The pandemic has affected many production and services businesses in Sri Lanka adversely. Businesses have been given concessions on loans and utilities to manage however payrolls and staff intensive industries are struggling to know if they will survive beyond a 3-6 month period. The ripple effects have not been felt yet as loans and other payments come due on top of payroll.
There is no silver lining above other than the fact that this pandemic put every industry and business model to the ultimate test of efficiency and survival. Even corporate culture was put to the test in a remote work era; there was no aspect of business that was spared. Some, who were in beneficial segments such as IT services, thrived due to remote work capabilities and urgent tech enablement needs from clients. Even then, if your clientele were predominantly in one of the badly affected industries such as tourism for example, there wasn’t and still isn’t much hope.
The lessons to be taken here for Sri Lankan firms are profound yet straightforward. There are businesses that did not invest in technology to streamline their services or offerings over many years as labor was so cheap and there was no need to fix what wasn’t broken. These labor intensive/dependent industries/business models or those that relied solely on foot traffic suffer the most during the pandemic and will continue to do so. Some are unable to even carry out production at a smaller scale or address basic customer needs given their intensive manual processes and lack of transparency in value chains. This impact to the market then created opportunities for far more smaller and agile entrants to leverage technology and serve those clients where possible.
When production is halted and you have to run a business with the fewest manpower elements you need technology to support the rest. Downtime allows you to focus and use time for improvements such as technology use that you would have had many excuses to put off before. These improvements can be as complex as ERP solutions or even simple online order management and payment systems designed to help people create efficiencies along the value chain and keep business moving forward. The focus of these improvements should now be more precise than ever as resources such as finances are in short supply.
At this point as an owner you have probably come to realize that leveraging technology is a must and having that knowledge and support in your most senior management tiers is indispensable.
ERP Services can support your most complex or even the simplest systems requirements with its vast consulting experience bridging numerous verticals. Our ability to rapidly focus your needs enables you to make the right decisions fast in challenging times. Having helped numerous firms fine-tune their systems and processes, and obtain critical technology services during the pandemic, ERP Services is your go-to-partner for fast turnarounds and advise you can bet your business on.
Please call us at 0770415387 or email us at info@erpservices.lk