Why businesses are embracing the Digital Revolution

Switch on your TV or log online and you can’t help but see information relating to the current Covid-19 pandemic. With over 180 countries currently affected by the Coronavirus, this is a healthcare situation that is affecting most of the global population.

There are lots of countries around the world that have enforced a lockdown which has tremendous knock on effects for businesses, employees and individuals. While the tendency for most people is to go into self preservation mode when it comes to their finances, many businesses are looking to do the opposite and utilise this ‘down time’ to actually work on their business as opposed to in their business.

What we mean by this is if you think about most traditional service types of businesses - hair salons, restaurants, gyms, night clubs etc, the business owner is often involved in the day to day activities of running the businesses. That could involve tasks such as managing employees, dealing with suppliers, creating marketing campaigns and interacting with customers. All of this takes time and often leads to the business owner being engrossed with the operational side of the business rather than taking a more strategic role.

The Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in lots of businesses closing their stores or branches in line with government guidelines. As a result, many business owners here in the UK and around the world, are looking to operate their businesses remotely and move forward with their digital strategies.

This can clearly be seen in the food industry for example, as many restaurants are now only accepting online orders. This has facilitated the need for restaurants to have a modern website that loads quickly as well as a robust ordering system that accepts debit/credit card payments securely and is linked to a dashboard so they can efficiently process customer orders.

Whereas the conversation previously between a Digital Consultant and a business owner may have focused more on educating and nurturing the decision maker on the benefits of technology solutions, now the conversation is more centred on which solutions will make the biggest impact.

As a result, many business owners are looking to embrace the digital revolution and start implementing technology into all areas of their business. The whole global landscape has shifted with the Coronavirus and this actually puts business owners at the forefront of how they can adapt and future proof their businesses.

What are some of the solutions that business owners are looking to embrace?
Now, there is no silver bullet or one size that fits all when it comes to offering technology solutions to local businesses. It is crucial that businesses only implement technology solutions that add value to their organisation and foster deeper engagement with their intended audience.

However, every business should start with their website as that is essentially the digital shop window for all organisations. For far too long now, businesses have neglected their websites and failed to update and modernise them in line with their customers expectations.

With more and more people going online, it’s never been more important for a business to have a website that is fit for purpose and offers a really strong viewing experience across web, tablet and mobile.

Added to the website is the ability for businesses to be found online. This is largely driven by search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics as well as adhering to guidelines from the major search engines such as Google. Recently, Google has started to index websites in their local 3 pack results based on the number of reviews the business has obtained. This is why it is important for businesses to have a process such as our Reputation Management solution to capture positive reviews and mitigate against negative reviews.

Another area of focus for many businesses currently and well into the future will be the need to build a social presence on popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We have seen both Facebook and Twitter report a spike in usage over the last few weeks as people engage with family, friends and their favourite brands on social media during the pandemic.

Businesses and in particular, the small and medium sized business community, are now understanding the need to leverage their social media channels. For example, posting about how they are helping their local communities, supporting their health care workers or just trying to cheer up their followers are key components of humanising their brand in the eyes of their customers.

Will the digital revolution have a short or long term effect on businesses?
There is no doubt that once we get past the Coronavirus pandemic, there will be lasting changes in a number of different areas. For example, businesses and employees are now adjusting to working remotely and in many cases, very successfully. This will help companies in the post Covid-19 era become more agile and give employees the flexibility to work from home. Granted, this won’t apply to every business, especially the service sector, but even there we are expecting big changes.

For instance, many service based businesses will be shifting away from traditional marketing methods such as leaflets/flyers and moving into the digital space as they will understand the exposure that online marketing can have on their business.

From a business context, it appears as though the conversation around technology and digital solutions has moved forward significantly which will actually help businesses overcome similar challenges in the future. With an increasingly technology savvy audience, many businesses will look to the online world to grab a slice of the action moving forward.

Summary
As we have seen throughout this blog, the Coronavirus has posed a significant number of challenges to all governments across the globe in how they respond. Whilst the health and safety of every citizen is the most important thing, it is interesting to see the different narratives and changes that are being enforced upon individuals and businesses.

Here at iOB Business, we are very confident that the business community and the wider world will emerge more resilient and stronger after Covid-19. While we are all having to adjust to a changing landscape, we can see the many opportunities that are also opening up for our Partners as they look to help local businesses overcome the threat of the Coronavirus.

Technology is at the forefront of our lives, and we are thankful that as a company, we have and will continue to have a role in shaping how local businesses engage with their customers through the pandemic and post Covid-19.

To find out more about how you can launch a Digital Agency with us and provide technology solutions to local business, please contact us here.

Until next time, take care and please look after each other.