While the lethal novel coronavirus has stirred up the sublime organized world, it has also created an opportunity for the new heights of transformation to sparkle. These tough times are also looked upon as a massive golden time to shift the work from the pen and paper to the digital market. While most organisations in the world have authorised their employees to work from the home policy for there safety, there is still a plenty of space left to cover. There are higher levels of excitement among the business players in terms of handling the entire task on the online platform.

Industry types such as the retail, operations, hospitality, mobility, manufacturing industries etc. have always lived along the physical outline of operation. While the huge MNCs have the benefit of vast capital and resources at their arsenal, small and medium enterprises mostly thrive bravely due to their active and more compact nature of working. Therefore, elbow room exists for both in this new world in order to articulate their operational mediums to achieve streamline objectivity.

The lockdown has made believe the entire business population a lesson in the survival of the fittest theory and how best to covert adverse conditions to one’s own profit. The Government of India has poured in a river of bailout packages, amended fiscal policies, rate cuts, loans and waivers to rescue the toppling industries in the country. Even it has directed the need for the nation to become self-dependent, besides paving the way for a movement of schemes such as the ‘vocal for local’, financial aid and an INR 20,000 crore security reprieve. The government is also looking after the immediate need for businesses, academic institutions, and public sector units to urgently and constructively shift to online means of business to poise market relevance.

Here is a list of important factors every SME and MSME must go through before starting their operations once the lockdown gets lifted off:

Counteract the scene:

As COVID has disturbed operations, productions and sales across frontiers, it has become mandatory for companies to arrive at a realistic and holistic overview of the present situation in the face of the on-going pandemic. The company HR team must resolve the various deficits, prospective inflow and outflow of capital, expenditures and if any burdens. Obtaining required reports regarding the various respite from the government, current trade and commerce bodies, investors are important before making critical decisions such as pay cuts, growth and expansion plans, scrapping of potential future investments, etc.

Redesigning your goals:

Redesigning of all business goals is of the utmost ingredient for SMEs in the event of such an industrial obstacle. The post-pandemic scenario is surely going to be different than the pre-COVID days and businesses have to rebuild and realign their planning and strategy for the upcoming future accordingly. It is need of hour for a realistic and well-formed map for the road ahead while taking into consideration the future of the various stakeholders of the company. The top management should also reschedule the company objectives in accordance with the unplanned coronavirus developments.

Welcoming the digital:

The current aura lucidly states that SMEs as well as the smaller entities immediately switch to the digital means of business engagement and create a strong and unbeatable online presence. This is the era of digital media marketing and companies must utilize it now, more than ever. The organizations that have purely operated through offline modes should reach out a transition layout for the bright digital future without compromising on employee efficiency or any data safety.

Covid-19 provides an opportunity for digital transformation

The revolution must be go on:

The on-going and upcoming industrial revolution is a well-timed blessing indeed, a noble blessing in disguise for businesses around the globe. The contemporary technological disruptions such as the AI, ML, IoT, CRM, Cloud and other innovations must be utilized by even the SMEs. Businesses should become adaptive to the fourth revolution of talented automation and invest appropriately to bestow a new-age tech-empowered operational lift, thus breathing out in the digital economy. Tech businesses have the high edge over conventional competitors creating greater ROI and market performance even in the times of a pandemic.

Though the demanding investments for these tedious business augmentation and up-skilling may seem impractically vast, it is an important cost that must be undertaken considering the future consequences. Businesses must implement optimum risk-mitigation strategies in the face of the pandemic and should also seek to adapt for any future crises.