- September 2, 2022
- By Joshua Reid
- Advice , Company Structure
- covid , covid-19 , digital climate , digital marketing , digital workspace , marketing , pandemic , remote work , start-up company , startup
How Has COVID-19 Changed How Businesses Get Off the Ground?
The COVID-19 pandemic has not just changed how society functions but also changed how businesses operate. Not only do companies have to change how they interact with clients, potential business partners, and their employees, but they also have to adjust to the changing digital climate. Everything from digital marketplaces to virtual conferences, businesses must adapt quickly in order to keep up with the changing workplace landscape. For start-up companies, this is an even bigger issue. Start-up companies are in the early stages of business development, so for the pandemic to strike and change how businesses operate has left start-ups in a precarious position.
How has the pandemic changed how start-up companies interact with clients and employees?
In a 2020 article titled, “How COVID-19 Permanently Changed the Way Businesses Operate,” author Luisa Beltran argues that the pandemic accelerated the switch to a digitized world. Additionally, Beltran notes that because of the pandemic, every company is becoming a tech company and emphasizes that the companies that flourish beyond COVID-19 are those that “rethink their operations to be more virtual and asset-lite.”
Having a virtual platform during the pandemic could have been a lifesaver for start-up companies. Although COVID-19 changed how businesses get off the ground, being able to converse with potential business partners, clients and employees virtually could also provide start-ups with different business perspectives. Through the digital landscape, start-up companies could not only focus on a specific product or service that their target audience needs, but also they could manage the companies in a way that encompasses more people.
COVID-19 has changed how businesses get off the ground through how companies are able to establish their brand. While marketing is a big part of drawing in potential clients, branding also has a part to play. Due in part to the pandemic, companies are also having to adapt to branding and marketing themselves virtually. This can be a challenge for businesses in the early stages of their development because they might not have thought about their mission statement, core values, or even what kind of product or service they want to market. These areas are just a few of the ways that COVID-19 has changed how businesses get off the ground.
Phil Wainewright, however, argues that the pandemic also saw the emergence of the digital workplace. In his article by Diginomica titled “Six ways business will stay changed once COVID-19 passes,” Wainewright notes six changes businesses could see coming from the pandemic:
- Remote digital teamwork becomes the norm.
- Conferences go virtual.
- Education goes on demand.
- The rise of local sourcing and 3D printing.
- IT projects go agile (Redeploying resources for immediate needs.)
- You must connect with customer success.
Of the six that Wainewright proposes, the ones that seem most appropriate for start-up companies getting themselves off the ground would be remote digital teamwork becoming the norm and conferences going virtual. For start-up companies affected by the pandemic, remote digital collaboration enables employees and members of the leadership team to discuss the projects and resources needed to market themselves and create a brand that sticks out amongst similar services or products.
Additionally, by making conferences virtual, start-up companies can also ensure that all voices are heard when discussing how they want to make themselves known to their target audience. Events like trade shows and in-person conferences were the norm for a time. However, due to the pandemic, the shift toward a virtual platform, allows start-up companies an advantage: the ability to see what other start-up companies are doing in terms of branding, current and future business trends, and even potentially create virtual business transactions that could help start-ups in the future.
“Once there have been several significant successes that show how to replicate much of the experience of a physical event without a large part of the cost and hassle, what appetite will there be for a wholesale return to the old model?”
Phil Wainewright
Sources
Beltran, Luisa. “How Covid-19 Permanently Changed the Way Businesses Operate.” Barron’s. Accessed 21 July 2021.
Wainewright, Phil. “Six ways business will stay changed once COVID-19 passes.” Diginomica. Accessed 21 July 2021.
Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash
