The arrival of COVID-19 has turned the world upside down. Everything from family life to social interactions has felt the repercussions of this historic event.
Alongside all the life changes, there has been an inevitable effect on the way we work. When the pandemic started to close the country down, we faced the challenge of simply not being able to work the way we did before. Alongside this, there was a huge cultural shift for many of our clients to working at home.
There seemed to be an unwritten rule that projects wouldn’t be as easily delivered if we were all working remotely. But, as days of lockdown turned to weeks and then months, we all began to realign our expectations, focusing on the importance of changing our approach rather than dwelling on the limitations.
Over time the expectations for sales and development returned, and we saw our clients adapting to a new way of working. Their needs changed, too—no longer were they just looking at their websites to generate leads. Instead, our clients wanted solutions that could connect into systems and platforms, improving everything from prospect engagement to retention.
Of course, the ability to do this online was already there—but the demand simply wasn’t. In short, COVID-19 changed mindsets and expectations, which has impacted the evolution of our own business. We’re now seeking to provide opportunities for companies to shift their entire business model; not only in reaction to the pandemic but as an opportunity to change every aspect of how they operate in the digital world.
Here are two of the biggest changes we’ve seen with our clients:
The downturn in B2B has caused businesses to seek out ways to link directly with end customers. This has, in turn, created different needs from their website and software. For forward-thinking B2B companies, it is now business-critical to invest in web technologies that support sales, marketing, and online software to automate the supply chain and provide an experience that consumers expect online.
We’ve seen an increase in clients wishing to connect websites to ERPs, CRMs and other online platforms. This not only provides a consumer-level user experience—it also reduces the manual processes involved in processing orders and maintaining data integrity between systems.
Of course, it’s not only our clients who have had to embrace change in order to thrive. We’ve implemented new ways of working in order to push through this period while maintaining growth.
Here’s how we’ve adapted:
Alongside a change in thinking, our investment in software has helped us work in this new way, and could benefit your business too. We’ve found these solutions particularly useful:
Do you feel like your business needs to adjust its digital infrastructure to better navigate the ‘new normal’? Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.