The COVID19 pandemic has caused severe economic devastation. Increased regulations, demand collapse, supply chain interruptions, and the overall uncertainty stumps businesses. The cash crunch tempts businesses to curtail IT spend. But smart businesses realise such an approach as a “penny-wise-pound-foolish” strategy. They seek strategic IT investments to enhance the competitiveness of their businesses.

The key drivers of success in the post-pandemic age are the ability to adapt to external shocks and rapid innovation. Strategic IT investments have a big role in achieving these. This technology blog for IT professionals lists how strategic IT investments help businesses thrive in the post-pandemic world.

1. Enhanced Resilience Through SaaS-Based Models

Businesses have always had to cope with changes. But the COVID-19 pandemic unleashes tectonic disruptions. Success depends on the ability to withstand sudden disruptions and shocks, and flexibility to change course fast. Business planners look at SaaS-based models to actualize such capabilities.

Cloud-based managed services offer cost-effective access to the latest technologies. Enterprises rely on these services to put in place flexible and scalable business models. Using the SaaS, PaaS and IaaS resources on offer, the business may:

• Experiment with alternative models, and change course to match the changing customer preferences.
• Scale-up or scale-down services as required, depending on the external environment. For instance, a localised lockdown may spike customer support, requiring temporary resource addition.
• Offer subscription services to get recurring revenue without sinking capital. With SaaS, the CAPEX converts to OPEX.
• Modernise the network, to enhance productivity and improve security.

2. Improved Efficiency Through Automation 

Survival in the post-COVID-19 world depends on reducing costs without degrading the quality of service. Business strategists seek technologies that add value. Here, automation:

• Reduces the need for costly human resources. Robots take care of routine, repetitive processes efficiently and cost-effectively. Programming robots is easier and faster to re-training humans or managing resistance to change. Human employees get more time to address core issues that unlock greater value.
• Creates “digital twins,” or a virtual image of a physical warehouse. Business managers may simulate these twins to control operations in the actual warehouse, to improve efficiency and reduce the need for costly human resources.
• Improves analytics, enabling informed decisions. 
• Streamlines business process, offering savings up to 30%. Examples abound. Western Digital optimises factory lighting by applying artificial intelligence to live data.

3. Sustainability Through Digital Acceleration

The lockdown measures in response to COVID-19 sped up digital adoption. The technology-enabled processes for digital delivery of services, online sales, and remote collaboration are here to stay. These changes were always on the anvil for productivity and efficiency improvements. COVID19 accelerated digital adoption and raised customer expectations. For instance, many brick-and-mortar retail stores now embark on an omnichannel approach.

Successful CEOs invest in digitalisation as part of their post-pandemic strategy.:

• Seek a holistic effort at digital transformation. They evaluate the gaps in technology and prepare a roadmap to bridge the gap.
• Leverage new technology to roll-out systems and processes to withstand volatility and risk.
• Realign internal systems and procedures in a way that is most convenient to the customer.
• Apply agile principles to customise and speed up front-end, customer-facing systems faster.
• Reconcile speed and flexibility with structured operational paradigms.

4. Improved Dynamism Through Workforce Transformation

COVID19 has changed the profile of the workforce. Work-from-home orders have made digital collaboration platforms the default channel of communication. Smart business leaders strategise to make the best out of any situation. They:

• Invest in seamless digital collaboration platforms to enhance the productivity of their workforce. Custom solutions allow recording conversations easily and transfer unstructured data for analytics.
• Co-opt digital collaboration tools and agile to give permanency to the COVID-19 improvisations.
• Source the best talent from across the globe. Digital transformation makes geographical restrictions of a physical office redundant.
• Realign staff through strategic outsourcing. The increasing uncertainties in the business environment prompt businesses to rely on project-based assignments. Here, flexible arrangements to scale-up or down-size the workforce improve competitiveness. Smart enterprises keep a core of talented employees and curate an ecosystem of talented freelancers around them.

5. Better Revenues Through Supply Chain Reinvention

The COVID19 pandemic has exposed several inefficiencies and vulnerabilities in global supply chains. Business strategists in the post-pandemic world set up new distribution channels and new ways to reach customers.

Strategic leaders:

• Review processes within the supply chain that depend on the actions of individuals. For instance, manual input of information slows the supply chain process. Automation overcomes human blocks. New processes circumvent such potential vulnerable spots.
• Use Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain to make inventory checks and track shipping.

Consider Bumble Bee Foods’s ocean-to-table blockchain project, initiated in 2019. This global food supply chain project identifies the source of the food and offers insights on the raw materials, the sustainability of the source, and other useful information. Such transparency and traceability are invaluable for supply chain visibility.

6. Customer-Focused Approach

Delighting the customer has always been the mantra for success. COVID-19 has forced big changes in customer wants and needs. Customer preferences have changed, and lingering restrictions throttle demand. Many businesses, especially in travel and tourism question their viability post-pandemic. But successful businesses orient their products, sales channels, marketing, and customer service to new realities. They:

• Adjust products and services to match changing customer demands. For instance, business strategists respond to increased demand for low-cost products by adopting agile.
• Tailor process and service around the customer rather than internal efficiency.
• Evaluate if the existing technology stack of the business fulfils customer needs in the best possible way. If not, check if the technology investment will provide such capability and the cost-effectiveness of such technology adoption.
• Communicate with customers, to win the trust and build loyalty.

At the January 2020 Davos World Economic Forum, two out of three executives believed they would go out of business within five years, without the ongoing technology investments. The pandemic has not changed the underlying reasons for the same. Rather, it has made such reasons more acute. The success of any business in a post-pandemic age depends on its ability to make strategic IT investments.