On March 26th, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in just one week, roughly 3.3 million employees registered for unemployment insurance. The record-breaking statistic is the latest domino to fall in the wake of the economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
With constant fluctuations across the stock market and global economy, manufacturing isn’t the only sector being impacted by this crisis. Like many other industry verticals, 75 percent of manufacturing companies reported supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19. While the sector reported these numbers in a March Institute for Supply Management survey, subsequent manufacturing plant closures across the United States contributed to the March 26 rise in unemployment insurance claims.
In looking to the future, organizations have been tasked with implementing technology that can lessen the impact of similar crises on their bottom lines.
Here’s a break down how the following technologies can help businesses mitigate the COVID-19 crisis:
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
A robust Software as a Service (SaaS) design and management platform can offer a wide variety of benefits – including preventing crucial downtime if businesses need to take their workforce remote.
“With cloud technology, vital data is held in a centralized location, accessible to all authorized users, regardless of their individual location…With a SaaS subscription model, new users can be added and be up and running in minutes, and the number of seats can be scaled up or down, according to requirements,” Leeder writes.
SaaS provides a single source of truth, meaning employees have the ability to use the same master model at the same time and they’re all editing the same data simultaneously. This translates to teams working faster. Teams also have the potential to get more innovative results because they can try more ideas as they work on product innovation.
Augmented Reality
With most of the world on a global lock down, field service management isn’t able to operate at full capacity. However, incorporating augmented reality through a vessel, such as Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, enables the repair expert and customer to have a step-by-step guide to conducting maintenance. AR also allows you to capture that process and replicate it for other users. Sysmex America, a clinical laboratory equipment manufacturer, has been able to deploy remote service offerings to over 66 percent of its customer base, enabling instrument uptime and efficiencies.
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Final Thoughts
Although the COVID-19 crisis is changing the world as we know it, technological advancements provide companies with hope and security for the future. These innovations are enabling organizations to modernize their business models by building a metaphorical boat to stay afloat during the next economic crisis.