Back in 2020 when Covid-19 hit the global community, businesses across the world underwent unprecedent changes. Travel and tourism came to a complete halt due to lockdown while healthcare looked at the technology to keep itself functional and ensure its availability to almost everyone globally.

According to a panel of experts including Amanpreet Singh Bajaj, GM - India, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong & Taiwan, Airbnb and Dr Noel Coutinho, co-founder, ekincare, organisations must focus on the impact of their businesses on society and larger communities, especially those who are underserved.

In a session at ongoing TechHR 2022, the leaders talked about how technology turned out to be an enabler for businesses to bounce back.

“The pandemic was an unprecedented event. It was important to relook at all components of a business,” said Amanpreet.

“Not just the travel industry, other industries faced the heat equally. Around 90% of the planes were grounded and lockdown in cities across the world left no other option. People were forced to live disconnected,” added Amanpreet.

Keeping the current situation in mind, it was pertinent to rethink businesses. Thanks to technology that helped us rewire our work culture and helped us understand different stakeholders and their needs, said Amanpreet, adding that people’s preference to shortlist a company has also changed. 

According to him, purpose driven companies have become preferred choice for the workforce after the Covid.

ekincare founder also advocated for the technology as an enabler in making healthcare consultation accessible and affordable to the mass across the globe.

“Those living in the remotest part of world can now have access to the first-hand consultation through technology without taking the pain of travel,” added Noel.  

Unlearning, re-learning and flexibility have become the buzz word and will continue to stay here for time to come. According to Noel, future of work is going to revolve around the employees and hence employers need to ensure flexibility of how and where work gets done.

For organisations, according to Noel, it is important to restructure the way they look at theirs goals and objectives. It is important for them to restructure the mission statement.

“Technology is here to stay and will continue to evolve further. If you want to exploit it, you must decide and define the outcome you expect to get, put milestone to that outcome and make sure that you are on track to achieve,” added Noel.