After a tumultuous few months, many businesses are back up and running. More and more staff are returning from furlough, and – for the first time in months – some of us can once again look to the future as opposed to just taking each day as it comes.

But these past six months of hardship, struggles, and business uncertainty don’t have to be for nothing. They can pave the way for a more prosperous, resilient, and efficient future. In fact, 74% of respondents in a Cisco survey feel their businesses will, in some way, emerge stronger from this crisis.

But how exactly will we be better?

Remembering the lessons learnt

It’s essential we take all the lessons we’ve learnt so far and use them to grow our businesses. It’s not a case of returning to work and trying to get back to how we were before. There is no longer a ‘before’ to get back to. 

It’s important we process everything that lockdown taught us and use these lessons to better inform our business’s future. A business with the skills to adapt and survive a global pandemic will be better prepared for anything else that’s thrown its way and can carve out a more stable, resilient, and successful future.

No matter what lockdown taught you and your business, allow it to strengthen you over the coming months. Identify what you would want to be different if we had to go through this again and make it happen.

Business agility

Perhaps the biggest lesson to come from the pandemic is the benefits of being an agile business. Large-scale business disruptions don’t always come with warning signs, and those who are prepared to move quickly and plan for the unexpected will always have the upper hand.

As a business, you want to embrace and become comfortable with change – across your entire organisation. If the need emerges, you want to be able to switch up your efforts, change the pace, and react to unforeseen circumstances. 

Streamlining systems

With reduced staff, slowed business, or financial uncertainty, could your business still function properly? Streamlining your systems ensures you can stay productive and profitable, even when under pressure.

Examples of this include your supply chain. A long and convoluted supply chain leaves you more vulnerable to problems. There are more links in the chain that could break and halt progress. Or it could be an internal issue, such as with checks and tests. With reduced head counts and increased health and safety measures, you want to keep things simple and productive, yet effective. Try to get everything that needs doing done with minimal effort or room for error.

Communication is key

Communication systems are key for businesses – both in urgent scenarios like COVID-19 and day-to-day operations. 62% of businesses plan to have flexible or remote working options long-term, meaning our cross-organisation communication needs to be up to scratch.

You can’t successfully navigate a business, let alone large-scale disruptions like COVID-19, without making sure your team, clients, and stakeholders are all on the same page and well-informed. It’s as simple as that.

Digitalisation

67% of survey respondents agree or strongly agree that the pandemic accelerated their adoption of cloud-based communication, collaboration, and productivity tools. While 58% say they’re now using technology that was available but previously overlooked.

Technology and digital processes make your business more resilient, agile, and fluid. Imagine how much easier the transition to remote working would’ve been for all businesses if the appropriate technology and systems were already in place.

Video conferencing, for example, has encouraged us to rethink the necessity of business travel. Is it worth travelling cross-country for the sake of a one-off meeting when Zoom offers essentially the same thing?

The future of business is increasingly digital. As businesses, we need to explore what digitalisation looks like and embrace the tools available to us.

Health and wellbeing

47% of businesses say employee wellbeing will have an increased influence moving forward. 

The collective struggles of the year so far have brought issues such as mental health and work-life balance to the forefront of organisations. They’ve always been an important issue, but 2020 has proven the perfect storm to give them some real momentum. And now it’s up to us to make the necessary changes and implement the right systems and processes to support our staff and make them the number one priority.

And there are our thoughts on which lessons we should keep with us long after COVID-19 has been put to bed. The last six months have been tough. But if we take all the important lessons with us, there’s no reason the future of business can’t be even stronger for it.

Inform People makes business productivity and efficiency simple. Our intuitive platform provides all the tools and systems you need to create a stronger, more resilient, and successful future for your business. If you would like to find out what Inform People can do for you, get in touch via email.