Business View Civil and Municipal | May 2021

15 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL MAY 2021 I t’s been about a year since the COVID-19 pandemic changed our work and home lives almost overnight, but the effects are likely to linger for years to come. Managing your company’s business records can be a complex and time-consuming process. Whether managing contracts, paying bills, or tracking client and customer records, efficiency matters, especially for employees inundated with a wide variety of tasks. When COVID-19 hit, managing these records became more complex than ever before with the need to move many employees to a remote work environment. The pandemic shifted your customers’ preferences and concerns, and your business needs to shift to remain relevant in the future. The Pandemic Shifted How We Do Business Though they argue over which changes will be temporary and which represent a fundamental shift for humanity, mental health experts virtually all agree that this pandemic will have far-reaching consequences. Psychologists warn that the emotional effects of the pandemic may linger for years to come, resulting in a general reluctance to engage in face-to-face encounters when digital options are available. After months of masks, sanitizers, social distancing, and relative isolation, we now prefer to maintain some distance between ourselves and others whenever possible – especially when doing business. Between the pandemic, lifestyle habits and the ability for consumers to “shop” for almost anything online, there’s more pressure on businesses to provide customers with digital experiences. What does a digital customer experience mean today? That definition has changed from a mere year and a half ago. Ask yourself the following questions to assess your readiness to switch to electronic processes and automation: • Can your customers and vendors review contracts online? • Do you still email documents back and forth or use online file sharing applications (i.e. Google Automation is the Future for Most Businesses By: Christina Robbins, Director of Strategic Communications, Digitech Systems, LLC