The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is affecting all of us worldwide, and businesses are scrambling to protect themselves and their employees. Will your business survive? The short answer: It depends.
Obviously, not all businesses are equal. You can have the greatest team in place, excellent management, and fantastic everything, but if there’s no demand for your product, or in this case, are not allowed to operate, none of that matters. The Covid-19 pandemic has upended our expectations, our projections, our livelihood. What applied under the best of times is no more.
Companies that can easily transition into a remote work environment have already done so, and are less affected than those service industries that Spain is so famous for. Hospitality in particular has been eviscerated by Covid-19. People are focused on whether or not they can open and what restrictions are in place, but the real industry killer is travel restrictions. There’s no innovation to fix that at the moment.
Still, for a lot of businesses, innovation can save them. Smaller businesses have an opportunity to digitize their operation and take advantage of modern technology to allow for customer interactions and orders through digital platforms. They can use even the simplest things to meet safety regulations and be allowed to open, even bars and restaurants. Will it be the same as before? No. Can it still be successful? Yes!
The companies who act first and fast will be the ones who profit the most, but only if their solutions are acceptable to customers. People can only accept a certain level of difficulty when interacting with your company, even with imposed limitations from the coronavirus. They’ve been holed up for nearly two months after all.
Solutions must be relatively easy, palatable, and most of all understandable. It you’re a restaurant with a maze of glass to navigate where they can’t interact with their family member, you’ve lost. If your online order system isn’t clear and simple, you’ve lost. If you fail in delivery or showing your customers your willingness to protect them from the virus, you’ve lost.
In the end, it’s not how much you spent, but how you make that spending work for you to minimize loss and maximize profits while making it a win win for both you and your customers.
