The new normal is business as usual

Some companies are accelerating their digital readiness and their digital transformation. A smaller amount of companies have slowed or stopped their digitalisation plans, taking the typical wait-and-see approach — but for how long are they going to wait?

For me, it's clear that there is only one way forward. It's time for all companies to onlinify quickly — or they will be left behind and soon be in a hurry to catch up.

For at least a year, people and companies have been in a slow and strange marathon, slowly jogging on towards a day when things would go back to normal and pick up where they left off before the pandemic hit.

But as time has passed and we've adapted our personal and professional lives to the sweeping changes, we're coming to grips with a fact — there is no finish line in sight where we will go back to any normal. This is the new normal, and business is as usual.

The creation of a vaccine was never the finish line, the moment when companies could stop jogging, catch their breath and go back to business as usual. Even when the vaccine is fully distributed, when face masks are no longer needed, and traditional and physical gatherings are safe again, this extraordinary period's impact will continue to affect us.
Companies leaning into the digitalisation and the virtual parts of this business as usual are positioned for flexibility in a world that will never go back to where it was. The companies that believe that we will turn back time and end up in our old comfort zone will be left even further behind.

Now is the time to digitalise and adapt to a business world affected by the pandemically for the foreseeable future. Possibly even forever.
You and your company must acknowledge the long-term impact of this global and extraordinary event! Those who embrace digitalisation put themselves in a leadership position.
The future of companies is digital; this is the new normal and business as usual. Get onlinified!

Learn more about digital transformation

You're probably familiar with the terms digitalisation, digitisation, digital transformation and digital readiness used interchangeably. Still, the fact is there's a difference between them, and to understand what they mean helps you know the state of the current digital landscape.

My colleague Martin has explained these terms in a presentation — you can get it by clicking below.