To compete and thrive in a post Covid economy, small businesses will need to invest in and start using more digital tools.
It has always been a challenge to run a successful business, and with less resources, experience and cash than bigger organizations, keeping yours afloat gets even more daunting. And while this was true before the COVID-19 pandemic, this “Once in a lifetime” scourge on humanity has made this at least a few magnitudes more difficult with over 34.6 million cases and 610,000 deaths in the US according to the Johns Hopkins Resource Center as of the end of July. Also realize that while larger businesses often garner the attention,99% of businesses in the US are considered small. Businesses, and particularly small businesses have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey released in July 2021 done by NEXT Insurance gives us an idea of the toll this virus has taken on business. It really has represented the largest threat to business over the last century. This has included that 44% of small businesses have experienced a “Major impact” from COVID-19, consisting of loss of revenue. The toll has been even greater on some subgroups, as among Millennial, and Baby Boomer business owners, the revenue loss is greater than 50%. In this survey, over half of respondents- more precisely 56%- indicate that they took advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for revenue supplementation and to meet business expenses. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, a staggering 1 in 5 businesses had to close at some point during this pandemic, either fully, or partially, and approximately 80% of them had to make adaptations. Given such a severe situation, it should not come as a surprise that businesses were hit very hard from this pandemic. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, an additional 200,000 businesses permanently closed due to COVID-19 as the US hit the one year mark. However, what is more surprising is that US businesses have shown some resilience, and even optimism for the future. When asked, according to the NEXT Insurance survey, among small business owners, “84%… said they are somewhat, very or extremely optimistic about a recovery,” and they are even more optimistic about their own business with 94% expecting them to recover. While COVID-19 has created an unprecedented roadblock for small businesses, but they have risen to the occasion in many cases. Still, small businesses have their challenges, with in one study,73% of them not being aware of digital resources. With increasing frequency, small businesses have been forced to turn to digital technology, and in fact embraced it to assist in the recovery. In a way, this should not be surprising as all of us have had to reexamine so many things we do for daily life, and adapt them for this pandemic, for example moving our shopping from in store to online, having online video parties, and remote education, to name but a few. With such rapid transition of these routine activities, it has created opportunities for small businesses as well to support these endeavors. Additionally, small businesses need to reexamine even simple processes from a pandemic standpoint, such as offering home delivery where there was no business case before, or even ditching reusable menus at restaurants in favor of QR code online menus. Many businesses were forced to completely shut down, literally closing their doors to customers. While some accepted this as a “COVID reality” moment when ‘Stay-At-Home’ orders were implemented, other businesses used this as an opportunity to trial remote working. While major corporations have offered remote work positions for years, this has not been embraced by small businesses historically. However, this trend is not going away, and it is expected that by 2025 that fully 70% of workers will work from home for five or more days each month. Furthermore, a survey done by Intermedia last year indicates that over half of small business owners plan to continue this work model even after the pandemic. While the remote work model may not be practical for all businesses, such as your local plumber, or restaurant, it is more than reasonable for a wide spectrum of activities, from financial advice, to tutoring, and insurance sales. It also does not need to be an all or none phenomenon with remote work being done as little as a few days a month, to a full time model. Supporting the remote workers is a key to productivity, and there are a variety of digital platforms to do this. It starts with verbal communication, so reliable phone access is a must. Smartphones can certainly be a simple solution, whether company provided, or on a ‘Bring your own device’ plan ( BYOD) for work. This has advantages such as easy availability, minimal investment, and the employee can be working from anywhere, whether at their home, the local coffee shop, or in a car. Small businesses looking to take this a notch up should look at VoIP plans. These digital voice communication platforms facilitate more complex communication within a business structure. Examples of this include Ring Central Office, Ooma Office, and Aircall, among others. This can allow an employee to then forward their business phone calls to any phone line, whether a landline in the office, a business provided smartphone, or even their home phone number. This also opens up possibilities for a virtual receptionist on the small scale, to a unified virtual call center as your business grows. These VoIP services can also integrate neatly with other platforms, such as Customer Relationship Management software ( CRM) that can offer additional automation and support, such as recording of phone calls, and robo dialing. Audio conference calls can be a good way to hold a meeting among remote workers. This can include meetings among team members, or also with clients as well. Check out services such as Free Conference Call for occasional use, or more dedicated solutions for more intensive use. Also keep in mind that just about every video conferencing solution can also be used for an audio conference as well, simply by users turning off their video cameras, or with dial in options.
