4 BUSINESS TRENDS EMERGING FROM THE CIRCUIT BREAKER IN SINGAPORE
“If I can use Siri to call my wife, why can’t I speak to the high-rise elevator to bring me to the 37th Floor of my office at Guoco Tower?” – Mark
Everything big changed with something really small when Covid-19 hit our shores in late January 2020. While some business owners scramble to survive, others are quietly making their mark, and cementing their possible rise in the near future. Here are 4 business trends that I foresee emerging from the Circuit Breaker measures in Singapore, and possibly the world.
1. The Rise of DIY Industries
How many of us shudder at the thought of having to nail something in the wall? And would you know how to repair your own aircon should it spoil during Circuit Breaker?
This is where the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Industry will start to boom after Covid-19 situation starts to improve.
There will be people who are tired of sitting around at home. And because they want to engage in something productive, they will look around to see what they can improve around the house.
Once people start to learn and improve parts of their property without having to call someone in, they will start to improve on their basic tools. The best part about most of these tools, is that you can order most of them online and have them delivered straight to your door.
2. E-Services that Require Mobile Commerce and No Touch Capabilities.
In the recent Pre Covid-19 past, the financial advisory sector was one of the financial services segment that required a face to face meet up for policy acceptance. Due to strict compliance rules and regulations, cross regional sales from country to country were prohibited.
Therefore many sales veterans were caught off guard when the ring-fenced method of Circuit Breaker were introduced to Singaporeans. Because they were not being able to meet up and sign, they felt that they couldn’t rise up to the challenge of sales.
However with the introduction of the financial advisory sector as a major part of Essential Services during Circuit Breaker, Non-Face-to-Face sales solution within the boundaries of a country became possible.
This InsureTech capability is poised to grow even further.
Similarly, as people want to reduce contact and risk of contagion, Covid-19 will speed up development of all types of touch-less technology such as automatic doors, voice-activated elevators, cellphone-controlled hotel room entry, hands-free light switches and temperature controls, automated luggage bag tags, and advanced airport check-in and security.
3. The Travel Industry Will Change.
The procedures of air and sea travel changed radically after the terrorist attacks of 9-11. While physical security concerns will still remain after Covid-19, the business of Pre-Flight Health examinations will become the norm.
Perhaps we will need to submit saliva sample to determine that we are Covid-19 negative before we can be allowed onboard the flights. This may take days, if no quicker way of diagnosing is done.
Airports will also have to reconfigure their physical settings and surroundings to increase physical space among each other. Airlines may fly with lesser people onboard, and as a result increase its belly cargo load so as to justify the flight cost.
Business travelers will be impacted the most. And this will lead towards better and more effective technological communication platforms and devices.
4. More Robust Hardware and Software devices for Effective Communication.
Little has changed since Skype was introduced into the Web Conferencing arena nearly a decade ago. And that is until Covid-19 forced people to depend on video conferencing tools for work, school and communicating with friends, and colleagues.
It also took Zoom a huge security scare before people started to realise the embarrassing state of Video Conferencing technology. I will cover more on this topic in a separate post.
Would you know of any other more robust alternative to communicate with your colleagues?
And yet it is precisely because of this, that the future of video conferencing will change rapidly in the next 6 to 9 months. Industry players with deep funding pockets and angel investors will start to focus intensely on more robust ways to integrate both hardware and software together.
Facebook has already added a new feature that lets users video chat with up to 50 people, a direct challenge to video conferencing apps Zoom and Houseparty.
As we navigate through these uncertain times, look out for these business trends. It would determine if you scramble to survive, or rise up with the right business trends.
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