History stands witness to the rise of innovation in business during times of crisis. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com was born during the upsurge of the SARS epidemic when shopping from offline retail stores dwindled to a minimum. Even the 2008 recession saw new ideas such as ride-sharing and apartment sharing to reduce per capita cost. We are now attuned to the likes of Uber and Airbnb. But going down memory lane will unravel the crisis that brought to light such innovation to the forefront. Founder of a global management consulting firm that serves private, public, and social business sectors, Jake Tayler Jacob helps clients with growth in the areas of revenue, team training, automation, and marketing to ensure long term viability. Jake shares some of the insights on the future of entrepreneurship post the pandemic.
The future belongs to innovative business models
A public health scare of Covid-19 scale causes economic as well as psychological disruption. This leads to an inflection point where businesses try to outmaneuver the existing systems and processes to survive the crisis. If we believe in history repeating itself, then Covid 19 is also expected to bring massive transformation in businesses unthought of before. A recent study of more than 50 startups showcases the potential of innovation that crises like this have on emerging and existing businesses. According to Jake, the rise of online education is inevitable even post the Covid-19 vaccine is out. As the business model has proved to be moderately successful and students have adapted quite well learning from their laptops and tablets, this sector will become a mainstay in education. The use of technology was more like a facilitator that helped students learn better. The pandemic has turned technology into a lever to impart, assess, evaluate, and improve students' learning curves. Another change that will set firmer foot in almost all businesses is the power of automation. Though automation has been the buzzword for more than a decade now, yet its capability to replace existing businesses that were operating successfully through manual processes has never been more realized before this pandemic. Thirdly, the mode of entertainment is expected to rebound with online streaming apps being used and enjoyed by movie buffs and series lovers. With movies premiering over OTT and flat screens dominating almost the majority of middle-class households, the need to go to theatres will be relegated to just an experience rather than a desire to catch up on the latest release. With data science governing the audience preferences, OTTs have been quite a hit to provide stress-relief doses with the most appropriate recommendation as per an individual's history of viewership.
There is also a rapid transformation undergoing the supply chain ecosystem. Emerging players that incorporate new-age technology such as IoT, robotics, and blockchain to recreate a more advanced, connected, and well-coordinated supply chain ecosystem are bound to thrive in the post-Covid world. Ecommerce giants are partnering with such supply chain solution providers. Even the after-effects of remote working and isolation have created a niche for mental health apps that addresses your immediate needs by providing adequate support at scale.
Next steps
Jake is well-positioned to provide consultancy to emerging tech firms to become a competing and emerging finance, tech, and business development consulting firm. " We are engaging with small business owners daily and can offer them solutions they need at a faster pace than these larger firms,” says Jake on how he is offering turnaround solutions to emerging businesses.