Tech strategies used by companies during the pandemic
The resilience of companies that grew during the pandemic…
The pandemic that began in China at the end of 2019 changed the history of humanity forever. Many forms of employment froze and many companies had to adapt in order to stay afloat. In this post we'll look at some companies that knew how to reshape their business by applying technology strategies.
Platzi
The largest online education company in Latin America adapted quickly not only to stay afloat but also to reach many more people. In other words, despite the circumstances, it grew far more. The first thing they did was move all their employees to remote work, giving them the tools they needed to do their jobs. They used Zoom for meetings, Slack for communication, and even introduced new courses about remote work.
Zoom Video
The video conferencing company undoubtedly adapted well to the pandemic. Even though at first they didn't consider themselves ready for the huge demand for their services, they managed to raise public funding by going public in 2019, and now in 2021 Zoom plans to sell shares worth $1.5 billion at ten times its IPO price.
Tesla
Some thought Tesla's valuation of $75 billion in early 2020 looked like a bubble. When it joined the S&P 500 in December, it was almost nine times higher — more than the next seven carmakers combined. There's heated debate over whether any of this makes sense. Tesla is expected to have produced around 500,000 cars during the year, half the amount Elon Musk projected in 2016. But it has now posted profits for five consecutive quarters, the industry's shift to electric vehicles is unquestionable, and investors believe its technology is years ahead of the competition. — Patrick McGee in San Francisco
Sea Group
The most valuable company in Southeast Asia showed resilience during the pandemic. Its famous game Free Fire gained millions of new players — including me, who played for a few months :D. Sea Group worked fully remote and raised funding from private investors to keep growing.
Apple
This company once again proves it's up to the task. It moved all its work remote in 2020. It kept selling and operating its factories with reduced staff, largely thanks to process automation. That's how it landed in 4th place among the most valuable companies according to Fortune 500.
Walmart
Fortune 500 ranks this company first, even beating Amazon — and this was one of the companies that had to change the most to adapt to the pandemic. In just a few months it became a major e-commerce player, letting customers who used to go to the supermarket order online. By outsourcing delivery to consumers, they were able to focus on reshaping their line of business.
There are certainly many more stories of resilience out there during this pandemic, many of which haven't been documented yet since the pandemic hasn't fully disappeared. Stories of companies and people who worked together to find solutions. I hope that after this pandemic we find all those stories, so they inspire us to keep believing in humanity and to work, more motivated, toward a better world.