The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic presented unforeseen challenges to companies across all sectors. And, the subsequent lockdown moved everything home. From handling and monitoring the remote working of their staff to enabling structural changes to re-align their marketing strategies while reinventing business models, enterprises – both big and small – are leaving no stone unturned to have a smooth functioning in the post-COVID era.

While 2020 brought to a halt many businesses, several of them saw disruptions in one way or the other. Now, companies are bracing themselves to align with the new normal, as well as to the changing customer behaviour.

To stay ahead of the curve and adapt to changing market dynamics, companies are investing in building core competencies – ie., to become more digital, data-driven, and in the cloud. Agile operations will be core to the long-term capabilities they build.

Ensuring that employees continue working from home in the post-COVID times is one of the biggest challenges for CXOs. That said, productivity is still a major issue that companies are trying to address.

With the shift to digital speeding up the economic revival, there will be an increased focus on technology as a facilitator across domains, and the IT departments are entrusted to build the necessary infrastructure. Building good collaboration platforms so that different departments communicate regularly to ensure business continuity becomes vital.

The use of digital marketing tools is redefining the way business is done. Marketing budgets need to be intelligently drawn up and invested in innovative ways to create brand recognition as well as meet the demands of the customers, whose spending patterns will undergo a major shift.

Predictive Analytics will be another game-changer for marketing strategists post COVID to rebuild consumer-centric strategies and achieve an effective RoI.

The pandemic unleashed a set of challenges and an uncertain set of risks for businesses to continue. Business leaders, who were concerned about how their companies will be affected, are doing the necessary course corrections to continue the momentum.

A marketing head’s biggest challenge is to know what a customer wants, what are his expectations, and how his purchasing decisions will evolve. Quick actions result in better decision-making and ensuring the smooth running of the business.

To stay afloat during a crisis like this, agility is the key, and companies must establish a business continuity plan as well as develop contingency plans.

Even as enterprises have embarked upon their journey towards digital transformation, there are a few key initiatives they must focus upon. The pandemic taught valuable lessons; CXOs are expected to implement best practices to stay ahead and adapt to changing market dynamics. Business leaders and analysts are hopeful that the post-pandemic era will push the objectives of transformation a bit harder and faster.