Business leaders speculate on what life will be like after virus
Public health restrictions forcing them to find new ways to do their work
At some point, risks from COVID-19 will recede and business will start to return to normal.
But what will be the new normal?
That was among the questions put to three prominent Niagara businesspeople last week, in an online forum held by Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce.
“Touchless scenarios are going to be the order of the day,” said Alex Digenis, owner and general manager of Subaru of Niagara, Henley Honda and Skyway Fine Cars.
“We have an app that you not only book appointments (through), but you pay through the app. The whole delivery model will be a little different.
“Our sales department is already working on amazing YouTube videos that basically show our product … so if a customer is not able to test drive a product, they are going to be sent a host of different delectables to consume on YouTube.”
The plan, he said, is to move forward “in a manner that is hyper-sensitive to our current situation.”
Mike Watt, executive vice president of Walker Industries, said one change he expects is there will be “a lot less travel” for work.
“I’ve been spending about an hour a day, just picking up the phone or talking on Zoom and talking to random employees across Canada.
“I can tell you I’m not going to be flying to Vancouver as much. I’ve talked to the guy that runs the Vancouver shop more in the last five weeks than I’ve talked to him in the last six months.
“We’ve found ways to communicate more easily, we don’t have to get in airplanes anymore.”
He said it’s one of the fundamental changes that have been made necessary because of social distancing and restrictions on travel governments are enforcing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“I hope people don’t go back to their old habits,” Watt said. “And it’s unfortunate for the airline business, but we always thought we needed to be in somebody’s office to make an impact.
“Sometimes that’s the case, but in a lot of cases I think you’re just going to be doing a Zoom call or whatever and making it work.”
Sue-Ann Staff, owner and winemaker at Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery, speculated tourism — with its reliance on large numbers of people coming together often in confined spaces — might take longer to recover than other industries.
“People are going to need the money to spend those disposable dollars … and then need the comfort level of where they are going,” she said.
People are still wary of being close to others, something she said she sees even when delivering wine to people who ordered it from her. “When I go to a home to make a delivery, the fear in people’s eyes — ‘Why are you here? You’re coming into my safe zone,’ ” she said.
It “kind of foreshadows what the feeling is out there.”
Digenis stressed he wasn’t minimizing or making light of people’s fears of contracting the coronavirus.
“Nobody on this panel is sugarcoating it … it’s terrible,” he said.
“But man, if this is the test of our time, I can sleep at night knowing that my 22-year-old son is not fighting a war in another part of the world. We’re not getting shot at by a foreign army …
“There have been tests in our generation, in our lifetime, in our parents’ lifetime, that have really put things in perspective. I’m not minimizing financial hardship and the mental anguish that comes with that.”