TO breakthrough in life requires talent and business acumen that will beat all odds despite constant environmental changes.
This article ponders on the shift in business dynamics owing to the changes that are constantly taking place particularly in the telecommunication industry dealing with a wide range of services to keep the global population connected.
In order to address the swelling patterns in the changing environment to enhance sales and profit, more innovation is required in compatibility to the changes around products and services that can easily be accessible at affordable rates amid Coronavirus (COVID-19) challenges.
Virtual business is the new culture, be it meetings, sales and marketing, events including learning. Service providers of online platforms being the most profitable since the pandemic struck in March 2020.
Statistics reveal that the digital space and usage of data and broadband services have seen a spike in usage due to high number of people working from home and having video conferencing to hold meeting and used as learning platforms for students. More users rely on connectivity and digital services for business continuity.
Telecommunication companies have now repositioned themselves and enhanced their infrastructures to facilitate reliable connectivity to clients. They have remodeled their pricing and drilled down into multiple variations of pricing models to accommodate different customers.
To cover all users, be it students, business counterparts or corporate professionals and disregarding the one size fits all phenomenon, pricing has been adjusted accordingly. For example, students need more connectivity time while learning and researching but may have financial constraints compared to corporate users who may have the capacity to pay at whatever cost.
This approach is fair and does not leave any one out. This evolving industry has accelerated its sales due to the high demand more than ever before. In addition to that, the usage of laptops and other devices accelerated sales as more companies were forced to work from home as well as students and individual users.
Small and medium enterprises (SME) also came on board by being more innovative and accelerated the usage of digital platform particularly for payments and advertising their products online.
In Zambia even the cheapest laptop brand become scarce due to high demand considering that everyone wanted to own a laptop, desktop or any device that could connect them to the rest of the world.
Market players in this arena were overwhelmed with the demand but in order to satisfy and meet the clients ‘needs, innovation around this remain critical in order to expand and enhance sales.
This is more like cooking without any recipe, it entices you to think of better ways of making a meal appetizing, by so doing, innovative ideas are blended in and eventually you create your own new recipe.
When you decide to plunge into the business industry, be sure to be constantly reviewing your products and services to realign them to the changes in the market.
While majority of businesses scaled down, closed or diversified, the telecommunication industry was the busiest even when change in the market was imperceptible from a distance during the pandemic when it first came, but it later turned into reality, as we have witnessed.
The telecommunication industry has proved its significance when there was social and economic disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic. They paved way for business continuity, dissemination of information and connectivity.
Similarly, traditional banks have been impacted by the changes too. Imagine how disruptive internet banking can distract traditional banking if not complemented. Banks have no choice but to change to keep up with the tech upstarts to continue running the business of banking successfully.
Traditional banking is being transformed by internet based financial services which are complementing existing services even in rural areas where the unbanked were prevalent.
More life is being injected in the sluggish traditional banking to improve processes. However, with high usage of internet services, regulation remains critical to protect users of online services to avoid any emerging challenges relating to internet services.
It is in this regard that internet firm providers are now partnering with more banks to tap into new opportunities in the changing business landscape for businesses to thrive.
The pricing mechanism must be mutual to benefit both parties. These great innovations of collaborations are critical in strengthening relations and waive the aspect of competition.
Rather than having a win- lose business environment, it is better to work together for mutual benefits. This also closes and breaks the cycle of imbalances in the business environment considering that the world is changing rapidly.
As the world transitions into a complete global digital economy, businesses must realign themselves to the massive changes that are taking place today.
As we go to the polls tomorrow, let us keep safe by following the ministry of Health guidelines. Unfortunately, voting is not virtual but physical.

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The Author is a seasoned banker, has a Bachelor of Arts, honors degree in Business management/a Master of Business Administration from University of Sunderland (UK) and has a Doctorate in Business Administration from the Atlantic International University, United States of America (USA).