Undoubtedly with the current pandemic situation going around the world, we're all very anxious and uncertain about what to do and how to get our business back to light. While visualizing the larger picture, it seems that the pandemic has just directed peoples to nowhere. Many small to big business are "paralysed" when the Movement Control Order was announced irrespective of the industries.

We've heard and seen a lot of reports about the COVID-19 Economy Crisis but let's dive on the brighter side of this crisis. One thing that everyone has to remember is "everything that has a beginning will have an end to it" and the same goes for this COVID crisis that we are facing currently. 

Sometimes crisis tends to open up our eyes to venture into something new, clearly not saying that the crisis is taken on a good light but it has it's good and bad uphold. But have you ever noticed that there are opportunities for us to gain now besides being worried about what's going to happen next? Let's talk about the opportunities we can explore and discover in this crisis. 

1.COST SAVING

Now, you might ask how the crisis is going to help in cost saving. First of all, the crisis is a big example as we know that the majority of us can work from home and that could be positive signs for those of us in this industry because we don't have to work just from " OFFICE". You don't necessarily have to pay for your office rental and all the utility bills that bring huge cost savings! Think about it.

2.REBRANDING 

It may be for many years, for our business, hotel, restaurant and so on we have the same branding or sign. But come on, how long have we been using the same thing? We are in the millennial generation and we need to adapt to the trend shifting to retain our customers. In this Movement Control Order (MCO) time, work with your team. We just have ample time now.

3. MEETINGS

We know some of you have almost seven days of meetings in a week and some of you might feel the entire process to be tiring and not so productive. But now, during this crisis, you can have your meetings in your own space with digital technology and at your own time without rushing around. Essentially, you'll only need to dress up for a couple of hours and then you're good to go. We believe it's also a time where you can interact with your colleagues and have an in-depth meaningful conversation.

4. SPEED AND INNOVATION

Did you realize that we are now using laptops to type where earlier we used to use a typewriter and electric lights to replace gas lights? With a lot of time, we can utilize it for better innovation in our industry as it will help to lead to new markets, customers and products. If you realize that we can now take virtual tours to any location where we can't physically go. This virtual technology can be a blast in our industry. To the geniuses out there, this is your time to innovate something new for our industry.

5. ENABLES COLLABORATION 

When it comes to collaboration, there're possibilities that two companies collaborate with at least one vendor. During this crisis, with an ample amount of time in the kitty, we can enable more collaboration in the business, which means the business can get more visibility digitally. Therefore, this is a perfect opportunity to collaborate with the outsourced company to boost the business and other business partners. We might say it's like social networking because we all decide to work together to boost the economy it certainly would make a big difference in the industry.

This crisis has probably given us the impression that no matter how our businesses are set up, one small thing can always disrupt everything and we should always have another plan. Let's take this crisis to learn new things and rise like a phoenix because we now know how hard a crisis can impact and hit our business.

Let us be positive. This crisis would encourage us to open our eyes to these comparisons. Again, though there is a dark side to this crisis, we have opportunities to be positive and to go through this situation and rise like a Phoenix from the ashes, showing the world how to do it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               Columnist- Abigail Lawrence