The Post-Pandemic World: Silver Linings for Business

“Out of Adversity Comes Opportunity.” – Benjamin Franklin

At the beginning of the year 2020, no one had the faintest idea of the paradigm shift it would bring in the business world. On one end the pandemic crashed in-person businesses but on the other end, it opened a world of opportunities. One of the most dramatic changes caused by the pandemic is the acceleration of digital transformation across all sectors. As consumers massively adapt to the pandemic life by adopting the online platforms for their entertainment, shopping, education, health & fitness, there unravelled a gamut of business opportunities.

The year 2020 started without any warnings of what will take effect in the Business World. It had a massive impact wherein a lot of business closed, retrenched and has been struggling up until today but on a slightly brighter note, it opened a world of new opportunities and possibilities amidst all of the challenges the humanity has faced. One of the most dramatic changes caused by the pandemic is the acceleration of digital transformation across all sectors. As the consumers massively adapt to the “New Normal”, several online platforms dominated to consistently sustain our lifestyle such as entertainment, shopping, education, health & fitness and an unravelled a gamut of business opportunities.

 

OTT

OTT is an acronym for ‘Over-the-top’. It means television or film content is delivered over the internet bypassing the necessity of traditional cable tv or satellite tv subscription services. Here the term ‘Over-the-top’ signifies the delivery of the content as per the choice of the customer over the top of the currently used internet services.

In recent years OTT gained huge popularity due to its wide variety of content, that can be personalized. It offers a video-on-demand service. Above all, it can be accessed from any device at any place & at any time.

The Pandemic accelerated the already booming OTT industry across the world. Lockdown, social distancing, and home quarantine caused by the pandemic left people no choice but to get stuck indoors with a limited options of entertainment. Also, transitioning from traditional TV to OTT did a very smooth process.

The catalyst factors that led to this shift include:

• Increase in broadband penetration and 5G network during the pandemic due to necessities created by remote work, online education & online shopping, etc.
• Increasing smartphone users around the world. 62 % of the global population, which means around 4.78 billion people are mobile users, out of which 3.8 billion are smartphone users.

As per a global market research report, the value of the OTT market was 101.42 billion in 2020 and may reach up 223.07 billion by 2026. This market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 13.87% from 2021 to 2026.

This means that OTT will prove to be a highly profit-generating business opportunity.

 

E-LEARNING

E-Learning or electronic learning is a form of training via electronic devices connected to the internet. 

E-learning is chosen over traditional brick-and-mortar learning for its aspects like the convenience of studying at anyplace & anytime at one’s own pace, access to extensive & updated resources, affordability, scalability and, a wide range of specialization, etc. These benefits are the reason why e-learning is gaining huge popularity not only among academic students but also with the employees who want to enhance their occupational skills, update their know-how in their work field, and advance in their career.

E-Learning has been way advance over the traditional and conventional brick-and-mortar learning for the advantages it offers such as the convenience of studying anytime and anywhere at everyone’s comfort, affordability, scalability and a wide range of specialization. These benefits are the reason why e-learning has gained huge popularity not only among academic students but also with the employees who want to enhance their occupational skills, update their know-how in their work field, and advance in their career.

Pandemic fastened the growth of the E-learning industry due to its safety and less risk factor. Schools, offices, shops took advantage of the E-learning industry for the sustainability of its customers and business owners. The global e-learning market is anticipated to grow up to $336.98 billion by the year 2026 with a CAGR of 9.1% from the year 2018 to 2026.

The e-learning industry has gained huge momentum because of the pandemic which secures its profitable future.

 

AI

AI or Artificial intelligence is the most recent form of technology that makes these man-made genius machines do those tasks that can be carried out only by human intelligence.

AI played an enormous role in the medical field all through the pandemic by offering an early warning, precise prediction of the infection rate, global real-time disease monitoring, quick decision-making in identifying the right treatment, drug discovery, etc. The covid-19 pandemic accelerated the implementation of workplace automation. AI helped several businesses function when there was high workforce absenteeism & social distancing due to the fear of contracting coronavirus.

With more & more industries and businesses embracing AI for their work, the AI industry is likely to flourish in the coming times.

The world-wide AI software market is expected to go through rapid growth, about 126 billion USD by the year 2025.

AI has wide applications in diverse fields like healthcare, fitness, travel & tourism, entertainment, education, manufacturing, e-commerce & retail, etc, thus offers a gamut of business opportunities.

 

FITNESS APP

Fitness apps or mobile applications are designed and developed for helping the user achieve their fitness goals. These apps help with setting fitness goals, keeping track of calorie intake, workout ideas & guidance, tracking progress, etc.

Pandemic affected the fitness industry immensely. Due to fear of coronavirus disease and social distancing gyms, sports, and fitness centers were closed. This resulted in more and more people seeking an indoor alternative to their fitness routine with mobile fitness apps. During the first quarter of 2020, there was a 42.88 % increase in health and fitness app installation.

AI-based fitness apps offer personalized training & guidance while monitoring the accuracy & pace of the exercise. These apps are effective, and also offer the convenience of doing workouts from any place at any time. During the post-pandemic times, fitness app will rescue people who want to be fit but have hectic schedules & time shortages.

This market valued about USD 4.4 billion in the year 2020 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 21.6% from 2021 to 2028.

 

E-COMMERCE

E-commerce or Electronic commerce involves buying or selling goods & services via the internet.

