Has the world changed forever or just temporarily?

The world has changed for everybody as we all know and I am not referring to the US elections. For international business travellers, 12 months ago was quite a different time. Customers and consultants expected face to face meetings with you to follow up on your quotations. The familiarity of travelling two to three weeks per month and the airport procedures and lounges became routine. Missing your friends and family was tough but part of the job and of course you could make many friends and connections during business travelling.

Now thanks to COVID 19 travelling is not even a luxury its not possible in many cases for businesses. The world has adapted though, in the past if you contacted a new prospect they would say "come to see me next time you are here", now you can simply arrange a conference call on the multitude of systems available and have a meeting presenting your products and talking about opportunities. Previously "lunch and learn" meetings were common for architects yet now you can organise online webinars for specifiers.

İts an interesting time for business development, you have to adapt and change or be left behind, you have to sharpen up your presentation skills, learn the technology, find new ways to connect; also on a personal level its tougher to emotionally connect with a new customer.

İts also a time of opportunity though because 12 months ago you could visit and be effective in maybe a couple of countries per month. Now if you are disciplined and structured the world really is your oyster. You can work on dozens of countries if you like, spending time on creating opportunities instead of spending time driving flying waiting and all the old ways. People dont expect you to meet face to face and of course no one can see when its possible again so you are unlikely to hear "your products look great, lets talk next time you are in Saudi".

But the real question is....what is it going to be like 12 months later? İf COVİD19 is still prevalent then İ guess much will be the same. İf things are semi-normal (this means some restrictions but life goes on) then what will it be like? Will international business travellers be back to the grind of travelling 3 weeks a month again and these recent work from home technology days are just a memory or have we changed partly?

Will we be able to continue to do business more using technology to connect over the internet for professional B2B? Customer meetings and architect meetings still online? Or will we be back to completely travelling again? What do you think?