2020 COVID hinderances such as stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions, and limitations on face-to-face interactions haven’t just led to the more widespread use of existing technology, it’s leapt fully into new universes.
A study by CNBC found that 60 percent of companies have brought in new technological solutions to deal with the disruption to their businesses, from customer-facing applications to internal virtual platforms to facilitate constant communication.
Even produce sectors such as transportation and grocery retail, deemed essential businesses by the government, explored the advantages of new technology, with as many as 3 out of 10 upgrading capacity to meet the demands of an evolving landscape.
“During this time, we’ve seen our customers more eager to launch electronic data interchanges (EDI), embrace reporting and analytics, shift to accommodate business-to-consumer (B2C) sales as a way to increase different revenue streams and target new markets, and participate in produce box programs,” says Marc Hatfield, national sales manager for Produce Pro Software, Inc., BB #:164269 based near Chicago, IL.
“Our enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and technology solutions have allowed produce companies to increase efficiency and, when necessary, do more with less. If you have the right systems in place, it allows you to ride the storm more easily,” he adds.
Staying connected
While Slack and its primary competitor, Microsoft Teams, are not completely new technologies—Slack was introduced in late 2013, and Microsoft developed Teams as a response four years later—their popularity has skyrocketed since the pandemic.
Integrating features like persistent chat rooms, instant messaging, private communication channels, and hierarchal nesting of topics, the platforms have proved ideal for building efficient communications in multiple user environments.
Slack’s revenue increased by 57 percent in the second quarter of 2020, and the company saw spikes in usage by over a million over the space of only a few days in March of that year.
Teams, with the added advantage of Microsoft Office Suite integration, grew to over 75 million active daily users during the coronavirus pandemic, a growth of 70 percent since its introduction.
“RPE was using Microsoft Teams on a somewhat regular basis prior to the pandemic for large meetings involving staff across locations,” says Rachel Leach, category manager for Bancroft, WI-based RPE, Inc. BB #:105471
“But when the pandemic hit, it became our lifeline. It was truly amazing how quickly we transitioned and trained our entire network of employees. We were literally all virtual—with the exception of our much-needed onsite staff to run operations—within a week’s time.”
Some companies, such as Prophet North America BB #:151879 of Westlake Village, CA, used Microsoft Teams as part of an overall across-the-board improvement plan for its staff.
Upgrading both hardware and software allowed the company to present shared training sessions and implementations with existing clients, and new customers participated in remote workflow investigations with all of the company’s offices in attendance.
“Prophet was faced with the challenge of how to continue with business as usual within the restrictions presented by Covid-19,” admits George Roumain, the company’s North America sales consultant.
“The solution came in the form of using Microsoft Surface Hubs and Surface Pros, combined with Teams,” Roumain says. “This has given us a new outlook on how we can manage future workflow investigations, training, and implementations, saving ourselves and our customers crucial time and travel expenses.”
Small investments matter
Not all new technology introductions have been big or complex. A simple one, accessible to even smaller companies with limited budgets, is the Meeting Owl from Owl Labs, a smart videoconferencing camera able to capture panoramic, 360-degree audio and video for a lifelike experience regardless of available space.
“Most all of us were already employing virtual communication and collaboration, but with the increased use of Zoom and other platforms in the 90 percent range, everyone had to have a webcam,” explains Alex Di Novo, president and chief executive officer of D N O, Inc. in Columbus, OH.
“Meeting Owl gave us better lighting, a good speaker and microphone, and the ability to rotate around the room to multiple people while keeping everyone in focus. It’s awesome, a really neat piece of technology,” Di Novo marvels, adding there were also no real or formal training or significant costs.
This is a feature from the Applied Technology department of the January/February 2021 issue of Produce Blueprints Magazine. Click here to read the full article.
