How are global brands managing post-pandemic?

The world has slowly but successfully sailed through the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy is now back on track with businesses up and running. However, we can never forget that the pandemic has also transformed companies and organizations the world over in terms of technology. During the lockdowns, most businesses adapted to this tech approach to ensure operational continuity and ensure that they continue serving customers even more seamlessly. In this context, here are a few trends that brands must consider to thrive in the post-pandemic world.

Why is going digital imperative? 

Coronavirus has propelled businesses to innovate their products and services and re-connect with evolving customers to create meaningful engagement. Brick and mortar stores that entirely relied on manual operations in the pre-pandemic days also had to take the digital route. 

Going digital became necessary during this phase as people were scared to step out and looked for convenience at home. As a result, building an online presence emerged as the need of the hour for businesses across the country. 

Technology, upskilling and more

Technologies like AI, ML, and big data saw massive adoption during the pandemic. Moreover, organizations also realized the importance of upskilling their workforce to handle various operations and deliver their best work. 

With the aforementioned technologies taking over the world, the leaders of tomorrow must augment their technical abilities and data-centric knowledge in addition to developing soft skills like empathy, team building, effective communication, etc. A mix of these skills is crucial for businesses to efficiently drive digital operations and build long-standing relations with clients and customers in this new age. 

Being agile is the key to success

Agility has been observed as a much-needed skill to sail through the pandemic. In fact, it has become a critical tool or practice for businesses to tackle any uncertain situation and yet thrive in their journey. When the virus entered our lives, nobody knew how to respond. However, soon the world realized that being agile is the only way to manage difficult or unprecedented situations. 

Agility means adapting to the fast-paced changes and responding to them with the right solutions. This approach has helped many companies ensure smooth business continuity and, in fact, grow and boost sales and revenues even in challenging scenarios. This trend will likely remain relevant in the coming years as well. 

Taking the empathetical route 

The pandemic has shown everyone the worst-case scenario in the form of deaths, job losses, and business slowdowns. After experiencing such devastations in life, one thing has become evident. Everyone seeks empathy in the post-pandemic world. Hence, leaders must remain empathetic to subordinates, customers and all stakeholders. Businesses must show kindness to customers at every point rather than trying to sell products and services. This practice will go a long way. 

Right customer targeting 

This is another factor that businesses must focus on. After the pandemic, more and more people have gone online, which is why it is even more important than ever for businesses to re-target their customers and approach them with the right solutions with the potential to address their pain points. Every brand should follow this approach in order to know their customers and their needs better and accordingly provide them with solutions they are looking for.

In a nutshell

COVID-19 has brought multiple changes across various levels of businesses and industries. To thrive in this evolved landscape, leaders must keep the aforementioned points in mind and scale themselves to new heights in 2022 and beyond. 

Authored By Vijay Kumar Mikkilineni, Marketing Head, TCL India