Over the last few years, many companies around the globe have intensely started investing in digital technology to create job opportunities. Of course, going online was well underway in all aspects and the COVID-19 pandemic has helped everyone realise how important it is to have an online presence. The pandemic has not only made an impact on a large-scale business but also at an individual level. For example, during the lockdown, you must have stayed home and bought your necessities from a website and/or made your payments online. You may have worked from home, or perhaps you have been taking online classes from home. The change is happening and it is assisting in making things easier for the general public, as well as workplaces, with time saved so it can be invested in much better ways.
Let’s look forward to how a digital presence can assist the future of work in various aspects of life:
- Business
It is very important for your business to have an online presence in the digital age. Getting your business online – through any means, be it a website, an e-commerce platform, a social media presence, or a mix of all three, you will see rewards. Consumers and potential customers expect to see you online even if your organisation does not conduct businesses online.
Some common business functions to be managed online include:
- E-commerce – purchase and sell your products and services online. Making of payments over an electronic network, most commonly the internet. Business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer, and consumer-to-business transactions are all possible.
- Digital Marketing – The promotion of brands to engage with potential clients via the internet and other kinds of digital communication is known as online marketing. As a marketing channel, this covers not only email, social media, and web-based advertising, but takes you globally and locally.
- Virtual Assistance – It is the support that a team remotely provides by assisting with a wide range of tasks and responsibilities. VA’s perform the same functions as a typical administrator, but they do so without taking up physical space in your office, efficiently using a number of technical tools. This helps a business or startup grow. Although more effort may be required to sustain that expansion. It may necessitate the acquisition of new resources in order to keep your to-do list on track.
- Education
Online education has changed the perspective towards learning, becoming more fun, easy, reachable, affordable, and effective.
- E-learning: people are much more comfortable enrolling in online training (free and paid) and support services in various fields like technical education, skills development, reading books, and research.
- Health and Fitness
“A healthy body holds a healthy mind” – you have to take care of your physical and mental health. It is easy to keep fit with virtual health care and fitness that provides you with all the health services for a lifestyle that may include:
- Online Consultation (e-Consult; telehealth) – A site where you can fill out an online form or talk to someone about health issues, receive diet advice and mental health support without having to visit the hospital, practitioners or doctors face to face.
- Fitness Training: Videos presented by your coach, fitness app or an online dashboard. Online fitness, guided Yoga, meditation and nutrition coaching is similar to having a personal trainer, but without face-to-face interaction.
Will digital presence eliminate jobs and exacerbate inequity, or will it create more meaningful work and healthier societies?
Since technological advancement has taken over certain manual tasks, humanity has been concerned about this subject. Some business functions may be phased out in the future, replaced by automation, outsourcing, and self-organising teams. It’s not difficult to imagine a world where top talent is so aggressively battled over the most skilled workers need personal agents to manage their careers.