Early 2020. The moment that unexpectedly, but anticipated, the world stopped and had to rethink itself. No point in demonstrating what succeeded, it is well known. But it makes sense to state: Digital preparedness dictated who was surviving during these new natural selection times.
It has also shown the obvious: enterprises that were procrastinating entering the Digital Transformation path suffered heavily, while those that have embraced it sooner would prove more resilient.
And the first would gain the biggest sponsor ever to take the path, stronger than any visionary (or simply cautious) CxO, with a hard strike coming from the desperate need to be Digitally ready: COVID-19 is the most efficient push for Digital Transformation.
Whilst almost all business faced a shutdown – on clients, revenue, invoicing, on the assumed granted “normality”, on moving freely and being needed – only a few remained, sustained by two main reasons:
- They were essential services, needed for everyone survival
- They were born, ready or adapted for Digital
Even for those that were a “must”, an entirely new holistic approach to Customer Engagement had to be recreated from scratch. Social distancing demanded it!
In instants, traditional electricity, water, and gas supply chain way to be connected to customers had to change.
Fuel corporations faced lower demand and higher competition, forcing new ways to conquer (or not lose) the market.
Food and household retailers had surges in requests for the existing online platforms that couldn’t take it, followed by a collapse of the companies specialized in transports and delivery. Virtual queues needed to be put in place, for a customer to get access to the marketplaces and not crash down systems entirely.
Furniture and DIY stores were daunted by the rise in the number of persons wanting their products, but that was unable to cross the doors to buy.
Pharmacies saw increased demand, with supply and stock rupture, delayed repositions, and unsatisfied customers.
Telecommunications services suppliers watched incredulously at morphing utilization profiles, while only resilient engineering implementations survived the daily changes of traffic patterns.
Media had to honorably do their job, but paper was no more… and finally died.
Corporations were not raising the amount of business the market was demanding, consumers were not spending because they had no way to buy, stocks were empty in cases, full in others, household income saw severe limitations in many cases (with specific impact on those that ran so far under parallel economy terms).
Chaotic times that exercised a huge pressure on many businesses, that to stay above the water, had to create methods to sell in a compulsory urge. Sell without facing a customer physically, without expecting the customer to go somewhere and take the goods, without exchanging cash as coins and bills. Brick and mortar businesses were in a coma.
In parallel to this spiral, those who had a digital birthplace or that evolved in that direction, found that the conviction in Digital Transformation was the right path and that the only flaw was not having started sooner.
During this year, every business learned that it’s mandatory to be present in multiple accesses, never forgetting digital channels. That things need to work without technical failures or glitches. That Customer Experience and Digital Ergonomics are not a luxury, at all. That reputation and awareness open doors and promote business outcomes. And finally, that all this needs to be built on solid and secure grounds.
Many of those businesses had to adapt promptly and swiftly, and along that fast way, errors, problems, and failures were left while constructing. And many businesses are still walking that path.
It does not need to be a hard road to walk, as Clariter can support all the Customer Experience and Journey, from Design to Validation, from solid blocks without errors to a secure implementation. And all based on a service model approach, fitting what companies need, covering the gaps that are still present, and identifying those that are not unveiled, before the Customer does.
Your business is going to come out of the storm stronger, emerging from the difficulties with a higher capacity to succeed and at a faster pace. Every business needs to go Digital, and for that, we are here to make it done right.
Also Clariter Group is coming out of these times with the confirmation that the direction elected for the company 10 years ago – to support our Customers on the right Digital Adaptation and Transformation road – was the right way to progress and the correct decision. We are ready, natively remote, and digitally prepared, to support our Business and our Customers.
2020 is coming to closure.
We are here to make your year-end
a huge success.
