Dissecting Covid: Causing a Massive Change in Business Settings

The current world has been plagued by the severity of the infamous Coronavirus that has brought about numerous disruptions. Be it wearing face masks at public places, RT PCR tests before travel, or even self isolation periods when visiting countries abroad, the new laws and regulations have impacted all facets of our lives.

In the corporate world too, the spread of Coronavirus has hugely impacted businesses, the operations, working methodologies and other interlayered processes. It’s fair to say that Covid-19 has brought with itself a share of challenges and opportunities.

The influx of tremendous changes, the coming up of new technologies, and other jobs lead to the development of new and improved skill-sets, setting up businesses with a fresh zeal and getting sterilised with the journey that lies ahead.

Such a transition from regularity to a different path is usually brought about intrinsically and sometimes through extrinsic drivers.

However, when the entire world is faced with a never heard about pandemic, then it becomes pretty hard to get used to; but with the proper application and maintenance of rules and regulations, results can be achieved.

After a year and a half since its arrival, Covid has shown a mutual co-existence of business challenges and opportunities. One needs to tinker and find out what works for their businesses and seek out the deliverables that can help them come out as triumphant in the darkest of times.

Dealing with Covid-19 has been hectic, and it has resulted in depriving economies, almost null profits and declining ROIs for businesses.

The pandemic has hit companies severely by hindering their growth and channelising strategies for accumulating profits and lucrative projects. Businesses have been forced to think out of the box and canvass alternative paths for carrying out their operations.

The current times might seem depressing for large corporations. Still, smaller-scale businesses have been affected in the worst possible manners since they need to take loans for completing the processes that make them prone to rising debts.

Also Read: Financial Risk Management Strategies Amid Post Covid-19 World

As one goes deeper into studying the adverse effects of Covid-19, there are no sectors that haven’t been affected by the virus and its implications. The “new normal”- current ongoing period described by scientists has asked businesses to eke out methodologies for continuing their services.

There have been several statistics that have highlighted the plight of businesses during Covid-19:-

Coronavirus: A Statistical Overview

As per a report generated by Mint, nearly 70% of businesses remained disrupted until August 2020 and another 40% till February 2021, resulting in loss of profits and increased unemployment.

As per another report collected by Mint, small businesses cited three primary reasons for their revival, these include- better credit facility (59%), better marketing support (48%), and adoption of technology (35%).

The stats above showcase how businesses across the country are struggling to get back on track, and small scale companies are taking on a path of revival for their weakened economies.

The stats also suggest that businesses are trying their tooth and nail to stay on top of their finances and retain most of their employees.

The by-product of Covid has been that it has allowed companies to develop creative paths and change of mindset for business managers and C-level executives to lead and manage their troops in the midst of the pandemic.

Its different phases can understand the ripple effect of Covid-19. The 2020 period of Coronavirus under “new normal” and the step after it and the current ongoing times as “preparation of next normal”.

Today, several business management courses are provided in India across various institutes, offering terrific and knowledgeable insights about how modern and upcoming startups/businesses and other industries are coping with changes and possibilities associated with new waves of the virus.

Understanding Wave by Wave Effects of Coronavirus on Businesses

The Covid virus has erupted in different phases, with each one being described as a “wave” for differentiating it from its earlier stages. The progression of the virus has had its own influences on corporations, businesses and other industries across the globe.

There have been several firms that have been hit quite hard from this pandemic and managers fighting a war against unemployment, slashing of pay cuts and other remedies for coping with changes caused as a result of the pandemic.

The Coronavirus has affected different sectors as companies are still trying to make their way out of coming out of global turmoil.

Here’s a list of different departments that have been affected severely due to the rise of Coronavirus:-

Stock Market and Impact of Covid-19

While the global crisis continues to loom across the world, stock markets have swelled up as a result of lowering stocks and trade prices.

As surveyed by business giants, the stock market was going well during mid-April this year but has gone down since then, the main reasons being the rise of the Delta trait of virus and countries opting for lockdown and markets experiencing a shortage of revenues.

