Managing Your Business 24/7 During Times of Crisis– the New Normal?
‘Alone Together’ is the new phrase of the time, yet in many ways,
we are all connected more than ever during times of crisis. Once you know your family is safe and cared for in times of major upheaval, then how do you know your car wash business is as well? Under the designation of ‘essential business’ (car maintenance), many car wash owners are running in full operational mode, or at least in some limited capacity, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The same holds true for many other businesses, large and small across diverse industries. To be successful, we all need technology and real-time information to manage our business operations 24/7. The use of the right mobile tools and technology actually provides us the capability and independence to manage our businesses more successfully in both good and challenging times. In the current environment, it is more important than ever for many diverse industries, and moreover, it just makes good business sense. For example:
- Healthcare – smart technology enables doctors to monitor patients while at home, increasing the access to care while decreasing costs and provides doctors real-time medical data and alerting if the patient needs immediate medical attention.
- Car Washes and Distributors – mobile technology provides real-time alerting for critical systems and chemical levels, provides chemical analytics and allows for social distancing while remaining fully operational for customers.
- Manufacturing and Supply Chain – industrial IoT technology can provide remote monitoring capabilities to monitor critical parts of the manufacturing process as well as the cargo tracking and field services aspects of end-to-end manufacturing.
According to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) recent survey, a majority of manufacturing leaders believe there will be significant economic and operational impacts of COVID-19, and anticipate the need to adapt operations accordingly. https://www.nam.org/manufacturers-survey-reveals-current-industry-impact-of-covid-19-7411/
In this period of isolation and social distancing, it can be easy for business owners across all industries to feel a loss of control over business operations and of maintaining their customer connection. At the same time, sometimes the greatest lessons are learned when we are most challenged when periods of severe uncertainty force us to examine our business model and ways to improve our processes and procedures – that we can also apply during times of normal operations.
Regardless of whether we are in a ‘shelter in place’ situation or not, it is best to ensure your business is updated to support a mobile working environment, says The Balance Small Business, by:
- Creating a mobile office that allows you to work productively from anywhere.
- Using your smartphone and select apps that sync with the cloud to stay connected when you are remote. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-technology-in-small-business-2951633
We should all use this period as a wake-up call, to look at our own businesses with a fresh perspective. How might technology that allows 24/7 monitoring, real-time alerting and analytics boost your business to the next level?
We all hope the Coronavirus pandemic is over soon. Will your business be prepared for the next crisis? And for the next opportunity?
