During the past few months, businesses have had to act swiftly. This sense of urgency has influenced many to pivot towards new ideas and technologies, particularly the use of apps.
Now more than ever, leaders are investing time, energy and resources into innovation, diversification and strategic ideas to enhance their business offerings.
The impact of the coronavirus has influenced many businesses to make greater online presence their top priority. Moreover, much of the modifications made had benefited businesses so much so that they are there to stay.
“We hope it will play a key role in achieving our mission of building a thriving global media brand that impacts and inspires the business world.” – David Jepson
Aaron Smith, Founder of boutique fitness brand and Australia’s largest Pilates franchise, KX Pilates, has put his attention on furthering the company’s online platform.
Since earlier this year when the business had to close its 67 studios across the country the KX leadership team has been offering a full schedule of Live KX classes and over 70 on-demand work-outs via its app.
“It’s tough maintaining morale and culture when the situation changes so regularly, but it remains a big focus for us,” Aaron says. “We’re supporting each other through this and I’m proud to see the team shining in our darkest hour. Having 10 years of business behind us has helped us navigate the ups and downs.”
The business also had to transfer its six-week training course online. The KX Academy went from a face-to-face program to online seminars and video conferencing.
“Adapting the training content to work in an online environment has worked better than we could have imagined,” Aaron says. “So much so, we will continue this new approach moving forward.”
The CEO Magazine has also recently launched its new app that brings corporate stories to life through interaction, moving imagery, videos, links and rub ’n’ reveal elements.
The business publication’s CEO, David Jepson, says he hopes the app will help build and influence the future of the media industry.
“We hope it will play a key role in achieving our mission of building a thriving global media brand that impacts and inspires the business world,” he confirms.
The fully immersive digital format solution is ideal for the C-suite executive who is always on the move, and who can now access the interactive version with full features from their phone and tablet. The CEO Magazine app is available for free in both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Google Play.
Further, Jeremy Chen, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Good Things, says that since lockdown his business has implemented the use of video and messaging platform Loom – particularly for onboarding new clients and team members.
“Loom has been really useful for audiovisual walkthroughs and screen sharing,” he notes. “The platform allowed us to give our new team a thorough onboarding experience as well as train our staff on new software we have just introduced.
“We also started using Calendly to book in all of our Zoom meetings internally and externally, which has made the process seamless and cut out the friction point of the back and forth emails over times and availability for each person.”
Jeremy adds that other initiatives that have helped the business include fortnightly newsletters detailing what is happening within the company, as well as themed staff Zoom drinks with guest speakers such as John Buchanan, the ex-cricketer and ex-coach of Australia’s national team.
“We also have quarterly themes and goals for each staff member that are tracked and celebrated when hit.”
