Three Services Your Business Needs, Post-Coronavirus

As businesses slowly open up, they’re finding that their customers and staff have begun to expect certain levels of interactions in response to the coronavirus. When it comes to keeping your business competitive, you need to embrace the clear delineation between how businesses operated pre- and post-coronavirus. What was once temporary has become the new normal. The question is, are you still running your business using the old business model?

Contact-Free Business is the New Normal

As social distancing requirements necessitate there be six feet of distance between people, adapting for contact-free interaction has become a necessity for organizations to continue to remain in business during the pandemic. While many businesses were originally caught off-guard when the pandemic struck, months have passed and now it’s time to adapt to the new normal, because it is here to stay. Here are three technologies businesses should embrace to thrive in a post-coronavirus world.

Three Essential Technologies Your Business Needs To Embrace

Remote Workforce: It's no secret that many businesses have a “butts in seats” mentality when it comes to how they view the management of their team’s productivity. In some cases this is motivated by a lack of trust in their team, however for many it is based on business owners being unfamiliar with the advances available through remote work. Prior experiences with telecommuting may influence how they view having a remote workforce.

Unfortunately, a majority of businesses no longer have the luxury to ignore the benefits of remote work, not if they wish to remain competitive, or in some cases, remain in business. This is because one of the best ways to enforce social distancing is to have as few workers as possible in the office; particularly if you’re a non-essential business. For more information on best practices, the CDC has a guideline on social distancing.

At first blush, supporting a remote workforce seems simple enough, send your team home and let them work. However, when a business expands remork work support, they need to have a plan in place. We know you may have some questions about supporting a remote workforce and we created a remote worker FAQ to help you.

Video Conferencing: Face-to-face meetings became one of the first things to go as the pandemic began to gain momentum. To compensate for the lack of personal contact, video conferencing (which, let’s face it, was hardly mainstream), suddenly came into its own; but not without growing pains. Successful organizations from Fortune 500 companies to the local elementary school have embraced this technology for their team and customers to continue to collaborate and communicate.

For businesses just getting started with video conferencing, here are some tips to make video conferencing less awkward for everyone.

• Be prepared. Familiarize yourself with your video software and check that everything is working as expected. There’s nothing as off-puting is starting the video call and discovering no one can see or hear you.

• Be professional. Be familiar with your workspace, room setting, your dress, and of course what windows are open on your computer. You don’t want to accidentally share personal or sensitive information.

• Check your bandwidth. Due to the current crisis, a majority of people are staying at home and sharing once-plentiful bandwidth. While it is understandable that your young people may be playing video games, streaming or downloading content, doing so may put a strain on your bandwidth. This in turn can lead to your conference becoming unstable, leading to video freezes, distorted audio or at worst, dropping the connection entirely. Before you start your conference, ask your family to refrain from using the internet until you are finished.

Ecommerce: As the pandemic continues to rage on in some locations, businesses, particularly ‘non-essential’ businesses must reduce, if not completely stop in-person customer contact. Ecommerce may provide many with a way to continue to sell their products and stay in business. If you have not investigated how ecommerce can help you, now is the time to reconsider. If you don’t, you may find yourself left behind, as your competitors embrace it.

Of course an ecommerce solution can’t operate without a website to support it. If your website is out of date, or not optimized for mobile use, then you are at risk of losing customers due to a poor user experience. Evaluate if your website needs a redesign. Some critical things to consider are network security measures to ensure your website is secure, PCI compliance to keep your customers’ credit card information safe, and of course, a cybersecurity plan for your team.

Adapting to the new normal doesn’t have to be a matter of hit or miss and you certainly don’t need to go it alone. Directive can help your business get ready for the new normal. Our managed IT services provide a wide range of solutions, designed to help your business remain relevant in the post-coronavirus era. Call 607.433.2200 today to schedule a free consultation.