I have always found myself an interested observer of other businesses and business models. I guess it's the entrepreneur in me—what a time to be watching what others are doing with their company. From crisis to calm, some are in their busiest season ever while others are shutting their doors. I find a majority are in the middle. They are weathering this storm, and those that learn to leverage this time will come back stronger.
Recently I observed a fast food restaurant near my house, shut down for months for remodeling, inside and out.
I would drive by and wonder how they could close down their business so long without any sales—no drive-through, no dine-in, nothing!
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a big banner at the restaurant announcing, "NOW OPEN." Talk about horrible timing. They opened back up amid the Coronavirus pandemic and the strict restrictions on the restaurant industry. If only they had known what was to come, I would imagine the owner would choose to wait until now to shut down for remodeling.
Upgrade Your AV Technology Now
It made me think about my own business, and many of the companies we engage with on a day-to-day basis. Here we are in unprecedented times. Many of our offices sit nearly empty, with employees only going in to perform minimum basic operations.
For many, this is by no means downtime, but your office space is probably a little less busy than usual. Your conference rooms perhaps sit empty. How are you capitalizing on this opportunity? Will you be able to handle the hybrid work world we are getting ready to enter? The way I see it, this is the perfect time to begin looking at implementing necessary technology upgrades.
COVID-19 Impacts and the AV Technology Solutions
There is no question that this pandemic will change the way we do business; the question is how your company will embrace it? Some businesses are already digitally agile, so there will be minimal technology adaptations. For others that survive the pandemic shutdowns, it will require fundamentally changing day-to-day operations.
This change will be difficult for some businesses. Here at Smarter Systems, we're still fully operational, supporting audiovisual technology needs. Many of our sales and office staff are working modified schedules from home, with a few having limited time in the office. That means we can still assess and design for projects. We are considered an essential business supporting our community and partnering with our clients to provide the very best in technology, enabling you to collaborate virtually.
Now is the time to prepare your business. Use this downtime in your conference rooms to reassess your AV technology solutions. Making upgrades to your technology falls into the "building maintenance" category as an exemption to the stay at home order. Moving forward now will allow minimum disruption to your teams as they transition from working from home to back in the office. Imagine being all set and ready to go without taking your meeting spaces out of commission for installation.
What will you do with this opportunity? Let my team of distance collaboration technology experts guide you in upgrading your meeting space technology to enable your spaces to collaborate at a distance in this new normal. Don't close your metaphorical restaurant now; do the work now, so when the restrictions lift, you will be thriving.
