We need to be even more prepared to survive this year too: Pinky Pujara

Shrugging off the disruptions of last year, businesses and agencies are looking for a strong revival in 2021. Adgully – as part of our annual TRENDING NOW endeavour – has been presenting the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of 2020. 

In conversation with Adgully, Pinky Pujara, Director Academics, Universal Education Group, how the pandemic has effectively acted as a catalyst to boost the process of adapting to the era of digitisation 

Also read:  “If 2020 was year of digital disruption, 2021 will be year of omni-channel adaptation”

Outlook for 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has opened multiple gateways which were never thought of earlier. With the outbreak of the pandemic, people have found many ways to sustain themselves and this has led to the adoption of diverse options for making work easier and more flexible. All industries are now trying to revamp their businesses and generate a great ROI by using digital platforms and are fulfilling the demand by working remotely. If we look at the education sector, digitisation has been the trend from the onset of the pandemic and clearly, it has seeped into the sector for good. The pandemic has effectively acted as a catalyst to boost the process of adapting to the era of digitisation. 

Great Expectations

The aftermath of the pandemic has still been a concern and with the second wave of the new strain of COVID-19, it is quite evident we need to be even more prepared to survive this year too. Brands, agencies, and institutions need to be more efficient in sharing valuable information on time and make it the ‘normal’ rather than the ‘new normal’. On the work front, we are leading the work-from-home practice where communication plays a major part and virtual tools like live-streams, communities, virtual events, and digitalengagements are the only tools in your arsenal to make it efficient.

When we talk about the education sector, what we intuitively expect will happen from 2021 is that education will need to shift to a new dynamic and we feel Artificial intelligence (AI) would be the new direction ofour strategy that could meet the challenges. We are living in the world of technology and I believe, the learning experience can be made very productive with innovative uses of technology. Going forward, with the help of AI, we can customise education for students as per their ability, where the learning can be effectual and will help us to address the problem constructively. Not only the student community, but we foresee the teacher panel to also be more accustomed to the newer methodologies of teaching-learning, where everything can be customised. 

Key learnings from 2020

For me personally, (and presumably for all) surviving the year 2020 as well as learning the various unexpected benefits due to the impact of the pandemic is a key takeaway. The year has helped me see the bigger picture, and in simpler terms, has shown me how the forthcoming days will evolve. With marketing seeing a shift in a new direction, the pandemic has pushed us to explore how the virtual or the digital platform will be an answer to many of our problems in the future. We will strive to be on top of this developing trend and find ways to stay ahead in the long and critical race.