In addition to an unprecedented human toll, the Coronavirus crisis has also impacted national economies and business operations all over the world. And nowhere is this more true than in the country of 1.3 billion people – India.
As of 18th May 2020, India is now in ‘Lockdown 4.0’. Thousands of new cases have been detected in metro cities like Mumbai, hundreds have already lost their lives, and the country is inching ever-closer to an economic recession. As far as Indian businesses are concerned, lowered productivity, slashed job numbers and stalled reforms have resulted in the loss of crores of rupees worth of income. Only firms in the FMCG or medical equipment industries seem to be functioning as they did in a pre-Coronavirus world. Everyone else is suffering the effects of the crisis in ways they were totally unprepared for.
To deal with the crisis, large enterprises and multinational firms have the budgets, people and technology to implement agile working options (aka ‘work from home’) with minimal impact to their operational productivity. Many of them had these Plan Bs in place long before the world was hit by the meteor called COVID-19. But for smaller firms, work from home is not a feasible option if it means shutting the office for an extended period of time. Most cannot absorb the significant disruption to their operations since it affects their client work and ultimately their bottomline.
Is there a middle ground between total shutdown (not economical) and business as usual (not feasible)?
Yes there is – outsourcing.
Outsourcing has been around for decades in some form or another. If your firm hires a vendor to take care of a specific process or business requirement, you’re already familiar with outsourcing, even if you don’t call it by that name. The main purpose of outsourcing has usually been to increase efficiency in order to produce higher returns at lower cost. This is true for any firm in any industry. And that’s why outsourcing was and remains such a valuable service for firms of all sizes and in virtually every country.
But now, outsourcing has become more than simply a service to save money. In the midst of the current crisis, it has also become a necessary part of organisations’ ‘toolbox’ in terms of business continuity so they can make money. So if your firm is grappling with the effects of the crisis and struggling to continue business, consider outsourcing parts of your operations to vendors or freelancers (who are still available). We also encourage you to explore technological options to take some of the burden off you and your people. From online meeting places and email applications to project management software and productivity solutions – a number of options are already available to help you successfully outsource some of your operations and still meet your business goals.
As national lockdowns continue and ‘social distancing’ becomes the new normal, COVID-19 is demonstrating how uncertainty can cause upheaval in business and in life. But a combination of outsourcing and technology can help you take your business forward, even in such uncertain times. So if you were hesitant about using these strategies in the past, now is the great time to start.
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