Since the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), it is no news that COVID-19 is at the verge of halting the global economy, meanwhile, WHO already announced it an official pandemic. As of March 18, 2020, Nigeria recorded 8 cases of COVID-19, yet the global pandemic’s growing impact on its economy is far more significant. In a bid to curb its spread, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encouraged people to stay at home. Many governments declared that schools, businesses, churches, mosques should shut down and large public gatherings should be avoided. As a result, the economy will probably enter a downturn.
However, many business owners are coming to grips with a world of work that spans from mildly inconvenient to completely crippling. As part of efforts to contain the effects of the coronavirus on the nation’s economy, Organizations are left with two choices to consider in this current situation.I categorized the two choices into Option A and Option B.
- Option A however says, continue the business, do not fall out of business whatsoever, instead, transition to remote operations.
- Option B says, fall out temporarily, be back to business when the state of the economy is back at its best.
Apparently, Smart organizations are deploying option A which I call, “the creative working solution-working remotely” whilst some organizations, on the other hand, are thinking option B, forgetting to ask these questions;
When will the state of the economy be restored?
How do we intend to keep our customers?
What will we be doing till all these come to an end?
Once this is over, will our customers still patronize us?
Won’t our competitors take over?
It’s hard and sad to halt a business, but it’s even harder to restart a business. Therefore, the best choice to make in this present situation is to deploy to option A, which is, do not fall out, but, transition to a remote working operation, these answers the above questions. Working remotely is the working solution organizations need to adopt in order to ensure seamless business operations amidst the Covid-19 outbreak. While some organizations have adopted this alternative, some organizations are still waiting for a miracle to happen. Here are some solutions to help you work remotely.
Creating A Functional Website
The first thing organizations need to put in place before considering remote operation is a functional website. The backbone of a business is a website, as the backbone of your online presence, every type of communication, piece of content, or advertisement that you put online will drive the consumer back to your website. As such, it’s important that your website gives consumers a clear idea of what your brand is about and what type of products or services you offer. Having a functional website means that consumers are able to find you anywhere at any time.
A website can make or break your business, so this is the time to spend more time revamping and focusing on your site’s appearance and functionality. A website that functions properly and is easy to navigate will set your business apart from the rest of the competition, thus, having a functional website gives you an edge against your competitors and also reminds the consumers that you are still in business.
After launching a functional and professional website, do well to make sure that it is properly managed. Most organizations in the modern world have a website, the question now is, is the website properly managed after launch? you do not want to create an impression that you are temporarily out of business. Website management involves
- Frequently check site speed;
- Take time to click through every active link on your website to make sure it links to the intended page;
- Constantly check your site in major browsers as well as how it performs on mobile devices to make sure it’s responsive;
- Ensure that themes and plugins are up to date; regularly remove unused themes and plugins. Be sure to deactivate and delete them to prevent vulnerability and security issues.
- Review analytics in order to allow you to gauge the website’s growth and optimize pages that bring in the most conversions as well as tweak those that show visitors dropping off.
Adopting Online Marketing Strategies
Luckily, there are good numbers of online marketing strategies from which you can choose. The COVID-19 is almost everywhere, but thankfully, it is not online, so, you can actually reach a wide audience, keeping them informed and updated about your business with these online marketing strategies;
- Email marketing, the process of collecting visitors email addresses so you can provide them with information, advertisement or better still, sell them on your services.
- Social Media Strategy, the act of using social media to build your brand, connect with your audience and drive website traffic. The social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Youtube and more.
- Content Marketing Strategy, the process of innovatively creating, publishing and distributing content that is relevant and targeted to a clearly defined audience online.
Without being affected by the current state of the economy, these aforementioned strategies can, however, help businesses to thrive and bear in mind the interest of their customers.
Deploying Project Management tools
Since employees/ workers will be staying indoors to work, it may seem impossible to monitor the activities of the employees, meanwhile, Organizations can implement project management tools that will help to assign tasks to employees, measure productivity and also monitor their activities. Some of these project management tools are Slack, Trello, Zoom, Taskworld amongst others. These tools can be a great way to get communication and collaboration all in one place because these tools offer not only task management and project planning but public and private channels and chats as well.
In conclusion, working remotely may seem unachievable, but with set structures and processes, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic through remote working is attainable.
