The year 2020 was catastrophic for every inhabitant of the planet in one way or the other, the wave of the global pandemic has hit everyone and continues to do as more than 5.7 million cumulative cases are reported worldwide when this article is being written.
Businesses, industries and offices across the globe are witnessing unplanned shutdowns. Apart from the ever-increasing health concerns, the world is also fighting with a staggering economy spread all over the world as top 20 economic powers are negatively impacted by the dreaded disease.
It is speculated that the fear of infection may surround us for a longer time than we have expected or maybe it is here to stay forever and we would have no choice but to learn to adapt to the new normal.

Finding a New Normal

Organizations – Big, Medium and Small are eyeing on technology specially automation and artificial intelligence to keep their businesses going while maintaining social distance, hygiene and all other necessary guidelines issued by regulatory bodies and concerned authorities.

Every organization has a different way of incorporating technology and depending on it for their daily work. Entertainment, Manufacturing, Tourism and Hospitality and IT are some of the major industries who are coping up with the global crisis with the help of technology and other preventive measures.
The medical industry has taken aid of technology for the detection, prevention and cure of COVID-19. Aarogya Setu is a mobile application developed by the government of India that raises an alert if you are in proximity with an infected person. The app is used by more than 113 million of Indians. Using this application, the power of technology has helped millions of Indians in staying cognizant and safe away from infection.
Researchers and analyzers predict that this global outbreak is going to cause a more fundamental and permanent change than we think. A face covered with mask and a pocket powered with sanitizers are enough to safeguard lives, but we need more to bring back normalcy in businesses and straighten the economic curve.

Sailing in the same boat

Almost all industries are experiencing crisis and there are limited ways to create supply and huge shortage of demand as their consumers are hesitant to spend. The corona virus has brought almost all organizations in the same boat but each of them are innovating new ways to come out of the storm.

Tourism and hospitality industry are negatively impacted and there seems no light of hope as large public gatherings in concerts or a café brimming with people is not a vision in near future. Many organizations have come up with innovative ways to deal with it, restaurants are working on various ways like a bot which would serve you your favorite dishes and maximum automation in the preparation of food is also developed extensively by big players in this industry. We have seen ‘Robot Restaurants’ launching in Bengaluru as the first restaurant where food service is done by robots.

Even if somewhere in the world someone finds a vaccine, business officials are not in a mood to part with technology that is enabling their employees to work from home and keeping customers happy.
Tata consultancy Services plan to make 75% of their workforce to work from home by 2025. Other major companies like Infosys and HCL are also in the same league. International technological giants like Google, Microsoft have also planned to keep their employees home yet working for a much longer period.

Automating the way forward

Businesses have observed the automation trend and while they cannot be physically present in traditional offices, they are looking for innovative ways to keep their consumers hooked. Some are developing and deploying chatbots which converses with the customer like a real ‘human’ would. From answering simple queries to performing complex tasks, a ChatBot is always just a click away.

Chatbot is capable of handling of consumer interaction without human intervention, which means that even when a human agent is not there, the bot is there to take care of your customers.
Offices too are adopting the methods of Robotic Process Automation as companies would prefer robots doing mundane, repetitive tasks rather than employing humans for it. Other than keeping a smaller number of humans at work, RPA also benefits the businesses in cutting operational costs and reducing processing time.

“During World War II, an amazing amount of innovation, including radar, reliable torpedoes, and code-breaking, helped end the war faster. This will be the same with the pandemic.” – Bill Gates

Automation is here to take you through the crisis and with its help you are sure to come out of the storm shining. Entrepreneurs and working professionals should look at this crisis period as the time for exciting innovation and intelligent inventions.