The Next Normal

Table of Content

What is the next normal?
What do companies need to thrive in the next normal?
Why is digital strategy important as businesses enter the next normal?
How will digital adoption solutions shape the next normal?
How will the next normal impact the workforce?
How will the next normal impact consumers?
How will the next normal impact technology?
Related content

What is the next normal?

“The Next Normal” is a term coined by McKinsey. It is based on the assumption that there is a before and after; the period before COVID-19 and the new normal that will emerge in the post-viral era: the next normal.

Before COVID-19, organizations were undergoing digital transformation, some at varying paces. As we enter into the next normal, digital transformation is no longer a process or future end goal. It is actually a need that will define how organizations will continue to survive in today’s new era.

What do companies need to thrive in the next normal?

McKinsey suggests that in order for companies to come back stronger, they will have to reimagine their business models by focusing on four strategic areas:

Recovering revenue
Rebuilding operations
Rethinking the organization
Accelerating the adoption of digital solution

In addition, organizations will need to reinvent their digital strategy.

Why is digital strategy important as businesses enter the next normal?

Companies will have to do more with less. Having a well-developed plan of how they will implement new digital capabilities and software systems to maximize and scale their business goals is essential.

If companies do not have a comprehensive digital strategy, they run the risk of wasting money on expensive technology without having a clear idea of how the software should be leveraged to achieve their business objectives.

How will digital adoption solutions shape the next normal?

A digital adoption platform can perform crucial functions to help organizations save costs, increase revenue, and mitigate risk.
DAP provides visibility into software spend, and gives actionable insights into what platforms are being used or not. DAP is also an effective training and onboarding tool which can be scaled to accommodate remote workers through contextual in-app guidance and real-time support.

How will the next normal impact the workforce?

Remote work – Pre-pandemic, only 22% of organizations were ready for remote working. This move to remote work means that companies need to have the right technology in place to ensure their employees can effectively work from home and that their customers will be supported. Entering into the next normal, remote work will become common practice.

Onboarding, training, reskilling and upskilling – As processes change and roles shift, companies need to provide the right resources to train employees at scale.
The need to reskill (teach employees new skills for a different job function within the organization) and upskill (learning new skills within the same job function) will rise as organizations change and restructure.

How will the next normal impact consumers?

All types of organizations from retail to restaurants have had to quickly go digital to maintain their customer base, continue their operations and meet the new contactless reality.

Self-service – Customers of all different ages and backgrounds need to be able to confidently and easily navigate a company’s website to make purchases or complete tasks. If a site has poor UX, customers will open a support ticket or become frustrated and leave the site without completing their user journey.

How will the next normal impact technology?

In order to reduce costs and do more with less, companies will start moving to the cloud and scale down, or even eliminate on-premise systems. Companies will also accelerate their digital operations in order to keep up with the next normal reality.