This article was originally posted on forbes.com
Dear readers, it is no excuse but the global COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to stay on time with my regular articles on the app economy. Like many of you, I have been working hard at business while doing my best to keep myself and my loved ones safe. I hope that all of you are doing the same. This is an unprecedented experience for all of us and even though the future seems still very uncertain, I know we’ll get through it together.
When thinking about a topic to write about during this crisis, I felt a bit overwhelmed. So much has changed in the way we live our lives so fast, it is hard to take perspective. For those of us in technology, especially mobile technology, it’s crazy to see how an exogenous, unforeseen shock can so quickly and profoundly affect our business. For some huge platforms, like Airbnb, COVID represents an existential crisis from which they may never fully recover. For others, like teleconferencing app Zoom, it has accelerated months or years of growth into a few weeks. The virus is creating a new division of winners and losers in the app economy. Rather than try to imagine how this phenomenon is playing out, I spoke with senior executives at several firms in different countries and in different verticals. I wanted to see how they are managing during the crisis, how it is impacting their business, and what impact they think it will have on their businesses over the long term. Here is what they had to say.
Rajat Gupta, VP Marketing, Mobile Premier League (MPL)
Do you have views as to how this crisis will affect your business in the long term? Do you think people may change their behavior in fundamental ways, or will they go back to their old selves after the worst is over?
The current crisis will impact the overall global economy for months if not years to come. We may bounce back by next year. However, we won’t know for a while if people’s behavior will change permanently. We may witness changes in countries that are hit hard: people develop habits such as wearing masks in public and new public infrastructure, like mandatory temperature testing, become more common. This happened in many Asian countries after SARS and it enabled those nations to respond more quickly and effectively to Covid-19.
How is your business being impacted? Negatively? Positively? With Zoom as perhaps the most primary example, many apps and platforms have seen their usage skyrocket due to the physical constraints created by the need for social distancing. How is it affecting your app?
Being a gaming platform with 40+ games for our users, we have seen a surge in traffic amidst the lockdown, as people are consuming more content and gaming a lot more, staying at home. Over the month of March alone, we have seen a 55 per cent increase in the daily number of games played on the MPL app.
Do you have views as to how this crisis will affect your business in the long term? Do you think people may change their behavior in fundamental ways, or will they go back to their old selves after the worst is over?
Things are definitely going to change. For one, I think remote work and work-from-home will be a lot more seamless and easy, as compared to before. Meetings and discussions will be a lot more short and crisp, and will only involve those who are absolutely necessary for them.
Economically, do you think we are in for a short sharp downturn and a quick “v-shaped recovery” by the end of the year, or could the economy become mired in a longer recession? What about your industry/niche gives you this viewpoint?
It looks likely that there will be a global recession over the next two quarters; beyond that period of time the nature of the recovery will depend on many factors, especially the development of an effective vaccine and the ability to manufacture and distribute it globally. If we can produce a vaccine in record time, the recovery will be quick. If not the recession may drag on.
Our business, mobile gaming, has enjoyed years of strong growth and I don’t see the coronavirus impacting that growth as online games are a good way to find an escape as well as a way to connect with friends and loved ones who are far away.
Sudarshan Reddy, Senior Manager Marketing Ace2three
Do you have views as to how this crisis will affect your business in the long term? Do you think people may change their behavior in fundamental ways, or will they go back to their old selves after the worst is over?
The current crisis will impact the overall global economy very badly and it will definitely take a good amount of time to bounce back to normal. I believe that there will be changes in behavior in fundamental ways, like for example people might not travel to different countries for opportunities and be more comfortable with whatever exists locally, or they will try to do more virtually.
Economically, do you think we are in for a short sharp downturn and a quick “v-shaped recovery” by the end of the year, or could the economy become mired in a longer recession? What about your industry/niche gives you this viewpoint?
Definitely there will be a global recession and the length and depth of this period will depend upon what best steps each country takes to revive their economy. Overall, the Online Gaming industry has seen good growth in recent years and it will definitely continue to see growth if there is continued innovation in games.
Have the challenges presented by the virus given you any ideas for new apps? What areas of app development look interesting to pursue in response to the virus and its effects?
Yes the current challenges presented by the virus have given us new ideas for new apps, We are looking at apps which have more technology edge where the value proposition needs zero human interaction.