Since the cases have dropped since June this year, several developing countries are witnessing revamping stock prices and shares. This comes as a result of vaccinations given to individuals who can then work in the stock market.

India, too, is displaying a positive growth towards stock markets and a consensus generated by an IIT-Kanpur model for Coronavirus prediction. Its trends have shown that the peak for the same is long gone and that coming month can see a further decline in cases.

The removal of lockdowns has allowed economic activities, and businesses have actively utilised the available opportunities to bring in more revenues and ROIs for their companies. Moreover, the shortened duration of lockdowns has allowed firms to come up with strategies to sell their services, market goods and items to end-users and other fellow clients.

Also Read: How Organisation Cultures have Evolved Post Covid-19?

The construction activities under the NHAI have continued to offer their services to clients. The agro-economic departments, too, have maintained their crop yields since lockdowns were imposed after the completion of the sowing season, making enough crop yield to survive the year.

Businesses are informing their staff members about getting vaccinated and therefore reducing the fear of a third wave.

The fluctuations in the stock market post-Corona started happening in China, and then the effect was seen on different interdependent economies.

India too experienced crashes in stock prices last year and earlier this year with more than 5 Lakh crores in investor’s wealth that was wiped out attributed with Coronavirus scare. The Indian indices registered an astonishing 3.5% fall on their global indicators. It was slated as the second biggest fall in Sensex history.

The Indian stock market did make a thronging comeback on the second of March 2021 and showed some positives. A sudden jolt met the green light in stock prices as cases continued to rise once the lockdown was implemented in April of this year.

Studying and learning from a host of online management courses deployed by esteemed universities provide credible theoretical and practical knowledge of stabilising shuffling economies.

The teaching in the form of theoretical and practical sessions can come in handy while overseeing and monitoring economies.

Moreover, with the continuous changes in stock markets, managers need to design plans that cater to shifts in economies and offer businesses remedies for growth and success.

As of the changes on the ninth of March 2021, the Sensex came crashing down with 1900 points and made its way in record books, albeit not for the good reasons as the most significant intra-day decline since August 2015.

Impact of Coronavirus on Engineering and Construction Sectors

The construction and engineering sectors were already reeling with multiple challenges caused as a result of lack of capital and credit avenues to sticky situations, prone to numerous frauds and regulatory burdens due to the Environment Laws and the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

Now with the addition of Covid-19, engineering and construction departments have been further impaired. It’s a challenging situation for businesses that deal with supplying engineering and construction services to consumers.

The construction activities were temporarily shut down due to imposing a nationwide lockdown in April this year, making lives difficult for suppliers and labourers who worked on a daily wage to support their families.

The adverse effects of Coronavirus run deep and are identical to that of an iceberg. The visible harsh implications are just the tip of the iceberg, while several hidden negative after-effects come up after some time.

However, there are multiple consequences that are rather tragic in nature that is likely to stretch the trouble.

The severe implications can be seen through the reverse migration of labourers and developing transportation routes to send the wage workers to their states.

There has also been the disruption of supply chains within companies that need to develop intelligent operational systems for conducting their businesses.

Moreover, organisations that work with construction and engineering sectors would be forced to think out of the box and create creative solutions for dealing with problems that Covid restrictions bring for these departments.

Also Read: 5 Key Strategies Used by Businesses to Overcome the Covid-19 Crisis

It’s fair to say, by looking at the reasons described above, the situation has aggravated and looks bleak, to say the least, for reviving engineering and construction arenas. The problem further lies in addressing the issues since there’s no standard form or format for contracts followed by the industries.

India works with a diverse set of rules and regulations; the construction and engineering departments do abide by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (“FIDIC”) practices, Institution of Civil Engineers (“ICE”) or Indian Institute of Architects (“IIA”) amongst other laws but at times they are zealously negotiated, and hence markets require modified and amended practices for losing uniformity.

