As the lockdown slowly lifts around the globe, many companies may want to retreat and save costs where they can. This is a natural response in reaction to worldwide economic distress. However, ignoring innovation won’t save many businesses from facing the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Innovating could be the only way that companies survive in a post-COVID world. As the way we live and work transforms, companies will need to change to meet a new way of living.
There are a myriad of ways we can innovate, but if we don’t do it now, we may be left behind.
Why should we implement innovation now?
Many businesses may be left wondering: in such unsure times, why should we be pushing to innovate? The answer is simple: if we don’t innovate now, many businesses won’t survive the new way of working and doing business.
Unlike some may think, there will be no ‘return to normal.’ Instead, it will be a return to a ‘new normal.’ This new normal will incorporate new technology and ways of doing business that many of us learnt during the peak of COVID-19.
There will also be businesses, many of them customer-facing, who adopted innovative processes during COVID-19 and will continue them as they realise their success. For example, many traditional restaurants have moved towards delivery and will continue to keep it post-lockdown.
How we can innovate to adapt
We need to move towards what In The Black calls “disruptive innovation in a disrupted world.” It’s easy to think that disruptive technologies – from artificial intelligence to blockchain to automation – might suffer during difficult times. Instead, they often flourish.
Companies can adopt innovative technologies such as AI, blockchain, machine learning, automation and cloud computing to make their businesses less vulnerable to economic downturn and to reduce impact from future crises.
Many companies, particularly retail and food businesses, were forced into disarray when isolation hit. For those who had comfortably done business without transforming to accommodate delivery and online ordering, it was a shocking change.
There are multiple platforms that already enable nascent technologies such as artificial intelligence without companies having to implement the technologies themselves. You don’t need to hire your own software engineers to implement innovative technologies.
Blockhead Technologies is enabling companies to adopt blockchain without needing a complicated tech background. STAMP tracks any form of data and will integrate pre-existing software, allowing you to unlock the value of blockchain without overturning your whole company.
You can find out more about STAMP here or contact us here for a demo.