Aleksandr Tismenetsky, CEO at iProspect Ukraine
How has COVID-19 affected your company operationally? Have you needed to implement new systems for distributed work? How is it impacting morale? Culturally, what about your company and your people gives you the belief that you will weather the storm?
iProspect Ukraine works mostly with e-commerce, banking, FMCG, pharma, agriculture clients. Our client use mobile-optimized websites rather than Apps for client acquisition. Most of them are being impacted but continue spending on digital. Only 2 clients, one, an App for travelers and two, a five-star hotel network, have stopped their user acquisition campaigns. At the same time we are getting lots of requests for Paid Search & Paid Social campaigns launch from new businesses entering online sales.
All my colleagues work from home, our workload has increased two times over, but our people are highly motivated. Despite this, we miss the spirit of teamwork we had in our office.
How is your business being impacted? Negatively? Positively? With Zoom as perhaps the most primary example, many apps and platforms have seen their usage skyrocket due to the physical constraints created by the need for social distancing. How is it affecting your app?
Our business has been impacted negatively, as COVID-19 pandemic continues to escalate in Ukraine. But every business sector will be impacted. We advise our clients being responsible and helpful. During this critical and stressful time, they should focus on helping consumers inconvenienced by social distancing by offering solutions that make their lives easier. Businesses should consider:
• Offering free shipping;
• Offering free data or video subscriptions to help consumer stay informed and keep spirits high;
• Updating cancellation policies or extending return windows to reduce concern;
• Offering products or services for free that either make it easier to stay at home or entertain them while at home.
Do you have views as to how this crisis will affect your business in the long term? Do you think people may change their behavior in fundamental ways, or will they go back to their old selves after the worst is over?
Over the coming weeks we will be tracking consumer behavior change using a variety of sources, to share insights and work with our clients and partners to develop understanding. Today we notice that people’s priorities and expectations have adjusted. While consumers are stocking up to feel more in control and shopping more online to avoid crowds, their spending is practical focused on immediate necessities where many are worried about the jobs and potential loss of income. Consumers are relying on tech that can keep their lives running “business as usual”, such as video conferencing and live streaming, and even telehealth and telemedicine to continue medical care. People are open to trying a new stay at home conveniences such as meal-planning and subscription services. App developers must focus on those behaviors now.
Oleg Haustov, CMO at Delivery Club
How has COVID-19 affected your company operationally? Have you needed to implement new systems for distributed work? How is it impacting morale? Culturally, what about your company and your people gives you the belief that you will weather the storm?
First of all, we feel great responsibility. Food and grocery delivery services are at the “forefront” of coronavirus. There has been a surge in interest in delivery in all countries affected by the pandemic. The explanation is simple: delivery is considered the most effective way to minimize the number of social contacts when solving household needs. Now Delivery Club’s own delivery service operates in 70 cities of the Russian Federation with a population of over 45 million people. We are preparing to launch a new business vertical that is extremely important for people – delivery of medicine. Therefore, the entire service team is now as motivated as possible.
If we look at the distributed work, food delivery is a much more technological and interesting process than it might seem at first glance. Users see a courier on the street and on the doorstep of their home. But to make the connection between the courier, the user and the restaurant work efficiently, we use software with artificial intelligence, data science, robotic support, and so on. Teams working on these technologies can work remotely, and this does not affect their effectiveness.
How is your business being impacted? Negatively? Positively? With Zoom as perhaps the most primary example, many apps and platforms have seen their usage skyrocket due to the physical constraints created by the need for social distancing. How is it affecting your app?
According to the results of the past week (April 6-12), the service delivered 1 million orders per week for the first time. The coronavirus accelerated the changes that were already taking place in the food delivery market in Russia. In particular, it expanded the audience of delivery users. In April, compared to March, the share of orders made by new users increased by 1,5 times. But it is important to understand that the epidemiological situation is not the only factor of our growth now. Since the beginning of the year, we have been actively expanding our regional presence, connecting new restaurants, working on the delivery speed – and now we see the effect of all these decisions.
Do you have views as to how this crisis will affect your business in the long term? Do you think people may change their behavior in fundamental ways, or will they go back to their old selves after the worst is over?
We believe that active restaurants connection to the service during the coronavirus period will help the market after. The more restaurants on the platform, the more interesting it is for users to order. During the coronavirus period, even more consumers will experience the value of our work. We don’t just deliver food. We deliver time.