In addition to this, there are separate standard forms of contracts that are adopted by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) that overlook the construction of different interstate highways.

There are also separate governing bodies that oversee labourers, such as the Public Works Department (PWD), the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), that explicitly deals with the interconnectivity of Metros across states.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD), coupled with National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), Model Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) are amongst the other contracts that are offered by supporting bodies such as Niti Aayog.

Moreover, only recently has the Ministry of Finance issued various standardised contracts aimed at procuring works that include- item rate and lump sum agreements on behalf of engineering and construction procedures.

The current unprecedented situation has had several adverse implications that have hit both engineering and construction departments. The number of different restrictions put in place won’t help these two arenas much either since they may lead to shortages in terms of human resources, raw materials, lower logistics and inventories for companies.

Professionals enrolled in XLRI project management courses for senior executives can help them in order to deal with these challenges successfully and practically. The calibrations and more refined aspects of these domains need to be understood well in advance for avoiding creating any handicaps in contracting obligations.

Impact of Coronavirus on Information Technology Department

The Covid-19 has spread its tentacles today in the information technology department. The global spread of Coronavirus has resulted in economic hardships for consumers, clients and other stakeholders that are involved with this industry.

The impairment of information technology in the times of Coronavirus have resulted due to a lack of business continuity plans that are bringing down operational effectiveness in these domains.

The establishment of typical contingency plans that are often followed post any natural calamities are set up in order to minimise its after-effects. However, when an unforeseen and out of the blue pandemic spreads across, it becomes hard for companies to deal with changes.

Crisis management and its measures in the field of information technology department require a sound understanding of wading risks and economic failures that crop up in this sector.

Also Read: How Data Analytics will look like Post-Covid ?

The negative implications of Covid-19 in information technology departments can be understood from disruption in supply chains that are deployed by industries, changing workforce norms and preaching social distancing working conditions, challenges coming up in tax and trade in the years between 2020 and 2021, and lastly groping of different elements that undergo financial reporting.

Information technology is a practical field that thrives on conducting live sessions for showcasing new and innovative practices coming through; however, with lesser events, there has been a drop in business opportunities.

Moreover, with fewer sessions, there are far fewer interactions between clients and other IT experts, therefore, leading to non-sharing of ideas and hence the decline of inventions and breakthroughs in this field.

There are several issues that have come up as a result of lack of staffing during the ongoing pandemic that has affected full-time employees, gig workers, drivers, delivery partners, retail staff and contractors, amongst others.

A definitive slump in the recruitment of staff personnel has resulted in an irregular supply of skilled workforce in future corporational pipelines. This also creates a new possibility of cybersecurity threats, with the majority of working professionals being forced to operate from homes.

IT businesses need to be highly aware of the security challenges that make them susceptible to malware attacks, server breaches, firewall hacks, and other IT threats.

As per the supply chains, logistics and operational facets of IT businesses are considered, the slowed and insufficient production has hampered global chains.

The rise of cash flow challenges is testing undercapitalised economies companies that need alternative sourcing pathways. These dying companies need to think of subsidising during the period of crisis to prepare in advance for the next wave.

Since IT firms are on the lookout for seeking robust and actionable strategies for addressing different arenas of remote work, social distancing rules, setting up needs for alternative in-store needs, and other mechanisms, there would be an increase in developer and engineering capacities.

The ongoing Coronavirus has posed several challenges for IT companies, and the lack of a sufficient supply of forthcoming talented and skilled professionals is a primary concern for businesses.

Moreover, with the majority of workers working remotely from home, it opens up a debate whether IT practices are sustainable enough to withstand cyber security threats, malware attacks and various other firewall breaches.

“Goliath” Corona vs “David” Different Domains: How to Win this Battle?

The world has been impaired by the havoc caused by Coronavirus, and it’s safe to say that the pandemic is winning the first round. However, this Goliath vs David battle can have a different ending, and it entirely depends on how well the managers manage and deploy their resources efficiently.

