Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lolly Co was focused on producing custom-built software for businesses with an emphasis on automation. But as a result of national restrictions, the rise of remote working, and the economic impacts of Coronavirus, many firms opted to do more with less staff in order to survive the inbound economic downturn.
The uncertainty and slump in demand for numerous sectors, in turn, created a spike in demand for automation. This digital solution could drive efficiency and productivity whilst reducing costs. This was a fundamental ambition of most firms seeking survival in these unprecedented times.
Digital transformation became a necessity overnight and was fast-forwarded in the space of a few months. Custom technology that could optimise internal operations was essential to finding a competitive advantage against the rampant uncertainty. And that’s exactly what we provided.
The pandemic undoubtedly hit businesses across the globe hard. Vast sectors were forced to close their doors in alignment with restrictions. Retail, tourism, and hospitality firms were decimated by the effects of ‘stay at home’ orders, as were businesses operating in other sectors that didn’t have the opportunity to put their services online.
The UK’s 78% drop in footfall by shoppers (BBC, 2021) is just one example of the troubling stats to come from this period which reaffirms the stark need to re-align internal operations. The businesses that did stand a chance of survival needed to digitalise. This generated a surge in demand for digital transformation, one of the core services of Lolly Co.
McKinsey has estimated that COVID-19 has accelerated DT by seven years, and it’s this sudden dependency on digital solutions that drove our growth. Remote working, eCommerce, and virtual appointments dictated operations. Custom software became a necessity to streamline this move online and up-the-efficiency of processes when revenue and customer support were wavering.
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This shift has been highlighted by rising unemployment: early in the pandemic it quickly became evident that the majority of the job losses were concentrated among low-wage workers. This ‘unskilled’ work was traded in for automation. Firms sought to do more with less; reimagining business processes with lower costs resulted in demand for software automation.
Online retailers leveraged automation to meet the uptick in demand for deliveries, manufacturers used supply chain automation to virtually demonstrate their products, and healthcare providers used robots to deliver medicine. These are just a handful of examples of the new uses for automation.
The services we offer – namely process audits, process optimisation and automation, and digital transformation – have met the new challenges of running a business. We could adapt businesses directly to the standards of the New Normal and the demand for this drove Lolly Co’s growth.
