A new normal: How businesses are preparing for post COVID-19

A deserted Kigali downtown bus park during the current COVID-19 lockdown. Businesses are bracing for a new normal once the lockdown has been lifted. / Dan Nsengiyumva.

By

Julius Bizimungu

The world knows little about when the new coronavirus pandemic will recede, and there is currently little evidence that this will happen any time soon.

However, businesses, most of which have been forced to send employees home or change their ways
of working, are starting to think about how they will get back to work.

 

What seems to be apparent is that there’s a growing realisation that there will be no return to normality in the immediate future.

 

So what are immediate measures that companies will take either post lockdown, and when the world finally manages to put an end on the pandemic?

 

Robert Bafakulera, the Chairman of the Private Sector Federation (PSF) says business will first and foremost abide by the rules and guidelines set by public health experts.

“What’s clear is that many things will change, either the way we operate or people access certain things (products and services),” he says. “In the medium term businesses will follow guidelines to protect employees who will have been allowed to go back to work. Water facilities and hand sanitisers, for instance, are things workplaces will need.”
The lockdown, which has been in place since March 21, is expected to come to an end on Thursday, April 30, but President Paul Kagame said that rushing to fully open the economy poses a risk of undoing the gains made in the fight against the pandemic.

So, lifting the lockdown is expected to be a phased approach.

Andre Gashugi, the Chief Operating Officer at Rwanda National Investment Trust (RNIT), notes that corporate companies, businesses and other workplaces will be guided by overriding concerns for the health and economic well-being of their people.
“We have already experimented with different ways of working, so we expect that employees will not go back to work at the same time and employees will principally prioritise health protection of the workforce,” he says.
This, he adds, means availing things like face masks and sanitizers to employees.
The spread of the coronavirus has demonstrated how not knowing in detail about health issues and concerns in any part of the workforce can lead to disaster everywhere.
That understanding is especially critical for companies with many people, where anyone can become an incubator spreading disease.

This was the experience of a Boston company that held a strategic planning meeting in late February for around 175 of its executives from all over the globe.

The executives went to other conferences in other places, meeting other executives from other companies.
Since then, more than 100 virus cases have been tied to that strategic planning meeting.
Post COVID-19
At the end of the day, when lockdowns across the world are lifted, all people will go back to jobs at retail stores, factories, distribution centres, offices, government buildings and other workplaces.
There’s already an understanding that things will never be the same as the pandemic will have changed the world order.

Bafakulera, whose business empire spans logistics, hospitality and trade in fast-moving consumer goods, admits that business activities could be done differently in the long run.
“There is a possibility that some people who were sent home may not come back, because businesses will have learnt to pursue things differently,” he said, highlighting that some business aspects will go online.
At the time of speaking, the businessman told this paper that he had finished a meeting with different transporters in the country that focused on ways to digitize some of their operations.
“In the near future, customers who need trucks may not necessarily need to travel to come to your office, they may request and pay online,” he said.
He believes the time people use to commute to work or other places looking for services may be used productively from home to deliver. This, he says, could increase business efficiency if done well.
Firms like RNIT are already operating digitally.
“Our daily reports on net asset value per unit are now computed by our accountants who work from their homes. We never knew these are things we can do from our homes,” Gashugi notes.
Going forward, he adds, people might not be judged by what time they register at work in the morning but by how much they deliver whether working from home or office.
Digital transformation
Diane Karusisi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Kigali (BK) believes digital transformation is going to drive banking practices.
“The move to cloud computing will also accelerate so all IT operations, maintenance will be done remotely,” she says.
Companies like BK are preparing for that future.
“We are already working on a remote work policy for some functions,” she notes.
Karusisi highlights that only services related to cash will have to remain in the branch and “we are devising how we review our workplace after the lock down to comply with social distancing measures.”

That is quite something that many firms are envisioning generally.
However, Celestin Rwabukumba, the Chief Executive at the Rwanda Stock Exchange argues that a lot of adjustments will be made before companies rush to change ways of working.
“If we are talking about going online for example, there is no sustainable digital infrastructure and the internet is just not bearable. It is too early to believe that things will change right away,” he says.
He believes services that were meant to migrate online will find it easy to do so as opposed to those engaged in production like manufacturing firms, as well as those in tourism and hospitality.
Rwabukumba suggests significant investments will be required by companies and businesses looking to change the ways of working.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com