It is more important than ever before to be creative in the new virtual world

As you may have seen, during the week of the PLSA Annual Conference, the KBPR team went virtual; we created avatars for ourselves and invited our clients, journalists, and industry connections to the same. We then used these across our social media platforms to stand out, fully embracing our current environment. We will be a virtual company for the near future, and the rapid migration to digital technologies driven by the pandemic will continue into the recovery so it is more important than ever before to be creative in the new virtual world.

The COVID-19 crisis has certainly provided an insight into a future world, one in which technology and digital services have become central to every interaction and industry. Organisations and individuals have been forced to adapt to digitalisation; school classes were online, ZOOM conferences kicked up a frenzy, and social gatherings were done behind a screen with a drink in hand. The pandemic has shown how important it is to be able to react quickly and innovatively and has highlighted the prevalence of digitalisation. Recent data shows that we jumped five years forward in consumer and business digital adoption in a matter of around eight weeks.

As the economy and our society go through the most dramatic shift in living memory, the pensions industry is working to picture the future, to invest for the future and to provide for the future. As such, annual conferences, such as the PLSA Annual Conference, have had to take it virtual too. As conferences are likely to be virtual for the near future and possibly beyond, we embraced it. We weren’t just showing off our avatar making skills (which were excellent by the way, ask us if you want one), we were leading the way in showing that networking can be fun, even whilst sat behind a computer screen.

Now that coronavirus has locked down the world, finding ways to connect virtually is more important than ever. Even more so it’s important to stand out from the crowd and show your personality in new and exciting ways. If anything, the pandemic has handed us a creative and innovative baton to use as we so wish while we adapt and learn how to connect virtually.

It has been said it takes on average 66 days to form a habit, so 66 days into lockdown we all accepted a ‘temporary way of working’. Perhaps we should now try and break the habit of thinking this is temporary and accept this is now the environment we live in; and it is digital. We live in a world where people now work virtually and have done for the last 6 months; this is how life is now and possibly for many into the future too. Companies might even choose to remain virtual for good, so rather than railing against the new climate we believe it’s time for everyone to embrace it.

Ultimately, those companies and organisations able to adapt and rethink their business model for the future by fast-tracking digital transformation will be ones ahead of their competition. Embracing the digital era now will put you at the top of your game, so grab it by the horns and get creative with how you connect.