new digitization technique introduced in corporate world post covid era

1. EMERGENCE OF NEW DIGITALIZATION
TECHNIQUES IN ORGANISATIONS IN THE ERA OF
NEW NORMAL
Arunima Hazra
Research Scholar
Department of Management

2. Introduction
• The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19) was first identified from an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed,
allowing the virus to spread worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of
International Concern on 30 January 2020 and a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 17 June 2022, the pandemic had
caused more than 537 million cases and 6.31 million confirmed deaths, making it one of the deadliest in history.
• Many changes were forced upon organisations as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, which were required to maintain the
organization's operations, keeping personnel safe, and preserve motivation, job satisfaction, and organizational
commitment as well.

3. Organization, Employee And The Pandemic
• Unexpected series of events causing a global scale crisis can have a dramatic impact on the employees’ wellbeing . the
situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is guaranteed to take a long-term effect on the psychological wellbeing of
employees, causing cumulative stress for many of them, which will consequently affect performance, a key aspect for
organizations
• It affected the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity within the organisation
• Employees are an organization's most valuable resource, and the company must care for their well-being as well. As a
result, a health calamity such as a pandemic will present a significant challenge to any firm, and it will be necessary to
offset the COVID-19 pandemic's harmful effects on personnel.

4. Organization, Employee And The Pandemic
Three step mode response pattern was found in all over the organizations during and after this crisis:
• Emergency response – using data to understand current status and well-being of the workforce
• Crisis management – how to maintain the provision of critical products and services
• Focus on the future – thinking ahead about how to accelerate post-crisis recovery

5. Issues Faced By The Organizations During The COVID 19
Pandemic
• Affected sectors: The continuity of services during COVID-19 became challenging across the public sector, private sector,
and non-profit sector. Basic services like healthcare, education, government administration, food distribution, and
community services were all impacted.
• Accessibility: Limited access to resources, systems, and manpower (employees), mobility, connectivity , Lack of
information, and technology gaps
• Difficulties in accessing workplace, offices, factories or warehouses
• Work environment : unexpected changes to their work environment, new remote work structures , adopt digital solutions
to ensure service continuity , field work continuation in many sectors specially manufacturing industries

6. Issues Faced By The Organizations During The COVID 19
Pandemic
• HR issues: uncertainty of employment, increased level of stress, pay cuts, shortage of tools for work, technical problems,
longing for the working environment, difficulties in building relationships with colleagues, disturbed work-life balance
• Difficulty in management of legal entities, keeping up with the many compliance requirements
• Difficulty keeping systems up to date, implementation or a reliance on old technology
• Budget constraints, issues in assessing the impact of cash flows
• Customer relationship, ongoing marketing strategies, policies disrupted
• Disruption of Business communication
• Problematic work schedule, flexibility issues in remote working

7. Relevant research questions regarding the technology switch
• What kind of recovery are we expecting?
• What are the key measures we will use as scenario indicators
and triggers?
• What is the financial impact going to be?
• Where are we overstretched? Where are we quiet? How can
we redeploy?
• What will be our ‘new normal’?
• How do we model future business scenarios and
corresponding organizations from where we are today?
• How will we manage workforce supply and demand?
• How do we align our people for the positive impact they
can all make to this transformational change?
• How are our disparate teams and distributed workforces
contributing to the changing demands of the
organization?
• How do we ensure that our workforce feels potent in
their roles/teams as the changing conditions of the
pandemic play out?
So the organizations have faced some series of questions that they should be asking themselves:

8. Research question and Hypothesis regarding the technology switch :
Digitalization techniques and new strategies influence job and organizational performance and retains
sustainability
Research Methodology:
• Questionnaire
• Computer-Assisted Web Interview
• Literature Review

9. The Digital Advantage For The Organization As A Result Of COVID-19
• Agility is the new normal: Building the in-cultural flexibility to change and adapt any course at any point in time. It helps to manage data-
driven insights to act and make decisions faster.
• Advantage to the customer: Mining customer data helps to uncover and monitor the emerging demands of the customers.
• Security Benefit: Organizations have become cautious of cybercrime and resilient to protect confidential information in the present scenario.
• Rise in Productivity: Employees are ready to work in a remote environment. Organizations leverage tools and technology to maximize
productivity while sustaining company culture.
• Efficiency Results: The organizations collaborated with digital technologies to automate manual processes and streamline operations. It
allows for more revenue-generating activities to provide faster speed and less waste.