The shutdowns and travel ban in most parts of the world made people seek and make use online media for their shopping. As per IBM’s U.S. Retail Index, the pandemic fast-tracked the shift from retail to e-commerce by about 5 years. The other factor for this huge growth is the increase in internet penetration during the pandemic.

The worldwide e-commerce market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 14.7% from the year 2020 to 2027.

E-commerce offers a wide variety of scope to do business such as home products, online foods, and groceries, clothing and apparel, healthcare products, educational products, etc. Although E-commerce is a profitable business in the coming times, it demands the implementation of innovative ideas to be successful. E-commerce has sustained everyone’s lifestyle amidst the pandemic thus making businesses even more profitable since people slowly get used to not going out.

 

BLOCKCHAIN

It is a system of keeping digital records of data secured, transparent, and decentralized so that it cannot be changed, falsified, or hacked.

By the use of Blockchain, information is collected and grouped in blocks.

Here information is collected and grouped in blocks. (By the use of Blockchain, information is collected and grouped in blocks.) When the storage capacities of these blocks are full, they are chained on the earlier filled block, thus a chain of blocks is formed which is identified as a blockchain.

It offers limitless possibilities & solutions to diverse industries thus has generated a lot of interest over the past years. Due to the pandemic, companies are operating from home while being accessible to their customers. But they are facing many challenges with their digital operations. Blockchain technology is immensely helpful in easing the difficulties of operational method changes caused by the pandemic. Thus, the pandemic has surged Blockchain technology applications.

The worldwide market size of this industry is anticipated to grow from US dollars 3.0 billion in 2020 to US dollars 39.7 billion by the year 2025 at a CAGR of 67.3%.

Blockchain technology offers immensely profitable business opportunities in a wide variety of fields like Banking, Healthcare, IoT, Insurance, Electoral Voting, Online Advertising, Cloud Storage, Stock Trading, Real Estate, etc.

 

CHATBOTS

The chatbot is the latest trend of any Industry that needs interaction with customers for its operations and marketing.  Chatbots are virtual assistants that simulate real customer interaction via apps and websites. This is most importantly cost-cutting and profit-generating opportunity for wide sectors of Industry like retail, e-commerce, banks, healthcare, hospitality and tourism, online groceries, at-home services, food delivery service, and many more. Unlike a real human, a chatbot offers 24/7 customer support, creates lead generation, helps with marketing and selling of products, etc. Near 47% of Consumers across the world prefer chatbots for purchasing products.

The value of the global chatbot market can grow up to USD 1.25 billion by the year 2025 at a CAGR of  24.3 % which proves that this business has high profitability in the future.

 

DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital marketing has everything to do with marketing products or services on the electronic platform – which includes both online and offline media. The 9 major forms of digital marketing include:

1. TV, Radio, Telephone & E-billboard
2. Content Marketing
3. Social Media Marketing
4. Mobile Marketing
5. Pay Per Click
6. Affiliate Marketing
7. Search Engine Marketing
8. Viral Marketing
9. Email Marketing

The pandemic has positively surged this industry. The worldwide digital marketing market is worth about US dollars 305 billion this year. (Upon my research, amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Digital Advertising & Marketing estimated US$322.5 Billion in the year 2020 source : prnewswire.com)

This industry is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 17.6% in the duration of 2021-2026.

This year, the digital advertising segment is anticipated to have a market value of 398,762 million USD. The largest segment of digital marketing is search advertising which is expected to have a market value of USD 171,641m in the current year. Digital marketing is undoubtedly the most profit promising industry in the coming years.

 

IoT

IoT or the Internet of Things has a wireless system of a device that has an internet connection as well as interconnection with other devices to transmit & receive data with each other.

The pandemic played a huge role in speeding up the application of IoT in business operations. As pandemic led to self-isolation globally, the companies had to look for ingenious solutions to keep their business running in the life-threatening times. As a result, companies took the support of IoT for their remote working operations.

Due to the pandemic, the international market of IoT is anticipated to grow from the current value of US dollars 150 billion to 243 billion at a CAGR of 13.7%.

The key benefits of IoT include cost reduction, business transparency, remote operations, automation of processes and is particularly getting popular in the Healthcare, Manufacturing Industries, and Retail industries.

 

WEB DESIGNING & DEVELOPMENT

Web designing involves the creation of the layout and visual features of a website whereas Web development is about developing the functionality of a website.

With the growth of different technology web designing and development has gone through the metamorphosis from the everyday website to a website with highly interactive features, responsive web elements, voice user interface, etc.

As the world becomes more dependent on Digital, a website plays a big part and says a lot in terms of the business’ element.  Without a website, any business will face challenges in terms of visibility, brand awareness and profitabilityThis was the scenario long before the pandemic. With the restrictions caused by the pandemic, the brick-and-mortar business is left with no other option than to move online. With this being said the scope for the web designing & development industry is growing at a faster rate.

The latest research mentions that this industry will grow from US dollars 131 billion to 295 billion from the year 2020 to 2025.

Surely the pandemic won’t be there for a lifetime but the ‘New Normal’ it has created during and even on the post-COVID19 era could be permanent. There is “no going back.”  Companies that understand and who are well-adapted to this fact are sure to find opportunities for high profitability, sustainability and growth. Thus there is such thing as Post-Pandemic : Silver Linings for Business.