One of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on businesses has been a certain distancing from their clients. Clients, who used to be served face to face, have had to be served remotely. This is a trend that had already been started  but because of restrictions, it has taken on a more significant dimension.

It is interesting to note that a MISCO survey has showed that 72 per cent of the population aged 16 years and more stated to have shopped online, up from 64 per cent in pre-pandemic times, that is an increase of eight percentage points. Some do it very frequently, others less so. For the moment it is quite evident that online shopping is restricted to a limited range of goods and services.

However, the likelihood is that social distancing rules and other restrictions designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus, would change customers’ perceptions, attitudes and behaviour in a significant way and in a permanent manner.

Thus the range of goods and services transacted online is likely to increase, creating more opportunities for business to go digital. The move to go digital is also being driven by the widespread usage of social media and the continual development of apps.

In a year or two, we would no longer be talking of e-commerce, because we would have dropped the ‘e’ component. In the new post pandemic normal, e-commerce would become the main method of serving customers.

In spite of this, a number of businesses are still wary of going digital when interfacing with their customers. It is understandable that different population segments react differently to the idea.

Companies going digital will not need to reinvent their business. They just have to adapt

It is also understandable that transactions in certain goods and services will not cross over to digital because customers are not willing to go in that direction.

It is equally understandable that attitudes in certain countries will remain negative towards shopping online. Therefore it will not be plain sailing as each business will need to assess the true potential of going digital. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Then there is another element to factor in. Businesses may be fearful that going digital may be disruptive for their business. It does not need to be the case. It would be transformative by all means, but it does not need to be disruptive.

The ultimate objective will remain, as it has always been, to serve the customer in the best possible way. So the philosophy to meet the customers’ needs, exceed their expectations and delight them will need to remain firmly in place. What would need to happen is to use IT tools to achieve this. The company’s unique value proposition would not change. For this to happen, going digital cannot be the exclusive domain of IT but becomes a strategy to be embraced by all.

It needs to be constantly kept in mind that going digital is not about technology, but about the customer. If we lose sight of the customer, there is no point in going digital.

Another reason why businesses may be fearful of going digital, is the investment that is perceived to be required, while there is little to no visibility of the upside. This fear is grounded in the mistaken perception that going digital would mean throwing out the old to make space for the new. Admittedly, in certain respects, we would need to unlearn the old things before we learn the new things.

However, this would be an evolutionary, incremental process. To go back to the point I started off with, customers will still have the opportunity to be served face to face, and so digital will not replace the physical interaction with customers. It will be a case of blending both channels to keep on serving the customer in the best possible way.

As such, companies going digital will not need to reinvent their business. They just have to adapt, just like we all personally adapt our lifestyle to changing circumstances. The skill to adapt would make sure that going digital would not be disruptive but transformative.