The battle against Covid-19 currently seems to be going only one way, and the aftermath can result in shelling of economies, wiping out the global population and other harmful implications.

But as suggested by Winston Churchill- “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity while an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

These words described above fill one with positivity and shift focus in seeing the opportunity that lies in every challenge. True, this Covid situation is the first time the entire world has been faced with this type of problem but with corrective measures and setting up practical strategies, one can negate any major challenge and hardship.

Also Read: Thriving Post Covid-19: Business Management Skills You can Need

The current VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) problem demands a rational and well-augmented methodology that can assist businesses in maintaining their steady growth procedures in times of utter distress.

There are certain principles of leading in a VUCA world that must be understood prior to getting into the Corona warzone.

Getting credible insights and diving deeper into businesses and their significant components by pursuing an IIM Kozhikode professional certificate program in general management. These well-researched programs offer self-explanatory modules that are intertwined with practical tools that can be leveraged while dealing with challenging situations.

The upcoming legion of new workers who aim to take managerial roles for their aspired career paths must have a solid understanding of how Covid is impacting their future.

Understanding Impact of Covid on Future Professionals

The world moves forward and grows towards better and advanced pieces of machinery, technologies and other salient practices through the transition. The nature of growth is marked by how well the old generations have rendered and utilised resources to do sustainable practices for the oncoming ages.

As the world looms from the glaring losses in human life, economic and capital from Coronavirus, it’s the duty of new and upcoming managers to deal with fire evading measures for dissecting growth opportunities in pandemic times.

The impact and implications caused as a result of Covid-19 have created an atmosphere of uncertainty, non-existent finances, debts and losses. With the third wave set to enter our lives in December of this year, the new and emerging managers need to be well aware of their surroundings.

While there have been a plethora of jobs that had no issues in adjusting to changes, many sectors are not cut out to work from a remote environment. As a result, there are some managerial roles that require dealing with other challenges.

The following section discusses some of the quintessential changes that young managers can experience while performing their duties. It’s no denying that Covid-19 disrupted global markets in 2020, and the entire world is still recovering from its implications.

Business Management and Covid: A Closer Look at C-Suite Executives

Business managers and C-level executives are entrusted with tackling overwhelming, competitive challenges as they continue to swim through the testing waters of Coronavirus.

As per a report concluded by McKinsey and Company, nearly 200 organisations spread across different domains are facing the wrath of Covid-19, with more than 90% experiencing a fallout as they furnish new models for delivering their services.

There have been several other eye-opening insights offered by these companies that are discussed below:-

Almost 90% of company owners and CEOs believe that Covid-19 will fundamentally change how business is conducted in the next five years.

The surveys conducted by numerous retailing companies have shown that 85% of firms are concerned that the Covid-19 crisis will have a long lasting impact on customer’s wants and needs in the upcoming years.

21% of businesses feel that they have the right expertise in place to go with adequate resources and top level commitment to pursue new growth opportunities.

However, the remaining two-thirds of the organisations surveyed hold the viewpoint that the management of Coronavirus will be the most challenging moment of their respective careers.

The management teams are witnessing a shortage of workers and skilled professionals that can join in different capacities. Companies’ financial budgets and cash flows have suffered a blow with not meeting their objectives in the past year and a half. They now find it hard to recruit new employees while dealing with losses incurred over the lockdown periods.

A remote workforce does offer a practical and robust solution for saving money on electricity, water and other amenities. Still, it also poses a challenge in terms of developing technologies and conducting live meetings that are less effective than face-to-face meetings and group sessions.

Also Read: What Future Does Human Resource Management Hold in today’s WFH era?

In the healthcare industry as well, managers and doctors are struggling to keep their finances going and are instead offering virtual support and care that makes it harder for doctors to treat their patients and is a significant cause for the downsizing of economies.

With the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, companies have observed specific fundamental changes in consumer behaviour, supply chains, and routes to market that are knocking companies off balance. This leads to a lack of funding sources and firms going bankrupt with limited resources making them difficult to survive in the calamity.