10. Factors that affected digital initiatives
In the past, digital initiatives and programs have failed due to a few reasons
• (a) lack of business ownership
• (b) limited focus of use cases on core value generation especially in back-of-house topics
• (c) soloed approach to implementation
• (d) inflexible technology & data architecture
• (e) perceived talent deficit in the organization.
While these issues have not vanished, the crisis has forced leaders to use digitization as a non-linear solution to difficult business problems, to be
razor focused on commercial outcomes, to work with the talent they have and to trust the ecosystem (especially smaller technology providers),
and to make bold infrastructure decisions (e.g. rapidly migrate to cloud)

11. Digital Trends Which Are Most Likely To Stay Here For A Long
Time
• Use of On-demand and Online Platforms
• Stockpiling and Bulk-buying
• Increased focus on Health, Safety, and Cleanliness
• Customers focus more on saving and less on spending
• Outsourced IT
• Contactless Delivery
• Self-Service
• Switch to E-commerce
• Digitization of Customer Service
• Remote Work Arrangements

12. Initial workplace measures
A few appropriate workplace measures have been identified that employers can adopt to continue running their operation while
minimizing the risks of community spread of the COVID-19 virus, sustaining productivity levels, thus protecting the business and most
importantly their employees.
• Establish a crisis team
• Ensure safety of employees
• Contingency plans for critical roles
• Split team arrangements
• Flexible work arrangements
• Communicate effectively
So in order to mitigate all the shortcomings by the crisis that has been played out and tentative signs emerge on a post-COVID future,
digitalizing has interestingly become the new normal for many industry leaders, including in sectors which have remained resolutely
analog till date.

13. Initial workplace measures

14. • Organizations that survived the response phase entered the learning phase, where they started “to reimagine their
business models, daily operations, and communication channels” , This is the phase where organizations started
adopting technology-based solutions and promoted responsible behavior through “cashless payments, click and collect
practices, a physical distancing between customer and employee, improved sanitation practices”, and other methods
which varied from one context to the other
• Examples include the increased adoption of telemedicine and digital solutions in the healthcare sector,
• New citizen-led community engagement initiatives by governments , and
• Enhanced mobile ordering systems observed in the food delivery businesses around the world .
• Interestingly, solutions that are effective against the pandemic were adopted more widely by organizations
Initial workplace measures

15. Strategy/Transformation
New strategic opportunities have emerged amidst this crisis, particularly around inorganic growth and also in being more agile in
identifying and executing on the right strategic choices. I see some interesting use cases for digitization to aid strategy setting and
calibration:
 AI-based demand sensing to identify hotspots of demand recovery as well as market lockdowns (across sectors)
 NLG-based augmented BI for actionable insights based on market, customer, internal performance trends (across sectors)
 Strategy Fore-sighting tools to model performance scenarios based on macro external and internal factors (across sectors)
 Transformation management tools to track, collaborate, measure benefits across the inevitable slew of initiatives being
run by each company to stabilize the business (across sectors)
 Deal intelligence tool for insights mined from digital datasets on potential target companies (Private Equity, M&A teams
of conglomerates)

16. Product/Service Management
• Analytics for product innovation/bundling based on usage, competition insights, customer trends (Retail, technology,
telecoms)
• AI-based advisory apps directly providing services to customers ranging from health consultation/investment advice/travel
recommendations (healthcare, financial services, travel)
• IoT and Telematics enabled product tracking as a value-added service to enable origin traceability (food processing,
pharmaceutical, electronics)
• Virtual Design, Prototype, collaboration suite to fast-track product development through rapid customer inputs, distributed
design and crowd-sourced ideas (consumer durables, medical equipment)
• Virtual customer testing (wearables, 3D simulation) to enable remote customer validation and product design iteration
using wearables (consumer durables, automotive, retail)

17. Marketing and Sales
• Real time churn analytics using live transaction data, customer intent information, usage and other digital datasets (common in B2C,
increasing use in B2B)
• AI-based lead generation & prioritization to proactively identify top customers and the right product/service need (B2B –
technology, professional services)
• AI-based pricing factoring dynamic cost changes (material, labour etc.), market trends (competition, sector preferences), internal
price history (B2B – technology, industrial goods, telecoms)
• Livestreaming as a critical marketing tool (at home, by staff, using influencers) to shift customers online and differentiate brands
(retail, food & beverage)
• Hyperlocal digital marketing becoming increasingly important given WFH and increased online consumption (across sectors)
• AI-sales Assistants helping customers (in many cases first-timers) with online purchases (retail) and intuitive run-through of
technical specifications (industrial equipment)

18. Customer Service Operations
• AI/NLP WhatsApp/Social Media transaction engines managing service requests and also selling new product bundles
(retail, technology, financial services)
• Online channels with integrated AI assistants which have been a lifesaver in sectors (industrial goods and automotive)
• IoT-based remote diagnostic tools have been helpful to predict and solve issues remotely (energy, discrete manufacturing)
• AI predictive incident management obviating the need for field service and anticipating customer issues (technology,
telecoms)
• Robo-advisors are seeing higher usefulness and adoption (financial services and retail)
• AI-based NPS predictors given the reduction of regular feedback points/direct customer interaction (across industries)

