Most of the global industries encountered a severe crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in China in December 2019 and returned several times as variants. Till now in New Zealand, there were 1.36 million cases and 1,505 deaths, while globally there are 549 million cases and 6.34 million people died due to COVID-19. Based on the latest news reports, COVID-19 cases from a new Omicron subvariant are expanding each week and could push New Zealand back to the March 2022 peak of about 25,000 daily cases within the next few weeks. Additionally, the emergence of the BA.5 Omicron subvariant over the past few weeks is adding to the constant upsurge in seven-day average COVID-19 numbers.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues even after 30 months, industries faced multiple problems during this time and were unable to witness the end of this pandemic. The following are some of the lessons taught by COVID-19 to businesses and industries-

1. Importance of hygiene

To prevent the COVID-19 virus from spreading, the Ministry of Health issued several guidelines and highlighted that this virus spread through surfaces and air. It mentioned the importance of cleaning and sanitizing common touchpoints, counters, and doorknobs. Businesses enhanced their cleaning procedures and provided hand sanitisers at various locations.

2. Importance of communication

Businesses realized the importance of communication during a crisis and maintained channels of communication with their staff to boost their morale during the lockdowns. They also realized the importance of online communication. Few of them used the internet and online communication channels to share sharing information instantly with several stakeholders. During the COVID-19 crisis, online platforms helped businesses to a great extent. This motivated some businesses to use online platforms for day-to-day operations to the maximum extent possible. The managers communicated with their stakeholders to keep them informed about the welfare measures and arrangements made to keep them safe.

3. Decision making

Businesses appreciated the importance of quick decision-making during the COVID-19 crisis. Due to the dynamic situation and the presence of new challenges, decision-making played an even more critical role in recovering from the problem and keeping everyone safe.

4. Change in attitude

Few managers learned to keep their core values of looking after everyone and ensuring they looked after each other during trying times. They also realized that no one could take anything for granted during this crisis and learned a lesson to be agile while continuously evolving with the changes. The only thing in control was self-reaction, and there was no other thing within control.

5. Change is permanent

Businesses learned that the only permanent thing was the change, which they accepted, and learned to make the best use of the situation.

6. Never lose hope

Most of the businesses did not lose hope, remained highly motivated to make decisions, encouraged staff, communicated with everyone during the crisis and were confident of the situation returning to normal soon. They maintained a positive attitude during the crisis, which kept them motivated, and they had good opinions about the future.

7. Planning for the future

About the future of New Zealand businesses, everyone had positive opinions. They explored new domestic market segments and local corporate sectors using the marketing database. Managers used several strategies to save their businesses by exploring

new avenues, taking care of their staff, restructuring, operating economically, taking care of health and safety, and implementing crisis management plans. They found COVID-19 evolved continuously. They also feared for the second wave of the COVID-19, which they considered would be even worse.

8. New business plans

Kiwi businesses prepared several plans to counter the effect of the COVID-19 crisis. These new plans included being better prepared to deal with subsequent waves, enhancing online platforms, exploring domestic market segments, and adding similar business to their portfolio. These new plans also included ensuring a loyal customer base, improved cleaning standards, and providing better services. It was difficult to forecast the business during an ever-changing scenario because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Inability to assess the current situation prompted them to prepare several forecasts for different possible methods. There was always a fear of a second wave which businesses considered would be even worse for them. – By Pankaj Jauhri, he is a hospitality professional who researched the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hotel industry in New Zealand. Pankaj is happy to share ideas with hospitality businesses. His email address is pankajjauhri123@gmail.com.