DIGITAL NOMADS: WAY OF THE FUTURE (for @theaustralianjournal)

The world has changed and will continue to do so, yet we keep on struggling with the same old issues. In a highly over-populated scenario, we are not able to understand what will follow today and what will be a trend tomorrow.

The idea of the Digital Nomad is currently becoming common for the new generation of workers. There is a certain appeal in travelling and working at the same time... working from a hotel in Sri Lanka or perhaps from a tiny café in Barcelona, or even from some small hostel in Perú. True: it sounds so appealing and interesting. Now, is it really feasible? Is the ´Digital Nomad thing´possible? Is it doable?

Well, things really DO have changed.

The COVID19 situation has taught us a lesson. First and foremost, it has shown us the we really ARE living in a digital world, even wether we like it or not. It´s not something we get to choose. It is more of an opportunity at this stage and if we don´t take advantage of it, I´m guessing we will have to deal with the problems this will bring us.

For example, let´s think about it.

We live in a competitive world which means companies compete in order to attract customers and increase sales. If the company sells products that are not as good as the other company´s eventually people will found out about this and they will buy the other company´s product. Now, it is my opinion that technology has allowed product development to become very efficient. This means that most products being sold are already, at least, quite good and will satisfy most of the customers looking to buy that product. Therefore, there is very small space for Brand Differentiation regarding Product.

To give you an example, most smartphones will satisfy your demand to communicate. They all have WI-FI and a pretty decent camera, so, they all pretty much work fine for what we want to do with them... or at least for the vast majority of consumers.

The same will happen with Airlines. Most Airlines will get you there. Most of them will offer pretty much the same food on-board, pretty much the same movies, pretty much the same price.

Technology has allowed this to happen. Most products are already very similar: they have reached a place where they already satisfy our needs so companies are looking for differentiation in other areas. They are looking to engage with customers in social media, they are looking to invest in customer service, they are thinking how they can create differentiation outside of their product.

In other words, companies understand that Change is inevitable. And COVID19 has made this clear. Either you adapt or you die.

In order to survive the COVID19 crisis, many companies didn´t think they have a choice. They just fired part of their staff. Other companies opted to offer remote work and home office. They sent their employees home and told them to work from there. And this turned out to be quite interesting, because it opened up a whole new panorama.

If productivity does not decrease when working from home... why rent an office in the first place? The COVID19 situation has hit hard but hey, it´s also an opportunity.

Is the Digital Nomad proposal just a millenial dream? In my opinion, we might as well be looking at a more cost-efficient workplace.

Cheers,

Lg