Sustaining business in lockdown is a challenge for many business owners now. Business owners will be very worried about how their company can survive over the next few months. However, though a lockdown means there will be no customers visiting your premises, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stop your business completely.
What it does mean is that you’ll need to think out of the box to come up with income-generating alternatives and make your business agile enough to adapt to your new circumstances.
Situations like this make us realize how fragile our economy is
It is really unfortunate that the fall that we are now witnessing of many industries like IT, RMG, Education, Transport, Agriculture, is just the tip of the iceberg. There is an entire ocean of disaster waiting for us in the upcoming future.
How the lockdown is affecting different industries
According to the recent reports released by the Economist Intelligence Unit on 26 March 2020, the global economy is expected to contract by -2.2% due to the pandemic. These effects are expected to be more evident in many first world countries such as Germany, Italy, the UK, and the US. These are all the countries that are major markets for Bangladesh’s most vital tradeable product- readymade garments or RMG. So business in lockdown is now a big challenge for all of us!
Bangladesh benefitted the most from the outsourcing of RMG export in the year 2019. 84% of the export came from just the RMG sector. The RMG industry is labor-intensive and labor is available in Bangladesh in abundance at a cheap cost.
An industry that was blooming in all its glory is now facing the biggest economic crisis that the nation has faced in decades.
Did you know that the RMG sector alone contributed 34.13 billion USD last year to the total export earnings of the country, which was 11.49% more than in the year 2018? These numbers could have been much higher this year but things are not looking too bright for us.
Speaking of things not being too bright, the otherwise flourishing IT sector is also facing major issues in its business structure just like the rest of the industries. Perhaps a little bit more than many industries. In another survey by BASIS (Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services), many companies predicted that they won’t be able to continue their operation for more than 3 months if everything remains like this.
Remember, this is an industry that has over 95% of people below the age of 35. These are young people who now are at the risk of losing their jobs and starting from scratch all over again.
According to BASIS reports, 24 % of the total IT industry depends on the foreign market. And now that all the modes of transportation at home and abroad are on hold for our own safety, how will this 24% of business in lockdown survive?
Something to think about right?
So now the million-dollar question is, how to sustain your business in lockdown?
The answer is “Technology”!
Moving your business in lockdown to cloud
If you cannot trade from physical premises or face to face, the only way to serve your customers is online. That will mean adding shopping functionality to your website and communicating with your customers using email, social media, and if your budget allows, through cloud-based systems.
To manage all your employees, a well-round HR software like Southtech’s SCALED can be one that really helps your business in lockdown. This HR software allows you to efficiently manage all HR activities and significantly reduce administrative and operational costs. The feature-rich solution consists of 10 modules that oversee a business’s HR operations. At present, the Software is successfully running in organizations that have between 60 – 100,000+ employees.
For retails owners, good POS software can be your answer to all your business questions! Southtech’s EasyPOS can be exactly what you are looking for. During lockdown, monitor your business and personalize your customer experiences with Southtech’s simple and easy to use POS Software, retailers of any size can automate their business operations.
Another great news for the retail businesses, now is the perfect time for you to explore the e-commerce side of the business. You too, can grow your business faster with the right e-commerce platform. This will mean more profit with less investment. We can help you with the expansion of your business with EasyComm – the most complete e-commerce solution.
Back-office, accounting, inventory or sales – EasyComm has everything covered for you! We’ll also help you increase your sales with an engaging e-commerce website for your customers.
If you want the best e-commerce solution for your business, visit our website.
If you don’t already have business social media accounts on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, you would also need to set these up so you can promote your business to a much wider audience.
Bangladesh’s GDP growth in the last few years has averaged around 8%. This growth was taking place just at a time when economic growth in the rest of the world was slowly going down. However, this fast economic growth has been disrupted by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic putting us in a fight or flight mode! Now we are not worrying about where the GDP goes, now we just want to survive each day.
It is important to remember that we are a country that has over 24.3% of people living under the poverty line. These are the people who don’t have the luxury to feed their families when there is no everyday income!
No country is immune to this ongoing challenge. However, for Bangladesh, the challenge is much more difficult. Not only do we have to worry about making sure the virus doesn’t kill any more innocent souls, but we also have to ensure that we don’t have to face any famine after this nightmare ends.
Until then, to sustain the businesses, taking advantage of the technology that is available can be the best possible solution for your business in lockdown!