Digitizing our world, step by step

2020 has pushed us back to the stone ages, while fast tracking us into the future all at the same time all due to the Covid19 pandemic. In just 3 short months from it’s first confirmed cases in November/December in Wuhan China, countries around the world started to impose lock-downs on their citizens causing many of the services that we take for granted to become unavailable. Public transportation ground to a halt (no pun intended). Even something as simple as going to the grocery store became a nightmare.

We endured over 3 months of crushing self isolation protocols and even now as we try to re-open, it is with extreme caution as potential 2nd waves of infections threaten societies.

On the positive side of things however, it has forced us to get more creative in the way we do things. One key area is the movement of information. Persons who had no interest in social media, websites and digital payments suddenly realized they had no choice but to adapt or die.

What’s interesting is that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Many tools already existed right in our pockets via our mobile phones, and just needed a creative mindset to utilize whats around us.

When the directors of Aeon Bar & Grill approached Pulse Business Consultancy for ideas on sharing their menus with customers, we piloted a QR code based electronic menu, with great success [use your phone to scan the code]. Now we have all but retired physical paper menus. The benefits were immediate, and wider than we initially anticipated. The speed to update menus is one of the obvious gains. But we’ve also been able to expand the information shared beyond menus to feedback forms, advertising special offers, and giving persons ability to enter competitions and join mailing lists.

Digital tools are the only way forward and all businesses need to adopt them in the short term. These changes do not have to include thousands of dollars in IT software and hardware. But they have to include fit for purpose thinking and ultimately appropriate solutions.

What steps are you making today to digitize your world?