The COVID-19 pandemic left many businesses in a lurch, dealing with supply chain disruptions, adapting to new technology in order to reach customers through digital channels, and implementing ways to keep employees safe. Let’s explore how business operations were impacted by the pandemic and what companies are doing now, in this period of post-COVID business recovery. 
Implementing Safe and Clean Work Environments
Joe Parenteau, Co-Founder, Fable Home
To put this bluntly, businesses are operating safer and cleaner than they ever have been. Many businesses have chosen to continue remote work even past their local mandates and the few businesses that do open back up in-person working environments are highlighting the importance of clean work spaces, social distancing, and utilizing sick days. Post-pandemic policies are more strict, however, they are effective and understandable.
Supply Chain Disruptions
Benjamin Smith, Founder, Disco
The most obvious and widely sweeping impact for businesses has been the disruption of the supply chain. Nearly every industry has felt the impacts of these disruptions in some way. From delays in receiving product shipments to complete factory shutdowns, businesses have had to get creative with how they conduct business. Especially in a situation like the COVID pandemic where nearly every corner of the world is affected, having a Plan B, C, D, and so on is important if you want to weather the storm.
Adapting to the Present and Focusing on the Future
Brittney Dolin, Founder, Pocketbook Agency
As a recruiting agency, the pandemic propelled our business into an entirely new realm of business. Not only did we have to adjust to higher amounts of clientele, we also had to strategize with businesses that just were not hiring. In response, we needed to adjust how we matched applicants to employers. We focus on refinement in our business model while providing clients with support throughout the process.
A Disrupted Supply Chain
Ryan Craver, Founder and CEO, Mallary By Matthew
During the pandemic, many supply chains were disrupted or even came to a standstill. This then causes a chain of effects including orders not going out, or customers experiencing longer wait times. If your business is suffering from a disrupted supply chain, it is best to reach out to your manufacturer directly, in order to understand how they are managing that disruption. Not only will this give leadership more clarity on the situation, but this is also very useful in how your business can then structure a response to customers.
Spike in Ecommerce Sales
Danielle Calabrese, COO, De La Calle
Many of our products are featured in grocery stores across the country. When the pandemic began, we needed to begin promoting our ecommerce features to keep up with the lack of in-store buying. By purchasing directly from our websites we were able to control the online purchases and rely less on conglomerates to push product sales.
Investing in New Opportunities
Nik Sharma, CEO, Sharma Brands
With COVID-19 causing many businesses to shutter, it’s critical to manage money flow well, and to continuously find ways to generate funding, in order to invest in new opportunities. In this crisis, many business leaders have had to rebalance for risk and liquidity. For many businesses, the pandemic causes plummeting sales and higher costs of goods due to demand. In order to keep growing your business and pushing forward, it is important to make strategic and stable financial moves for the future. Investing in smart technologies and the right people can help pull your business through.
Supply and Demand
Micheal Waxman, CEO and Co-Founder, Sundays For Dogs
With the onset of the pandemic, we all watched our economies suffer. The supply and demand chain that we so tirelessly worked hard to maneuver, was changed forever. We needed to understand the new market of consumers during every stage of the pandemic and beyond. As you can imagine, when the demand for our products changes, we must adjust our marketing efforts to promote higher returns and adjust production statistics in response to the projected demand.
Implementing Protective Measures
Cindi Bigelow, President & CEO, Bigelow Tea
It is critical that we are incredibly diligent about cleaning and sanitizing our facilities constantly throughout the day as well as reminding our employees to maintain adequate social distancing. We have professional cleaners sanitizing all surfaces in our building multiple times a day. We’re utilizing virtual meeting technology for most of our meetings and staggering the number of employees in the building and in common areas. Our list of protective measures grows daily, and we are constantly asking ourselves what else we can do to keep our employees and their families healthy and safe. These are unprecedented times that require unprecedented measures.
Increased Lead Times
Jameson Rodgers, Cofounder, CBDfx
Business operations were most significantly impacted via the pandemic by increased lead times.
As individuals could not gather in large groups, this meant that fulfillment was inhibited, therefore reducing the amount of hours and employees that could fulfill customer orders. With increased lead times comes a reduced rate of customer retention, and –as a direct result– fewer quarterly sales.
The New Trend: Working From Home
Robbie Salter, Co-Founder, Jupiter
As a New York City based brand, we immediately felt the impact of – and took immediate steps to avoid – COVID. Most prominently that meant closing down our office and setting new standards and procedures for virtual collaboration. The result of those efforts have been a general increase in productivity and a greater sense of work-life balance. However, not all functions and teams have been immune – the creative brainstorming process feels more challenging, as attention spans wane faster when hitting roadblocks. Though the experience net large has given us insight on adapting to change with ease and excellence.
The Impact on Technology
Summer Romasco, Growth Marketing Director, Ad Hoc Labs
Even before the pandemic, technology is an ever-changing factor for businesses. However, the impact of COVID-19 on technology has caused many businesses to face IT challenges, as well as learn to operate in new ways. With working from home, ZOOM, and other programs ramping up, this has sped up the adoption of digital technologies by years. Now, many businesses interact with customers through digital channels, and businesses need to stay up to date and prepared for future technological developments.
Adjusting the Business Model and Strategy
Chris Vaughn, Founder, Saucey
As one of the very few industries that was positively impacted by the quarantine efforts of the pandemic, we needed to scale our business in response. We worked tirelessly to keep up with the increasing demand for our service. Not only did we have to adjust business operations to reflect our higher sales and demand, we had to do this all while adjusting our business model to a work from home environment!
Focus on Giving and Helping Local Small Businesses
Liraz Birnbaum, Founder and CEO, Lula’s Garden
With the pandemic causing many people’s lives to turn upside down, focusing on giving back and making a difference goes a long way. Pivoting to a predominantly online market could mean doing some re-branding and focusing on the current needs of your customers. With many people now working from home and corporations having to adjust, corporate giving can really make a difference. Also, don’t forget about your small business partners! By sourcing your goods from local small businesses, this can help the economy in your area, and is a great way to support your local community.
Providing Easy, Accessible, Personalized Care
Junhyuk Lee, Founder and CEO, Honey Pill Pharmacy
In healthcare business operations, much of the non-clinical workforce transitioned to remote work with the start of the pandemic. With hospitals overflowing with patients and staffing shortages nation-wide, access to healthcare workers became very difficult. This is why with any business, being able to pivot, listen to what consumers are saying, and being able to provide what consumers are in need of, is critical to reaching success in your business. With many people now seeking personalized care, providing services on an online, easy to navigate format, is a great way to reach more customers and grow your business.