We are not even halfway through enduring the cascading effects of covid-19 and yet again the intimation of Indo-China border tension rebounds. The tension seems mounting in the entire country, the economy and of course trade and commerce. Every industry is seeing negative ramifications given the covid-19 pandemic with majority of businesses going nowhere. For them to get back on their feet is up in the air. On one hand, survival of businesses amid a funding-deprived ecosystem is questioned and on the other, there is ambiguity over new investments and refills from Chinese investors due to India’s recent change in its FDI policy. Ideally, businesses need to redeploy resources to facilitate a strategy for their survival over the next few months, rather than devising one for progress or viability.

With the virus running rampant throughout the country and the world, the only thing businesses can expect is uncertainty and the need to pivot and persist to navigate the unprecedented challenges. Businesses especially MSMEs and start-ups that have already paid a heavy price owing to the virus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown need to adapt to the new norm to contain the virus. While some of them have begun revamping their operations, several businesses across domains as hospitality, entertainment, travel & tourism continue to record slumps.

The outbreak of covid has forced many businesses to reevaluate their customers' experiences to ensure seamless business continuity

The silver lining is amidst the crisis, there exists an opportunity for businesses to emerge stronger; only if they pivot to seize the right opportunity at the right time. According to a recent industry survey, almost 64 per cent of businesses in India are equipped or are preparing themselves to ride through the ongoing crisis while 3 per cent of small and medium businesses (SMBs) are properly expectant and 39 per cent of large businesses are gearing up to build greater flexibility to the crisis.

Now is the time to act
History has witnessed how the continual long-standing crises has redesigned human views and action. Just like the earlier catastrophes, the covid pandemic crisis is said to open up new doors of opportunities. As the nation-wide pandemic changes things around us today, businesses have found new avenues to stay inundated in the coming times. Some smart business leaders have prioritized their operations as per the new normal; they are supporting their people, clients more than ever, steadying business revenues, realigning their business objectives to enhance growth. Others are geared up to build the competencies by investing in digital, automation, agility to develop stronger capabilities and outsmart the uncertainties.

Other than agility, another favorable aspect for businesses amid the crisis is that of coping up with the changing customer habits. The outbreak of covid has forced many businesses to reevaluate their customers’ experiences to ensure seamless business continuity. It has become the need of the hour for businesses to understand the changing habits of them and reconsider the impact of the existing challenges in terms of how they design and develop their services and products. With new social distancing norms, some businesses are even thinking of introducing contactless delivery services, upgrading existing services and designing new lines of services to serve their customers being at par with the changing market conditions.

It is equally interesting to see that several businesses across different industries are navigating massive workforce shifts to empower employees, customers and create business steadiness. Businesses developing agile employee strategies will be momentous to preserve the economy worthwhile.

These business initiatives will definitely require extraordinary speed and agility and comprehensible degrees of alliance. To make that possible, businesses are already cooperating to keep people employed, engage in joint training programs, and work together to combat the crisis.

Survival of the Fittest
In the face of covid-19, business flexibility has become an important factor for their survival and hence cannot be brushed aside. To repurpose and more importantly bounce back, businesses are leaving no stone unturned to uphold secure operations, acclimatize infrastructures and sustain workforce productivity along with garnering newer approaches to swiftly build up their strength post-crisis.

No wonder, in the coming times, these lessons learnt from the hardships are going to shape their business planning, re-transform strategies and drive their purpose towards contributing to an improved ecosystem. This is the time when businesses will be real-time arbitrated on their capabilities of managing what we call as real business risks, their behavior and calculated choices. Now is the time for them to push the envelope.