Signs that your business is ready to face 2021

What a decade 2020 has been! At its end, all we want is the nightmare to be over… yet 2021 seems so blurry with the unfortunate news of virus mutation that gives us hints that The world we knew will continue to change drastically.

The 2020 distress was and still a huge challenge for the global economy. It completely shut down some of the strongest businesses on the planet, deteriorated the economy of the most powerful countries, and destroyed entire sectors. it was definitely a wake-up call and a big lesson to all kinds of businesses to stand still, take necessary measures, ameliorate their management system, reconsider their business models, and just face the blurry future!

Here are the signs that your business is ready to face 2021 with grace!

Your business is still respecting safety protocols

Whether your business is functioning from home or partially from the office, the future of your work is only guaranteed if you are still respecting safety measurements and you’re willing to prioritize health protocols even in 2021. Every workplace and every business duty is to be fully equipped to guarantee their team’s safety and keep the prevention and protection of prime concern. This means keeping Sanitizing, distancing, wearing masks, thermal checks, and constant cleaning as part of your working routine.

Your business is thriving to achieve digital transformation

As expected, companies that were advanced in their digital transformation journey before COVID-19 struck made it through the crisis way better than their traditional working peers. Their business models were digitally functioning which helped them adjust rapidly to the change and prevent further business damage, unlike other businesses that even shut down due to their incapability of eliminating physical presence within their working process, and their lack of life-saving technologies.

The survival chance was given again during 2020 to many businesses to learn their lesson, review their business models, catch up on their digital transformation journey ASAP before things got worse. Well, Those stubborn ones who didn’t take any action yet and are still undergoing their lack of a robust digital backbone or any online presence are expected to struggle more during the upcoming period and even possibly never make it through.

You did prepare a lockdown exit strategy for your business

Even 2021 is on the doors, still there are no sights that the nightmare would be over any time soon. Governments can no longer force lockdown and holding back nation economies is too devastating to be acceptable. There is no way to run away from ending lockdowns in order to save the economy which means surviving with the virus.

Smart businesses are the ones who have already built a lockdown exit strategy that will allow them to reboot their financial stability and minimize further threats & damage to their business. It includes figuring out a way to restart their operations, ensuring the agility of their supply chain, and dealing with the aftermath of lockdown and its immediate implications.

The less reactive businesses will so excitedly go back to their same old working and customer service practices from before covid-19 causing themselves to enjoy short-term gains before they get overwhelmed by the spread of the virus among employees and then dealing with the reality that customers can no longer trust the safety of their practices.

You expected new regulations and you proactively taking actions

The measures taken by governments during 2020 have come at a huge economic and social cost, which will eventually drive the creation of new stricter laws with the goal of preventing similar crisis situations strike again in the future, strengthening national financial systems, minimize frustrated competition and saving the less fortunate peoples’ jobs. It potentially would include augmentation in taxes, imposing higher pressure on businesses for employment rights, accessibility of data, and the cash and liquidity buffers held by large businesses.

A smart business would prevent the impact of those regulations on its business model and incorporate it into your future strategy rather than just responding late to changes and having a hard time adapting.

You made a work balance between people and technologies

Covid made us realize that technology is there to make our lives easier, but can’t replace people. Technology has enabled us to rethink the ways in which we perform fundamental activities during this crisis from casual virtual meetings to virtual Parliament favoring remote ways of working. While making huge use of artificial intelligence to maintain expected levels of customer service.

Many businesses made the mistake of using technology to replace human force, rather than to integrate with the workforce. By 2021 we are expecting amazing leaders to make greater use of technology to help people to achieve productivity, improve the working lives, deliver quality and drive higher economic growth in one good balance between humans and technologies.

You tied the knot with an IT company and you did expand your partnerships

2020 proved that businesses with weak partnerships can’t survive and can have their supply chain and services easily delayed. Yet it was an opportunity for many businesses to learn the lesson and enhance their partnerships in order to face the uncertain future as a collective force. At the same time, software development firms faced a huge demand that led them to become picky about the projects they operate on. Partnering up with a software development firm keeps your business updated and ready to face any challenges that require digital solutions in the best time.

You got adapted to the changes that 2020 made

2020 did drive significant cultural shifts that are expected to keep marking 2021 such as virtual meetings, “NO OFFICE” work culture, cold social distancing, and many other practices. A business that is ready to face 2021 is a business that already adapted and embraced all the tidal waves caused by 2020. By now your employees and business practices should get used to operating this way. Organizations have a valuable opportunity to capitalize on the significant behavioral and cultural shifts of the past few weeks so that they carry across into a non-COVID world. Your business should be even considering how to adapt to higher levels of remote working like e-learning, activities, innovation…etc than just doing the traditional working from home.

Conclusion

Although the majority of businesses are still struggling to manage the current phase, some businesses are already exploring how they can set themselves up in a leading position and on the right trajectory for growth and prevent a smooth shifting of 2020-2021.