"Thoughts after innovation in the time of pandemic"
In this pandemic-ridden times, modern businesses survive on innovation and creativity. With a certainty, individuals and institutions alike realise the importance of the two as necessary for survival. From an economic perspective, it is easy to recognise innovation and creativity through new, improved, or reinvented products, services, or processes- especially in an era when society is marred by COVID19 pandemic and the increasing shift to digitization.
And because of this necessary shift this becomes more than a "trend" the way smartphones, once a luxury becomes a necessity that almost replaced the computer as various aspects has been integrated to it, making things "handy" as possible. And this itself is a product of innovation! With this example would say prompt businesses to accept "fresh ideas" rather than treating it with contempt. As they're trying to break down the process to its essential components:
- What does it come from?
- Is it art? Science?
- Is it brought about by sheer inspiration? Or can be achieved by a formula?
- Cam the process of ideas into action be streamlined?
To better understand the essence of innovation this must be explored outside the realms of economics. For years people heard disruptions as innovation changed settings and lifestyles. Whether how Steam Engine or the introduction of Diesel Engine changed manufacturing and transport, or that of smartphones changed communications, innovation has made individuals and institutions engaging in creativity to keep business going if not growing. However, with the rise of COVID19 that caused terrible upheaval to the global economy more than a year into the pandemic and is also continuing to compel extraordinary innovation across several industries, despite the fact that the many innovations that have been made possible modern living. Once more, institutions have discovered innovative ways to market, provide services for, and run amid the crisis.
As in the pre-pandemic times, the technology arena has been a go-to “breeding ground” for innovative thinking. As institutions increasingly recognise the need for innovation to sustain if not to survive the modern times, they fully accept technology as a necessary tool, a partner in keeping themselves “going” as the internet, and the availability of wireless connectivity have equipped them the “power” to make traditional business models, or even those that are still modern, become obsolete almost overnight. But, will opportunistic changes made during turbulent times also create opportunities for survival, sustainability, and chances of systematic growth after the pandemic passes? Furthermore, social and cultural shifts also became a factor in taking innovation seriously. In an instance, people increasingly becoming mobile with the use of smartphones, so is the rise of mobile applications that disrupted marketing goods and services. Mobile banking apps, mobile booking, store, and delivery services, all alongside mobile music and video streaming devices and the use of social media like Facebook, all integrated in those smartphones and is widely promoted with convenience as its byline.
Will, however, the opportunistic adjustments made during tumultuous times also provide chances for survival, sustainability, and regular growth once the pandemic has passed? Such innovation efforts can and should become more mainstream as means to address the urgent needs to that of reorienting for the possible and future challenges to face with. And many companies have reflexively adopted one or both forms of innovation in the framework of COVID19, creating new capabilities they can develop further and strategically use in the future. The difficult part is figuring out when and which one to utilize.
And since history showed its proofs the wonders of innovation sometimes this person wonder that since modern living promoted innovation to sustain, then how come there are those who haven’t left at the prototype stage or at the drawing board? Is it because of its potential problems? Or a bigger disruption against the existing capitalist order that makes known entities trying to stop realisations from going further? For sure this 2022 everyone should be having flying cars already as people remember how year 2000 should be: whether the setting was similar to that of the Jetsons or Gundam or whatsoever, but these can't done easily if not telling that the coming future "is not a realisation of various fictitious works."
But at least, that same innovation, creativity has trying its bests to provide comfort to all walks of life especially when new and emerging technologies, ideas has brought solutions, searching problems, and addressing situations, as well as exploring new resources, and building new opportunities even in this pandemic-ridden times. Individuals and institutions alike have been forced to innovate in some form as a result of the outbreak, and for sure there are people who have found new business prospects that will last for a long time during this unusual period in business history, while others have learned new abilities that can be utilized to solve other problems and find new chances that they could not have foreseen. By positioning their businesses within our innovation framework, business leaders may better understand how they survived the storm and use newly acquired innovation skills for long-term success.