing demand, and falling sales and profits. But while everything seemed lost for business owners, some of them found ways to cope with this unprecedented situation. Now, it’s time for business minds to step up and turn the tides in their favor no matter how long it takes for this virus to exit our lives completely.