Considering the finance sectors, managers involved in making major financial decisions have been left wanting against mitigating unforeseen risks, hazards and functional competencies that have compromised their corporate landscapes.

Therefore, there’s more than ever a need for emerging and new managers starting out their careers to scan their working topographies and take necessary action wherever necessary.

Leading and managing in such a tumultuous time frame needs a strong foundation of basic concepts that undergo any managerial and leadership domains.

Enrolling on an online MICA business management programme that can help young learners emerging on the block to get familiarised with key vitalities of these sectors.

What each and every challenge brings is a fair share of opportunities. Businesses might find it hard to see past their struggles, financial incapabilities, reeling economies and dwindling workforce, but they need to bear in mind that in the midst of every storm, there lies an opportunity to make things better and carve out a positive future.

Business Opportunities to Encash on in Times of Coronavirus: Unmasking the Hidden Potential

Growth doesn’t take place from a comfort zone, and hence one needs extrinsic motivators for pushing them further to achieve the unthinkable. The ideology of growth and success are formed as a result of continued and sustained approaches for meeting opportunities, realising what needs to be done and ensuring one stays on track while ticking off boxes.

In the time and space of Covid-19, leaders and managers both need to join hands and act swiftly to optimise their corporation’s resilience.

The success in current working environments is highly dependent on how businesses take on the mantle of managing and inspiring their team members to come up triumphant in grey periods.

The assessment of opportunities in the existing workplace conditions relies on analysing growth related strategies for coming out of economic downturns.

Managers coming up in the current space need to take swift C-suite action and other responsive measures, including stabilising of businesses to create a new future for companies and industries that they need to look after in their professional careers.

The managers need to be aware that given the lopsided in businesses and managerial aspects, they will have to take immediate actions with regards to address both short and long term liquidity challenges and solve costs and profitability measures to facilitate internal growth and turnover for revenues for ensuring success.

Many CEOs, CFOs and other top-tier executives involved in making significant decisions for their organisations need to look after plummeting costs, declining sales and their consumer base for marketing their goods, services and products.

Also Read: Supply Chain Management in the New Era Post Covid

It requires delving deeper and rounding up rudimentary elements that are associated with management. There are lots of areas that managers need to look forward to while developing well-formulated strategies that can help businesses go the distance in the coming years.

Managers need to intervene strategically in their investments and maintain trustworthy working relations between different stakeholders, workers, team members and other staff personnel. Moreover, there will be a need to adapt to new and innovative technologies that bind together people and processes for taking a comprehensive view over their established policies and business plans.

Fortunately for budding managers, there are a number of business management courses available in India that are offered by leading institutes that provide insights, knowledge and a closer look over critical principles, attributes and practices that are required for embarking on a successful managerial journey.

There are several steps that need to be followed in order to develop a future model that can adjust to shifting economies and formulate successful propositions in the international markets.

These cumulative procedures are known to bring in results for businesses along with opportunities that are currently struggling to keep up with their finances, growth patterns, channelising success at global levels and need a revival for bringing in more revenues and ROIs for their firms.

The steps include the following:-

Finding Means to Build Strategic Resilience

Building strategic resilience refers to the aspect of businesses wherein they don’t get mowed over by the challenges and changes that come up due to externalities beyond the control of companies.

It’s a support system for a business’s financial health that can meet challenges and act in an agile and reformed manner for garnering success. As companies recover from the first two phases of the Coronavirus and get ready to face the third wave, they need to set up certain practices that can allow them to withstand challenges posed by Covid-19.

In doing and achieving so, businesses need to seek out and search for opportunities that can help them emerge victorious in their recovery. This involves preparing and conducting an “after-action review” that can collect data and insights for the pandemic and make future strategies that help them take demanding roles.

There needs to be a prioritisation of actions, developments, business plans that need extra attention for coming up with a shared objective that can help in the multiplication of profits and reduction of debts, risks and hazards.

