The lock-down occasioned by the spread of the COVID-19 from the corona virus has disrupted the workings of many businesses. The businesses that have the capacity have adopted remote methodologies and are working from home. But the vast majority of businesses in Nigeria were not prepared for remote work and the lock-down has hit them severely.

Technology companies like us (Caseray Solutions) are affected too by the lock-down. How? Afterall remote working is first nature to us. Well, here is how. We service our customer businesses remotely using digital technologies and with the lock-down a number of our customers have put on hold projects that should have commenced already.

In response we had to look inwards at our other businesses. You see, when you are a tech company you are aware of new solutions which can impact business but which most traditional businesses are not ready to adopt. This awareness spurred us to launch a couple other businesses where we implement digital services and we have seen remarkable results from them in the past 10 years.

What did we discover from looking inwards during this lock-down? Quite a few useful lessons. Now, because we had more time for our digital services we tested them afresh extensively and found bugs that impacted customer experience. This was embarrassing but we have fixed them and are seeking new ways to improve our digital services across the board. We are also deepening our skills in Google Cloud Platform technologies to enable us to transform the businesses we run directly.

What are the technologies enabling us to work remotely? Some of the technologies that enable us to work remote are:

i) Website;

ii) Android app;

iii) Email marketing;

iv) Social media;

v) Phone (calls, SMS, WhatsApp);

vi) Computers; and

vii) Various cloud technologies.

Interestingly, in the past few weeks we have seen an upsurge in the way customers are willing to adapt to digital technologies to consume information. For example, before the lock-down, when we ran email marketing campaigns to one particular audience we used to see open rates of 5% – 18%. During this lock-down however, our email campaigns to this same audience have seen open rates as high as 81%. Initially we thought this was an aberration, or a software glitch, but another two campaigns have replicated the 81% open rates for our email marketing campaign during this Covid-19 lock-down.

It is clear that traditional businesses will better understand the importance of remote working methodologies coming out of this pandemic. For us at Caseray Solutions we are currently working out strategies to deepen our capacity to deliver great services to our customers remotely and we suggest traditional businesses do the same as not only a measure to survive but as a measure to excel in an increasingly digital world.

Finally, our most important goal right now is to come out of this pandemic stronger, better and above all healthy. We wish you the same.

Email us at: info@caseray.com.ng