Now is the time to rethink the most basic aspects of our everyday lives -- from how we greet people to how we shop and how we conduct our financial matters. Almost no aspect of our collective or individual lives has been left untouched. In a world where simply waiting in line, shaking hands or sitting in a crowded waiting room could result in catching or transmitting the coronavirus, people are opting for ways to avoid physical interactions in favor of digital ones.

In light of this, organizations are scrambling to adopt digital tools to meet consumer demand, but they have to quickly play catch-up. According to Gartner, 84% of consumers are disappointed with the digital services and products they encounter with businesses. In uncertain times, satisfying customers’ expectations for digitization can be the dierence between staying in business and shutting down. Yet, businesses that successfully transition to eective digital services will be rewarded long after this crisis passes.

Crisis has always jeopardized traditional business operations.

The coronavirus has led companies to send employees to work from home, schools to conduct distance learning and healthcare workers to oer virtual consultations. This rapid shift to remote ways of getting things done may seem unprecedented, but it’s not the first crisis to have driven people out of public places and into their homes.

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, many businesses and airlines shut down temporarily amid fears of a repeat attack. Some parents in New York City chose to keep their kids home for some time. During the 2002 to 2004 SARS outbreak, Chinese ocials closed down schools in Beijing. In 2015, the deadly MERS virus shut down over 1,000 schools in South Korea.

Of course, it’s not just viruses that lead governments to restrict public gatherings and individuals to instinctively avoid them. War has a similar eect.

For example, during WWII, the UK had even greater disruption to the public sphere; in 1939, mass evacuations led many children to go without schooling because over 2,000 schools were repurposed for defense purposes. A fifth of school buildings were damaged by bombings, and air raids halted lessons for hours, resulting in fewer and fewer children attending schools.