3 ways to pivot to virtual during the coronavirus outbreak

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
— Theodore Roosevelt

With very little notice due to the outbreak of the coronavirus global pandemic, most businesses are now doing just about everything virtually. Certain tools can ensure your workforce stays connected to each other and clients, making the temporary social isolation less burdensome — even fostering a new sense of purpose.

Stay connected with your remote workforce

Like nearly all businesses, Fusable had to immediately pivot to a remote workforce. For some, this is business as usual, but it’s been a learning curve for the majority of our workforce. We’ve relied on solutions such as Zoom and Slack to stay connected, schedule team meetings and check on project status and corporate updates. Some of our divisions have set up Zoom coffee-break meetings to foster camaraderie and share work-from-home advice.
Tip: Appearances by dogs and babies add instant joy to a Zoom meeting! Check out fun background choices and appearance enhancement options.
The good news is that performance-based remote work statistics have tracked productivity, worker satisfaction and other metrics as more companies have offered flexible work. Here are the results of a survey by Indeed.com.
Benefits of remote work according to employers percentage chart

Meet clients where they are 

With solutions such as Skype, FaceTime, Zoom, email, text, instant message and even the old-fashioned phone call, there are plenty of ways to figure out how you and your clients can stay in touch. Because everyone is adjusting to business disruptions, now is a good time to solidify relationships and generate alternative plans, programs and solutions for when things begin to get back to normal.
Tip: Priority Prospects keeps your communication focused on top clients and potential prospects.

Move in-person events to virtual ones

If you’ve invested in an in-person event that’s now delayed or canceled, consider moving to a virtual event. Virtual conferencing offers the benefit of being able to create compelling content online. Since about 20% of attendees view event content on demand, there’s a post-conference benefit as well. And, with a CTA giving the option to download the recorded materials, you can generate high-quality leads.*
Virtual platforms have come a long way from the early days of clunky webinars, now offering options such as exhibit spaces, seminars and chat features where attendees can interact with presenters and branding sales opportunities. Ideally, you would want to connect in the real world and virtually, but with strong content and a good video conferencing platform, you can generate leads interested in your business.
If you had planned to sponsor an event that’s now going virtual, you will still reap the lead-gen benefits from attendees and in many cases, attract an even larger audience.

Conclusion

While the world adjusts to the new normal during the coronavirus pandemic, pivoting to new ways of connecting with your workforce and your clients can keep you in the game and offer new ways to connect. 
*Source: Webcasts & Virtual Events 2019 Benchmark Report