‘Disruption’ is an expression that profusely started using when technology started producing solutions by interfering with traditional ways of solutions. In other words, the conventional arrangements failed when the new technology started providing better solutions. There was a chase between the two; means technology succeeded after fighting with attitudes, practices, and customs. What, if every such deed faces a natural disruption. That is what is going to happen with this coronavirus lockdown. The technology solutions are yet to succeed with the said attitudes, practices and customs are getting a golden chance to make a free hit.
The world is looking for more personalized goods and services. Personal Care, Education, Gadgets, Health Care, Transportation, Shopping, Productivity, Fashion, and Housing demand customization. Customers’ were looking for more personalized services, but the speed of unfolding was slow. Though the technology was ready, habitual constraints limiting the adoption of such solutions. Now a disruption happened, and it will change the game.
With the disruption, people across the globe got a unique opportunity to revisit the fundamentals of their needs and wants. Visiting the fundamentals shall make changes in the preferences of a person for himself and his family. Chances are there to negate the necessity of several products they were using for some time and to appreciate some other products that they did not opt so far.
The spending capacity of companies and individuals will have a significant drop after the lockout, primarily due to the revenue loss during the shutdown period. Besides, that slip in the availability of liquidity with existing and probable customers will affect the future cash flow of the organizations. There will be significant job losses due to layoffs and other reasons, and it will take a plunge in the pockets of individuals, as well.
When the change in habits when clubbed with the shift in priorities and decline in spending capacity will make a significant impact on the way doing business across the globe after the lockdown. Let’s have a closer look at various sectors that may be affected by the situation.
By the entry of services like Uber, Zoom Car, and other similar services in various countries, the transportation industry has made a prominent shift in the way of doing business. In the growing markets, it never affected the sale of car manufacturers significantly until recently. But things are going to change vitally due to the post-corona situation that we have discussed early in this article. Imagine a company that can predict what type of car you need when you need it, with the help of technology. Will you buy the service or still looking for owning a car? I’m sure that as it comes with an advantage of minimum or zero investment, most people will shed the idea of buying a car. Technology is now ready for such purposes by technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and the Internet of Things (IoT). If the slowness in adoption improved with this lockdown period, businesses would change dramatically.
Sanitizers were become widespread due to the spread of the Corona Virus and the fear of it. People are now more conscious about the viral and bacterial infections, and it will not stop by the corona fear is over. Contactless arrangements shall require on lifts, credit cards, travel cards, and all other interfaces where touch is needed. Technologies for contactless identification and transaction is going to be very popular after this period. Service providers like banks, transport operators, other service providers shall adopt the new system to make your customers comfortable.
I hope the commercialization of 3D printing activities will speed-up due to the halt happened. As the demand for personalized products or services will rise across the globe, 3D printed products also will become popular. Traditional manufacturing arrangements with large corporations forced to switch to be compatible with new settings. There is a chicken-and-egg situation in the evolution commercialization of 3D printing. This closedown period will boost the demand to overcome the situation. Large and small manufacturers shall adjust themselves to this rising demand, to cop up with the developing business conditions.
[ATBC is a business strategy consulting organization. It focuses on strategic consulting services to companies in the scale-up phase. Business Strategy Consultant, Asif Theyyampattil, and his associate consultants collectively frame the organization. ATBC includes Financial Planners, Chartered Accountants, Chartered Engineers, Management Consultants, Company Secretaries, Branding& Marketing Experts, Social Media Consultants, Event Managers, Process Designers, Business Trainers, and Project Management Consultants, etc. Our focus is to create sustainable and profitable companies within our value framework. For details of the activities, please visit Asif Theyyampattil at www.atbc.co]
I will share two different pieces of information that will together make sense to smart persons in business. First, with this lockdown, the habit of the entire family participating in homemaking activities has become a fashion. Second, traditionally grocery shops and supermarkets are selling their items in units of grams or liters. As a result, items purchased for cooking or other activities will always result in some surplus. Now, imagine families decide to cook most meals at home, and if they find a lot of surplus or waste items in the kitchen, they will upset with it for sure. I will share an idea of a new kind of supermarket or grocery store. This store will sell recipes and the exact ingredients to prepare a particular dish. As a result, waste after preparation will significantly reduce. If the business is successful in providing local taste and improvised service based on customer feedback, this idea will get significant traction. In addition to that, vegetables, seafood, chicken, and other meat items are now available in complete raw form in the market. Please exclude frozen fish and meat from this. If these items available in the market in a ready-to-cook way, it will have high acceptance from the customer community.
Online learning is no longer a decorative expression. It has become a hot cake due to this house-arrest. Even after we back to normal, online learning will continue to be an indispensable part of the pedagogy. It will influence the style of schooling. Five day week may become an old fashion after this period. Supplementary education providers shall prepare themselves not just to adapt to online platforms, but also to integrate multi-dimensional learner support arrangements. Here too, institutes should adopt a learner-centric approach rather than the old textbook method.
It took many years for MRD (Medical Records Departments) to convert into an eMRD (Electronic Medical Records) format in healthcare institutions across the globe. There may be organizations still to change to eMRD. This interruption may push healthcare organizations to the next level of personalized care. Instead of asking for the symptoms every time, the hospitals should equip with a system that can sense the exact condition of the patient, even before reporting to the hospital. Technology is now available to make this happen. Medical services assisted with IoT devices will get good acceptance after this period. Healthcare providers may adjust themselves to tackle this opportunity.
The fashion industry is one of the least technology-adopted industries in my observation. Many perishable product manufacturers are using the possibilities of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to improve efficiency in production and supply chain. But if fashion brands are using those technologies, they could have limited the number of factory seconds outlets. Time already crossed to think about personalized fashion instead of readymades in the industry. They should know the ideal fitments of their customers so that the customer can comfortably choose their favorite patterns. AI-based tools can develop for various skin tones, height, weight, and other ratios. Also, the analytics of specific areas can reduce investments. Personalized fashion solutions are indeed the future of that business. This lockdown will be an unprecedented opportunity to dive into the new fashion.
Delivery services can have a horizontal service model instead of the current vertical model. The current model serves only one sector of demand, which means a food delivery service delivers only prepared food. What if the food delivery company offers delivery of grocery items from a supermarket? What is a delivery company that serves everything to customers in a designated area? I hope this model will increase efficiency. If work and learning are happening from home after this lockdown period, more such services will be required. That means, instead of people traveling outside, goods and services coming to the houses. Fear of crowds that may happen after the period may also fuel this tendency. App-based online services will also get a slice of the pie for companies offering fitness solutions, productivity, and entertainment services.
Agent services that adopted the offline model may come to extinction, or the format of such businesses may change forever. Agents for life insurance, general insurance, government services, matchmaking services, real estate, and legal services may think about the changes that are going to happen to their business. Improves transparency in systems reduced dependability of such agents. But at the same time, a different version of that business will still have relevance. May be assisting the customers in getting nuances of deals through an internet-based platform work as an alternative to the existing arrangement.
In short, Coronavirus is going to ramp up the evolution of Industry 4.0. The chances for business people to be successful depends on his ability to predict the likely chances that the market should embrace. Keep yourself updated about the changes that are happening across the world. To get insights from Asif Theyyampattil, please enable the ‘see first’ option after you like our Facebook page. All of us should alert because the world is tiny enough to affect the changes spontaneously to our markets as well.
Founder – ATBC
