There’s no ignoring the fact that what we’re going through this year is a global crisis – the pandemic COVID-19 or novel coronavirus that has gripped the world. The services of an experienced BPO company are critical since they offer the resources and innovative solutions essential for businesses to adjust in challenging situations.
How Significant Has the COVID-19 Menace Been?
The COVID-19 pandemic started becoming a crisis by late February 2020, though the first cases of the disease were reported in Wuhan, China back in November, 2019. While the intensity of the virus has varied in various months and in various countries, with some countries managing to free themselves from the menace, it has claimed 1.5 million lives thus far. Quite like the Spanish flu pandemic from 1918 to 1920, COVID-19 has been striking in different waves. The United States is currently in the grip of a renewed wave. How do organizations cope with this challenge?
Priorities During the COVID-19 Crisis
Organizations need to think out of the box and develop emergency plans but avoid knee jerk reactions at the same time.
- Their goal is to ensure the safety and security of their employees primarily, and then to ensure their performance doesn’t get too affected.
- Next, organizations can make use of the crisis to identify new opportunities to satisfy customers, or new avenues of business, and develop strategies to make use of such opportunities so that their earnings don’t suffer a major dent.
Major Challenges Involved
Supply Chain Interruptions
A global pandemic can cause major interruptions to your supply chain. Restrictions on transportation in various states and countries could make it quite difficult for your company to get the raw materials as easily as it would. You would therefore need to develop alternate raw materials or source local distributors. This would make you alter the pricing of the products and services you offer customers.
Getting Your Workforce to Put in Their Best
The main challenge, however, lies in getting your workforce to come for work. You need to ensure not just their physical, but also emotional well-being whether they are able to make it to work or are forced to work from home. In situations where employees work from home, you need to develop efficient communication and monitoring protocols.
Technology takes over, in terms of videoconferencing and cloud data storage and sharing. Organizations need to display a willingness to go fully digital and take the steps needed for that in a manner that would cause the least disruption to work continuity.
Keeping Costs in Check
There’s obviously an important consideration here – balancing cost cutting with the need for keeping people employed. Whether digitization or any other change you bring about, you need to ensure that the costs don’t spiral out of control. That would only end up being counterproductive. You also need to prepare your employees and your business strategy for a situation where the market improves and normalcy returns. You must be able to get back pre-pandemic levels of performance as quickly as possible, because you know your competitors are out there waiting to grab a significant market share.
Getting to Grips with a New Norm
The pandemic has created a new reality. Remote workplaces and cloud functioning are perhaps here to stay, so any digital transformation you undertake could only prove to be beneficial. A great outsourcing provider can help your organization be resilient and responsive to challenges in the environment.
One of the major challenges involved in a transition phase is how to ensure data storage, security and circulation in a hassle-free manner. That’s where data entry services, document conversion services and general business process outsourcing solutions can help. While your organization focuses on the core tasks, the outsourcing partner helps develop new protocols and strategies in data, communication and performance monitoring so you can perform at a high level despite the challenging situation.
