COVID-19 Impact on Pharmaceutical Packaging in Chemicals and Materials Industry

COVID-19 Impact on Salesforce Management in the Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) Sector

  • ICT
  • Sep 02, 2021

Analysis On Impact of Covid-19 On The Market

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the whole planet with its major impacts on the economy and businesses across the globe. The COVID-19 spread worldwide in unprecedented ways due to its high infectious and contagious nature and lack of availability of its vaccine. As a result, the greatest medical challenge in the 21st century is yet to be faced by physicians worldwide. Though the emergence of the virus can be traced back to Asia, many European countries along with the U.S. have been struck massively by the pandemic. The virus has spread across all regions ranging from North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa up to South America. The COVID-19 has been declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) due to its increased spread across the globe. After the declaration of the pandemic, various countries announced the complete lockdown such as India, China, and other Asian countries to decrease its spread. According to the situation report of 23 July 2021 by WHO stated 192 million cases of the corona have been reported globally and 4.1 million patients are dead due to the coronavirus. On a slightly positive note, a total of 175 million people have recovered and a total of 3,605 million vaccine doses have been administered as well.

The pandemic has boosted the growth of the sales force automation management market. In response to the COVID-19 virus, many companies are moving towards working in a more virtual environment. This has placed a focus on organizations embracing collaboration tools and practices to support the virtual workplace. Moreover, the government mandate of work from home policies has driven organizations to increasingly focus on more effective ways of engaging with customers in a remote working environment and improve sales. This has driven the adoption and implementation of sales force automation management software/solutions. Moreover, the increase in demand for lead management and opportunity management and adoption of cloud/AI-based systems also fuels the demand for sales force automation management software. The governments of various countries were focusing on the digitization of business processes and making it mandatory to adopt technologies that support physical distancing, cashless transactions, social distancing norms, and others. Directly this will positively impact the use of customer relationship management solutions.

For instance,

  • According to Postclick, Inc., 66% of marketing automation software users feels it is either ‘moderately’ or ‘very’ effective in salesforce management. It also states 90% of agencies feel their marketing automation software strategy is successful. Moreover, automation management software can improve productivity and efficiency by 40%.
  • According to HubSpot, Inc., Sales automation has been becoming increasingly popular in recent years, and it isn’t slowing down any time soon. 42% of teams using a CRM use it to automate meeting scheduling, 40% of teams using a CRM use it to automate content automation, AI adoption in sales has been forecasted to grow 139% between 2020 and 2023.

Impact On Demand

The pandemic has boosted the digital transformation of industries; companies are focusing more on a digital platform to interact with their clients and customers. People are also more reliant on digital sources. The e-commerce and healthcare market is increasing rapidly in this pandemic, and thus there has been an increased online customer due to which there has been a huge demand for sales forces management solutions. Moreover, it was observed that the gradual spike in demand observed was due to the shift of consumers from traditional platforms to online digital platforms, 81% of users are now accessing their SFAM software using devices such as laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets among others. SFA management includes contact management, pipeline management, task management, and customer relationship management.

Also due to lockdown and COVID-19 norms, digitization and automation have become mandatory for any business. Providers need pipeline management, task management, customer relationship management, and sales force management solutions to provide their customers excellent experience to boost sales during this pandemic period. Also, providers need sales force management solutions that provide automated workflows that create a streamlined sales process to manage business leads, sales forecasts, and team performance.

Impact on Supply Chain

The supply chain was adversely affected in the initial phase of the pandemic as lockdown prevailed in many regions globally; the government had limited the workers. Companies are making their operations work according to the government regulations by making limited workers work in different shifts. Industries were facing operational and supply chain disruptions, breakdowns, and labor shortages. However, now there is an improvement in the supply chain as most of the facilities and travel restrictions have opened and working in most optimum capacity. The companies are doing their best to meet the increasing demand.  

LONG TERM STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY MANUFACTURERS

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to expand, makers would possibly face challenges on varied fronts. Producing firms would be searching for immediate measures to stay their workforces safe and their businesses solvent. Makers would conjointly have to be compelled to look on the far side of their economic viability. Because the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies, makers would possibly face continued pressure on demand, production, and revenues. They’d continuously face cash-flow liquidity challenges and difficulties in managing debt obligations. The pandemic has boosted the growth of the sales force management market. Thus, developers and providers were focusing on strategic decisions like partnerships, acquisition, product launch, mergers, and collaborations to meet the increasing demand in the COVID-19 outbreak.

For instance,

  • In July 2021, Salesforce acquired Slack Technologies, Inc. the key feature of this acquisition was to strengthen its SFM capabilities using advanced technology such as AI/ Cloud and Service Cloud software for the consumer. Moreover, this acquisition will also help to strengthen its SFM/ CRM capabilities which will help the company to expand its market
  • In November 2020, Microsoft announced a partnership with Adobe Inc. and C3.ai to offer SFM/ CRM solutions utilizing artificial intelligence (AI). This partnership jointly marketed an integrated suite of industry-specific AI-enabled SFM/ CRM solutions for applications in marketing, sales, and customer service

Conclusion

Pandemic has taken a toll on every aspect of life, including the global economy. With the significant downfalls in many sectors, a collaborative effort of government, industry players, and consumers can win the fight against COVID-19.

It continues to inflict the world with appalling economic and social dilemmas, capable enough to leave severe backlash on the economy for the next several years. The first wave had already inflicted severe blows to the population as well as the economy. The currently experiencing second wave is expected to be more disastrous not only to the masses but also to ICT markets.

However, covid-19 boosted the growth of the global sales force automation management market due to the pandemic behavior and governmental norms. An increase in demand for lead management and opportunity management and adoption of cloud/AI-based systems also fuels the demand for sales force automation management solutions and services amongst various service providers to support governmental norms and to provide effectively, enhanced, and personalized online and digital services to the consumers due to growing digitization of business practices. Manufactures were focusing on partnerships and collaborations to meet the increasing demand in the COVID-19 outbreak. The government’s decisions of digitization, automation, and increasing growth of e-commerce and the healthcare industry are boosting the market growth.