Back to the office?
Fifteen months and a pandemic later and the US economy is reopening to varying degrees. The pandemic isn’t over though, and the next few months will be critical in finally getting to the point that it is controllable around the world. In a global economy no country stands alone, and as long as there are out of control hot spots there’s risk for us all. This is particularly true as more variants of the virus emerge. The point of course, is that the schedule and scope of recovery is still relatively fluid.
Digital Innovation
Digital innovation is the differentiator in the post-pandemic economy. For many years in the tech community we have talked about something called “digital transformation” (DX) or as some call it, the fourth industrial revolution. At its simplest the concept is about shifting your business to use new digital technologies and strategies to modernize business models, business strategies, business operations, customer experience, and workforce experience. On one hand there are disruptive companies that emerged over the past 10+ years as “digital native”, having built their business strategy, model and operations from the ground up on digital platforms. Companies like Uber, Airbnb, Lyft, Stripe, Robinhood and Doordash created a new business opportunity by melding a digital platform with a business platform to solve problems and deliver product/service in a novel way. But the digital natives, as disruptive as they are, are only a tiny part of the business landscape.