By Brice Wallace
As difficult as the coronavirus has been on small businesses, in its aftermath the survivors will see a renaissance.
That’s the prediction of participants in a recent webinar about the future of work. That rebound will be especially true, they said, for companies that can use technology to change the way they interact with their customers to improve the shopping or dining experience.
“I think that we are going to see a renaissance of small business and Main Street business like we’ve never felt,” said Sid Krommenhoek, general partner at AlbumVC. “I think it’s kind of contrary to what we’re feeling right now. On one hand, we’re going, ‘Small business is being decimated. We’re never going back to this.’
“Yes, the pain is real and we’re massively sober to it, but because of this [virus], small business [and] Main Street business have had to say, ‘How can I transact and interact with my customers like these pop-up online retailers?’”
E-commerce, he said, will continue to grow, but brick-and-mortar stores “will give us all the charm that we appreciate” while adjusting using technology, he said. For example, a customer does not need to see a car or jewelry being purchased “until the end, if at all,” he said.
Businesses currently in decline will see a renaissance “like we’ve never seen before” because of their entrepreneurship, innovation and adaptations, he said. In some cases, it may mean a “painful bankruptcy that they go through today,” Krommenhoek said. “And they re-emerge and are like the phoenix rising tomorrow. I think that it will be spectacular.”
Curt Roberts, a partner at Kickstart Seed Fund, said the best businesses are adapting “to some realities that they probably were facing anyway” because the virus has been a catalyst for them to think about business model changes requiring fewer direct human interactions.
“I would say there’s another phenomenon going on,” Roberts said. “People are craving the opportunity to support the small business. I will just tell you, I have no interest in giving Amazon more of my money. I’m giving Amazon a lot of my money because Amazon makes it really easy for me to get basic needs satisfied right now.
“But the day that I can walk back in that local store and look that owner in the face and support that person, is a day that I really look forward to. And I think there are a lot of people who are thinking that way. We want the small person to win again, and that, I think as much as anything, is going to drive this renaissance that Sid is talking about.”
The task for companies in the future will be providing new experiences for customers — even making it “delightful,” Krommenhoek said — without compromising their safety.
While the virus also has forced some companies to rethink their interactions with customers, many have had to do the same with their employees. Many are using technology to work from home, and Krommenhoek predicts that some employees will want to retain that option while others “will be just as anxious to go back to life as it was.”
A middle ground probably will emerge because some employees work more optimally from home and others work best in an office setting, he said.
“There’s this new middle ground where businesses are exploring optionality for employees and thinking a little bit differently because we’ve all been forced into a construct that is so different,” he said.
However, the “elephant in the room” related to remote work is the possible consequences resulting from a reduction or lack of direct, face-to-face human interaction, Roberts said.
“A lack of direct human interaction — not just because we need that as people; we are relational beings — but because there is a friction and a cost that comes with distance and the requirement of a technology to sit between you. There’s something very real and very important to the ability to actually be together,” he said.
He believes a shift to more work being done remotely will occur, perhaps in the form of people still working in an office but not every day. “We will have to be very, very careful about the consequence of those choices, because there is no free lunch there,” Roberts said.
“I personally think remote work is overrated. And we are going to have to find a way to make it part of how we work, but not make it a substitute for the human interaction that ultimately drives who we are.”
Krommenhoek said he finds it funny that many people who once wanted the freedom to “leave the office” now might not prefer it. “It may be the universe saying, ‘Hold up. You took it a little far,’” he said.
Tara Spalding, president and founder of Hen House Ventures, said she hopes remote work will make it easier for workers who in the past have come into the office despite being sick.
“We need to drop that habit because it’s going to be dangerous and in fact is going to open up liability to companies that have unspoken policies and encouragements to just kind of toughen up,” she said.
Whatever changes result from the virus’ impact on business, the speakers said, some companies will survive and others will not. Some jobs will survive and others will not.
“What inevitably comes and what will certainly, I think, will rise more aggressively, is the emergence of new jobs,” Krommenhoek said. “Trust me, there will be things that humans are doing and jobs that we haven’t thought of. That happened with every revolution — industry, agriculture before that. We’ll see that, and I’m excited to see what entrepreneurs build moving into the future.”