Have the challenges presented by the virus given you any ideas for new apps? What areas of app development look interesting to pursue in response to the virus and its effects?
Firstly, to ensure the safety of users and couriers, we launched contactless delivery, non-cash tips, and canceled cash payments in the app. Secondly, in April, the app will have two new features – takeaway and delivery of medicines. According to our forecasts, the ability to receive takeaway orders from us will help restaurants during the recovery period after the coronavirus. But the delivery of medicines will be helpful as of now already.
Yana Bardintseva, CEO, Okko
How has COVID-19 affected your company operationally? Have you needed to implement new systems for distributed work? How is it impacting morale? Culturally, what about your company and your people gives you the belief that you will weather the storm?
The
time of pandemic is a period of challenges both for people and businesses, a
moment of reconsideration and changes. Being a leading Russian OTT-platform
growing faster than the VoD market, Okko faced one simple question – what can
we do for the people? The answer was to provide the widest audience staying at
homes with premium content free of charge or for a nominal fee.
The transition to remote work was absolutely painless for Okko – progressive
views referred to work process organization and cutting-edge HR practices are
in the DNA of every successful IT-company. All our teams feel the level of
social responsibility, so they do their best to support people and provide them
with the best way of home entertainment.
We reached the point of 17M monthly users, our new launches receive high level of media and customer interest – more than 3M users watched the live show of ‘Bi-2’, a popular Russian rock band. The numbers keep going up.
How is your business being impacted? Negatively? Positively? With Zoom as perhaps the most primary example, many apps and platforms have seen their usage skyrocket due to the physical constraints created by the need for social distancing. How is it affecting your app?
Viewership that got used to linear TV finally has time and inclination to check the opportunities provided by OTT-platforms. We face a certain interest towards Okko, both in terms of new customers, views and even paying users, though the biggest video streaming services offer free access to selected content – customers have options to choose from.
We believe that after the pandemic ends, people who have got acquainted with OTT-services during that hard period will support the platform which has supported them. Seeing the increase in paying users right now, we feel that many people have already made their choice, respecting the efforts of Okko.
Do you have views as to how this crisis will affect your business in the long term? Do you think people may change their behavior in fundamental ways, or will they go back to their old selves after the worst is over?
We have no doubt that the world will change. Many forms of activities will be reconsidered – going for sports, shopping, even office work. When the period of self-isolation ends, products and services which have proven their effectiveness after transition to online will organically integrate into daily routine in that format.
People will visit parks, museums and cinemas to go out but stay with OTT-services to watch the new movies, world’s classics and favorite shows in comfortable atmosphere, suitable time and with a good company.
Have the challenges presented by the virus given you any ideas for new apps? What areas of app development look interesting to pursue in response to the virus and its effects?
Okko has developed its infrastructure in many ways since the start of pandemic and the emergence of new challenges. We created a big media library with free access called ‘When We’re at Home’. It contains titles meeting demands of different audiences, including ‘Art Online’ with a focus on theatrical performances and classical music concerts and ‘Show ON!’ – project supporting fans of rock bands and pop singers by broadcasting interactive live shows. We were the first OTT-platform to start streaming live performances in Russia in the period of pandemic. ‘When We’re at Home’ also contains fitness trainings for enthusiasts of any age, cooking classes, kids content and travel videos.
At the early stage of pandemic we launched a Telegram and VK chat-bot Okkobro, offering free subscription to all people staying at home. Okko Studios, our department focusing on video production, started filming ‘All together’ – first ever series produced 100% remotely. We continue developing our content offer and existing verticals, adding interactive features to live shows so that viewership and artists could communicate during performances.
Wow, that’s a lot to digest. Gaming, OTT streaming media, delivery services – for all of these types of platforms, the virus has created a windfall benefit. Online education is another area that is seeing a catalyzing effect from the virus. The interesting thing is that these are all platforms that have been growing massively already – the question is will their turbocharged adoption end when the world “goes back to normal” or will there be a new normal, where more people work from home and do all their shopping online instead of going to the market or pharmacy. Will young people become so accustomed to dating apps that they stop going out to bars and nightclubs? Only time will tell. One thing I believe is likely: there will be a whole new wave of apps and businesses that are spawned from this crisis, apps whose benefits will endure well past the end of this difficult time.
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