After ten months, the COVID-19 pandemic is still wreaking havoc on the Australian economy. As the Federal and local governments make significant interventions to curb the spread of the virus, businesses and other sectors have had to adjust on how to deal with their employees, customers, and suppliers. However, these adjustments and adaptations could have gone faster if blockchain technology were already in place.
The pandemic is certainly challenging operations and financial outcomes. But the pandemic has also forced businesses to develop creative ways to stay in touch with employees, customers, and associates. Technology is playing an important role in these difficult times. It is connecting people for work meetings, reminding workers of deadlines, and helping to keep businesses afloat even in this crisis.
THE AGE OF WORK FROM HOME
The pandemic has forced many employers to see that working from home can be highly productive after all. This also increases options for people with children, and the juggle on childcare is now lesser than pre-pandemic years. As mentioned earlier, technology plays a large part in the work from home flexibility wherein all work can be done and submitted online, and the lines of communication are always open. This would not be the case had COVID-19 caused a pandemic in, say, 1980.
Before the pandemic, Australia companies were estimated to only have 13% of people working from home. Post covid those figures have increased to 68%, as many companies introduced a mandatory work from the home protocol.
Its believed that many companies are rethinking their traditional work environments and allowing many employees to continue working from home. Here are some of the benefits of working from home.
- Increased productivity
- Reduced operational cost
- Improved employee retention
- Access to a wider pool of talent
- Employee health and wellness
The work from home concept is definitely not new and numbers were increasing pre covid, but it is believed that many companies have seen the benefits and will continue to explore working from home strategies.
AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY DISRUPTED
Despite some positives that surprisingly appear now and then to raise the economy, it is undeniable that the worsening pandemic has a negative effect on the Australian economy. The most hard-hit during the first months of the lockdowns was the supply chain, causing some food and other commodity shortages in markets and groceries. Ongoing travel and tourism restrictions have entirely hindered growth in this sector.
Rising Unemployment, Companies Going Out of Business
The disruption of consumer demand and business supply has also weakened demand across most industries. Fears of rising unemployment and economic uncertainty have lowered consumer spending. Many businesses have closed, been abandoned, or postponed investment to retain cash. Supply chain disruption in foreign markets has also dampened economic growth.
THE CHANGING WORLD OF BUSINESS
Because of the changes occurring in business, many have sought to adopt as a survival mode. As mentioned earlier, businesses that could have sent their employees home to work. Consumers have turned to online platforms for shopping, communication, food purchases, and other necessary arrangements. Some businesses adapted quickly to online demand. These trends have also kept data storage services and parcel and postal delivery services alive. Some sectors in the mining and transport industries have benefited from declining operating costs associated with lower fuel prices. The repairs and maintenance sectors have embraced online platforms since there has been a rising demand for their services in place of new purchases.
BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP BUSINESSES ADAPT
Blockchain technology can help businesses adapt to the changing world and to the post-pandemic era that could bring about newer challenges.
Blockchain applied to many sectors such as supply chain, data storage, medical and healthcare services, transportation, deliveries, and even small to medium businesses could have made these sectors adapt faster to the pandemic. This is because blockchains are secure, decentralised, and distributed ledgers that can be applied in many fields and businesses.
With blockchain technology, each distributed ledger keeps a full copy of the entire ledger and also continually verifies the integrity of newly recorded information and the copies it stores. If any or even many of these nodes are compromised, the ledger’s full information remains intact.
BLOCKCHAIN COLLECTIVE
Blockchain Collective is an educational body working with Universities and Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) to deliver a benchmark standard of education, empowering professionals and students with the essential skills for a future in blockchain technology.
The Advanced Diploma of Applied Blockchain 10747NAT is the first in Australia. This, and the 10849NAT Diploma of Applied Blockchain, both created by Blockchain Collective, are meant to provide people who are willing to gain knowledge and skills in applying blockchain technology frameworks to any business framework. Call us today at +61 (7) 3186 1013 to start your future in applied blockchain.