The bigger, better digital world ahead
We in Canada, along with the rest of the world, are barely a few weeks into what now appears to be an extended shutdown of normal life and normal business because of COVID-19.
No one knows for sure when it will end. Some people, including U.S. President Donald Trump, are speculating about the end of April. Most medical experts think it will be more like June, although some restrictions may be eased before that. Events, including the Tokyo Olympics, that were scheduled for the summer have been cancelled. There’s no accepted timeline for a return to “normal.”
However, let me pose the question: When this crisis is over, will we ever be back to the “normal” we knew prior to COVID-19?
Most experts are already warning us that the world will instead look very different. There have been comparisons to the Second World War and its aftermath in terms of both the magnitude of fight that will still be required to secure victory and the vast changes that will result.
I’m not planning another scare story here. There’s enough rumour and misinformation out there already.
But there are also signs of what’s ahead. Take, for example, this article in The Globe and Mail with the headline: 'The education world has been turned upside down’: Online learning may reshape the classroom. On a much broader scale, take a look at what 34 of the world’s deepest thinkers say in this article from politico entitled Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How.
What does this mean for you and your business or organization?
First of all, don’t panic. Find a way to survive.
But start thinking soon about the medium term as we order groceries and other essentials online for home delivery, and work from home and stay in touch with our friends via videoconferencing or other digital tools. Some of the changes we see now will be permanent, not temporary. The world will be more technology-dependent, and we will rely more on doing things via digital.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of what each organization should do next. However, I’ll be offering some thoughts on that in future blog posts, including:
Does dog-eat-dog replace globalization?
What if schools are closed next year, too?
If your business or organization needs advice on how to cope with the post-COVID world, my consultants and I are ready to offer our decades of expertise in all things digital to help see you through the crisis.
