How to future proof your business for a post-pandemic world?

In terms of preparedness, the coronavirus pandemic caught most businesses off guard. A sudden standstill in all commercial activities for a major portion of 2020 onwards made it a difficult year for businesses and the country's economy. However, the COVID-19 pandemic was not the first-ever virus outbreak, and scientists fear that it may not be the last either. And now, with the society gradually coming to terms with the pandemic situation, businesses too must adapt to a new reality while also preparing to face future surprises.

Business Continuity Planning is a part of an organisation’s risk management. It ensures that the business continues even in the face of potentials threats and disturbances. Businesses of all sizes and nature should plan their recovery priorities and strategies. For instance, continuing production can be a recovery priority for a manufacturing company, while its support functions can halt temporarily or run on a limited capacity. Besides this, there are a few key aspects all businesses can address to ensure their continuity and preparedness in a post-pandemic world:

Investing in technology – Businesses must invest in technological upgrades as per their requirement. For a small retail store, investing in billing software and digital accounting tools can be an upgrade from manual billing and bookkeeping. HDFC Bank SmartHub, a zero-investment payment collection platform, is one such solution. At the same time, larger corporations can invest in robotics or AI tools to speed up their operations and reduce manual labor dependency.

Businesses need to make tech developments in products and infrastructure to keep up with the changing times. Such investments may require heavy funding, and a collateral-free Business Loan from HDFC Bank is a suitable option. You can avail of a Business Loan of up to Rs. 75 lakhs.

Digital up-skilling – Apart from the infrastructure, a business also needs to prepare its employees for the future. A future-ready employee will be able to efficiently manage remote communications, client servicing, and other business requirements. To ensure this, as a business owner, you need to invest in employee up-skilling initiatives. Just like infrastructure costs, HDFC Bank Business Loan can finance your human resource training and development too.

Agility – The pandemic showed us that businesses need to stay on their toes and must be open to change. Thus, businesses need to adopt a flexible model so that they can transition into a new set-up more efficiently and quickly. The idea is to ensure that your business operations run smoothly in remote execution. And to make this possible, your employees need to have access to all the necessary systems, data, tools, etc., to work remotely successfully. Businesses will have to focus on what will work in the future rather than investing in processes that have worked so far.

Similarly, your products and service delivery should be positioned to meet evolving consumer demands and market patterns. This will keep your production agile and more in tune with changing times.

Customer-centric processes –Since the pandemic struck, more and more customers shifted from physical shopping to online shopping and cash transactions to cashless modes. Therefore, taking your business online is the name of the game. You need to establish a credible online presence and have a strategy to drive sales online and beat your competitors. You must also invest in ways to enhance customer experience. Keep customers as the focal point of your business and adapt to their changing behaviour and demands.

Apart from well-timed business decisions, a business needs to be observant of the market trends and economic conditions to be truly future-proof. With HDFC Bank Business Loans, you can procure adequate funding to make your business future-ready. Our Business Loans are available at competitive interest rates, flexible tenures, and minimal documentation to meet your every business need. Another attractive feature is the overdraft facility, where you pay interest only on the utilised loan amount.

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*Terms and conditions apply. Loan at the sole discretion of HDFC Bank Limited. Loan disbursal is subject to documentation and verification as per Banks requirement.