Many organizations today are realizing they can make few rock-solid assumptions about how the business will operate post-pandemic and what the market will look like.

“Firms are already coping with a near-instantaneous disruption of the norm, they now must confront the reality that there is little likelihood that the future will be like the past,” says Steven Frieder, President of the Americas at Adobe. “This has paralyzed some organizations with uncertainty, but others view the disruption as an opportunity.”

For example, interesting new opportunities are emerging that provide an opening to improve efficiency, increase revenue, or gain share as we move forward. Some of the more notable examples of change and the opportunities they may offer include:

• The increase in digital interaction with customers will benefit brands. As customers go digital, brands will be able to improve the amount and depth of unique customer information they can gather, enabling them to better personalize future outbound and inbound efforts. In addition, as more of the customer experience happens digitally, putting together a more comprehensive customer profile is possible.

• Virtual and remote work can drive productivity. When the pandemic first hit, many organizations scrambled to implement broad “remote work 1.0.” The winning firms will take the next step to remote work 2.0 and use virtual and remote work to expand their talent pool, improve the employee experience, and better serve customers.

• Data privacy and protection efforts will need to take a big step up. Information is the lifeblood of a digital business, but when it gets outside the corporate network, risks ensue. Firms that can deliver all the necessary information to any worker anywhere will have an advantage over those that can’t. The good news is that as the focus moves to secure remote/virtual work, employees will benefit from more secure home infrastructure as well.

• Automation will move out of the factory and into the workplace in new and exciting ways. AI and machine learning provide the foundation for automating rote or low-value tasks that are often done manually. Companies making the move to these technologies will not only reduce costs but will also be able to respond faster to market and customer demands.

• Better execution of the virtual event concept will be developed. Virtual events may have increased in frequency but they use technologies that have been available for some time. That pedestrian approach won’t work for long. New technology platforms with a better experience that mimics what an organic group interaction is like will be a huge area of investment. It may take a few quarters, but by the middle of 2021, virtual events will be very different from what they are today.

According to Frieder, “the negative aspects of the pandemic are impossible to ignore. However, as organizations move forward, they must grasp the opportunities that are being presented. Many of the changes in how we do business offer the chance to improve efficiency, raise revenue, and deploy new business processes that enable the firm to stand out from the competition.”

It’s incumbent upon management teams to utilize the opportunity and position the business for future success. For more information about moving forward during this difficult time, check out this important information.