19. Manufacturing Operations
• Digital DfM (design-for-manufacturing) tools to shorten the design-quote-prototype-manufacture cycle considerably
(industrial, auto, electronics)
• Digital twin for monitoring, simulating and planning for capacity fluctuations (heavy industry, chemicals)
• Delivery robots for contact-less material handling and part delivery (hospitals, energy)
• Autonomous Mobile Robots for material movement on the plant floor and also in warehouses (automotive, consumer
goods, e-commerce)
• VR-based operations management to manage remote machine access and quality checks (power, chemicals, oil & gas)

20. Supply Chain and Procurement
• AI-based sensing of global trends that could disrupt supply chains and serve as an early-warning signal (consumer
goods, industrial equipment)
• Digital platforms for dynamically modelling and re-configuring supply chain assets and networks (retailers,
consumer goods, wholesalers)
• Online supplier marketplaces to connect companies with suppliers for each category to enable quick risk mitigation
(automotive, healthcare)
• Virtual supplier collaboration platforms to work closely with global suppliers on product and cost innovation, and
drive collaborative price optimization (across industries)
• AI-based predictive logistics management to provide real-time ETA visibility and optimize logistics modes/routing
(pharma, consumer goods, auto components)

21. Finance/HR
• AI-based payment risk tool to predict counter-party risks and build risk profiles across suppliers/vendors (across
sectors)
• Connected planning platform to drive data-backed budgeting process with full company-wide visibility (across
sectors)
• Employee engagement platform for top talent retention and remote engagement especially for Agile teams (financial
services, technology)
• Digital learning platforms to rapidly upskill employees to improve ability to redeploy and to pivot roles (across
sectors)
• Employee traceability wearables which can later morph into health management with suitable insurance linkages
(government, technology sectors)

22. IT
• Virtual desktop infrastructure over public cloud to quickly scale WFH compute capacity at reasonable cost (technology
companies mostly)
• Predictive issue management to anticipate and preemptively resolve IT issues to ensure limited downtime (across sectors)
• Agile project tools/digital Kanban outside of agile projects as well for cross-organization collaboration (across sectors)

23. Other initiatives
In addition to the use cases themselves, what has stood out are some of the levers used by companies to rapidly build and
scale digitization initiatives:
• Collaboration: often among similar companies, suppliers and of course technology providers (big to small)
• Investment: dedicated war chests carved out for digital initiatives aligned to top business problems along with VC-style
funding norms
• Rapid up-skilling: often by necessity, trusting and rapidly building digital capabilities of a core group of internal people to
ensure quick digital innovation; use of digital learning tools (Udacity, LinkedIn learning etc.)
• Agile governance: decentralized decision making, control tower with senior leadership involvement to review and de-
bottleneck digital initiatives

24. Digital transformation risks and Challenges
• 1. Digital platforms highly concentrated.
• 2. Intensive data collection raises data privacy and security concerns.
• 3. Digital platforms contributed to insecure work arrangements.
• 4. Rising identity theft and cyber-crime worrisome
• 5. Base erosion and profit shifting a rising concern.
• 6. The region’s e-readiness varies considerably.
• 7. Digital divide can bring about rising inequality.

25. Key priorities to leverage on digital platforms
• Access to ICT: Enhance affordability of and access to ICT
• Payment options: Broaden the e-payment availability and options
• Connectivity Infrastructure: Improve logistics and delivery infrastructure
• Education and Training: Improve digital skills and competence, the use of ICT devices and learning environment, and enhance
digital teaching platforms
• Taxation: Develop digital tax policies and options; strengthen international cooperation for better taxation
• Regulation: Protect consumers against cyber-crimes and fraud
• Prevent illegal activities (e.g., money laundering)
• Enhance cyber security to prevent cyber attacks
• Protect personal data and privacy

26. Conclusion
• The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated telework and digital adoption across sectors and contexts at the meso- and micro-
levels. The acceleration of digitization has transformed the mindset of organizations from “good-to-have” to “must-have.”
Some organizations embraced and adopted digital systems smoothly, while the economic situation forced others to adapt.
However, the pandemic has made businesses and the general public identify the benefits and opportunities of digital
transformation.

27. References
• 1. WHO-Convened Global Study of Origins of SARS-CoV-2: China Part. Available online: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/who-convened-
global-study-of-origins-of-sars-cov-2-china-part
• 2. Murugan, S.; Rajavel, S.; Aggarwal, A.K.; Singh, A. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) in context of the COVID-19
pandemic: Challenges and way forward. Int. J. Health Syst. Implement. Res. 2020, 4, 10–16.
• 3. Worldometer. Available online: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
• 4. Kniffin, K.M.; Narayanan, J.; Anseel, F.; Antonakis, J.; Ashford, S.P.; Bakker, A.B.; Bamberger, P.; Bapuji, H.; Bhave, D.P.; Choi,V.K.; et al. COVID-
19 and the workplace: Implications, issues, and insights for future research and action. Am. Psychol. 2021,76, 63.
• 5. Teleworking during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: A Practical Guide. Available online: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---
ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/instructionalmaterial/wcms_751232.pdf (accessed on 20 June 2021).
• 6. IBM,Deloitte,EY website
• 7. Google