Since the world first encountered COVID-19 at the end of 2019, life for almost everyone has gotten more complicated. In order to avoid becoming infected with this potentially deadly disease, people have taken extreme measures to stay safe. All of a sudden, we were all thrust into a world where remote work and learning are now the norm, casual human contact is off-limits, and something as simple as having a meal in a restaurant or getting a haircut at the barber are not possible.

For most companies, the need to adjust to the pandemic has been challenging, and oftentimes very expensive as well. While many aspects of our new social-distanced world are annoying at best, (and life-threatening at worst), it might not all be bad.

Let’s break it down:

Airlines & Hotels

FACT: It is forecasted that the industry will not be back to pre-crisis level before summer 2021, at the earliest.

– This makes it difficult (and pricey) for salespeople to visit customers, for service people to assist clients in the field, and for businesspeople to meet with their colleagues in satellite offices and subsidiaries.

+ BUT since the whole world had to adjust to remote work at the same time, it has forced companies to accept sales interactions via the internet. This allows international companies to leverage their global salesforce. Previously, we might not have considered having Employee X join in the meeting because they live in London. But since we’re all using video chat, why not loop her in?

+ The new way of doing business suddenly makes service calls via the internet acceptable; therefore, rendering the physical distance between service providers and customers much less relevant. As a result, foreign companies in the U.S. market are better positioned to leverage the expertise of their geographically dispersed technical personnel.

Social Interactions

FACT: Since we don’t leave our houses as much, we have a greater propensity to buy online.

FACT: Employees are increasing their use of IT platforms for intracompany meetings.

FACT: Beyond work, people are increasingly using IT platforms for social interactions, like Zoom happy hours and coffee chats with friends from across the country and around the world.

– Companies that do not have a strong IT infrastructure and an embedded IT culture (e.g., employees lack the confidence to use IT platforms) will be at a disadvantage.

+ Social distance imposed by new the global context promotes greater social acceptance of internet platforms.

+ Global businesses can better leverage globally dispersed talents.

+ It’s easier (and more economical) to organize lunch and learns and sales meetings using IT platforms instead of traveling.

Is our new COVID-19 world ideal? No. But it can only help to look at the positives that have emerged from our new normal, and to even find opportunity in them.

*If you haven’t already, take a look at our inSite on how (and why) to build business relationships during COVID-19.