Now is the Best Time to Make Organisational Changes

The introduction of Covid-19 has highlighted specific administrative areas that need to be considered for channelising growth and setting up their firms along with success based parameters.

The influx of new technologies, new pathways, modelling of approaches for tackling challenges, building solid partnerships with key industry owners and business giants, amongst others, can help firms minimise the impact of Covid on their outputs.

Changes in corporational sales based models. Many businesses today have had to adapt the way they market and sell their offerings; this goes for logistics companies that have introduced contactless delivery during lockdown to restaurants shifting to home delivery and pick-up orders to keep up with their revenues and achieve their objectives.

New digital experiences, products, and services need to be developed in response to changes in customer behaviours and wants.

For example, several sports and entertainment venues have shifted to fully digital experiences, by roping in a technology provider that can launch an on-demand fitness offering to capitalise on the category’s surging popularity.

New business partnerships, both within and outside of the industry, need to be developed and preached for the long term sustenance of businesses.

Also Read: Outstanding Tips for Strategic Leadership Amid a Crisis

To understand this better, consider an example wherein an insurance group has partnered with a connectivity provider to develop a virtual clinic, and pharmaceutical companies have teamed up directly with healthcare centres to accelerate vaccine development.

Another great example is of numerous sports leagues that have come in together with software companies to create virtual-reality experiences for sports enthusiasts and keen spectators to change the viewing experience.

Businesses that take these steps, as mentioned above, now will be well-placed to capitalise more effectively on the opportunities arising in the post-COVID-19 recovery and revival of global economies– and to continue winning in their marketplaces with greater certainty and stability.

Ensuring Liquidity in Finances

One way to maximise opportunities for growth is maintaining a liquid flow for cash, monetary gains and funding that is done for creating future projects. Improving and ensuring the excellent liquid flow of finances and money-related practices requires preserving and strategically supplying capital to a business and for its other inherent processes.

Premium financing is a practical way out for dealing with financial struggles that have arisen due to Coronavirus. Businesses need to utilise this strategy for preserving working capital that would have otherwise been used by companies to pay for their pending insurances.

In most of the insurance and premium-based transactions, businesses need a buyer who can make a single payment upfront to come back for a return in coverage over the stipulated time frames.

Moreover, the most significant advantage associated with maintaining liquidity in businesses is that the premium based payment allows companies to prevent meeting several other critical and cash-intensive obligations, which include supply chain expenditures, payroll etc., that may hamper a firm’s growth.

As the financial impairment caused as a result of Covid-19 continues to put a stain over businesses big and small, companies need to look out for opportunities that can minimise risk and hazards.

The general management program online teaches young executives about the core dynamics of managing finances which can be applied in keeping track of payments and expenditures in these domains.

Liquidity cash flow and premium based dynamics are amongst the five critical strategies leveraged by financial businesses today to overcome the Covid-19 crisis and help them stay consistent in markets.

Business managers need to work and collate processes with their financial advisors to assist them with reducing adversities that have crop up as a result of an ongoing battle with Covid.

Moreover, the development and deployment of insurance and risk management strategies that offer liquidity in terms of finances are one of the proven ways for helping businesses come out victorious in these turbulent times.

Winning the War Against Covid: Overcoming Challenges and Seizing Opportunities

The current times have forced businesses to think like real estate agents who are always on the lookout for opportunities and negate every challenge that comes in their way for securing a deal that can help them go on another vacation!

The continuous period has been stressful for industries, retail companies and other small businesses, but once one learns to take positives out of every situation, they can wire their brains to develop workable strategies that lead to expected results.

The plethora of challenges described in the article above shows how Coronavirus has impacted business domains far and wide by disabling their finances, rising unemployment and recurring debts and losses.

However, on the flip side, businesses can encash the opportunities described above for taking their businesses to previous levels and helping them bring on track for growth.

The rise of online education and EdTech during the ongoing saga of Coronavirus has resulted in the augmentation of several online project management courses that can help young learners set out on a path of career success.

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