Tech Stocks Soared During the Pandemic. Here's What That Means for Your Business. The world is saturated with tech solutions post-Covid. Here's how to navigate the landscape.

The Great Recession of 2020 led to major setbacks for most industries: Sudden mandates altered business processes and consumer behaviour. Some of the industries that were hit hardest by the recession included travel, hospitality, retail, food service and manufacturing. It could take more than five years for some of the most affected sectors to get back to their 2019-level contributions to GDP and even longer for small businesses if they are able to pull through.

Unlike most other industries, the tech sector has thrived since the onset of the pandemic, thereby solidifying its place as a future-proofed industry. Digital transformations, which normally may have taken two or three years to implement, suddenly became enforced at a company-wide level within a matter of weeks. Tech stocks surged over the course of the pandemic, with cloud computing being the star of the show as millions of people worldwide had to work and learn remotely. It doesn't come as a surprise that some of the biggest tech winners of 2020 included video-conferencing services, cybersecurity software, communications software and gaming companies.

Serial entrepreneurs and investors were quick to capitalize on the demand for tech solutions. In 2020, venture capitalists poured $16.2 billion into tech companies based out of New York, matching a record that was set in 2019 and indicating that the tech boom is going strong.

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So many options, so little time

Countless tech solutions have sprouted up in the past year, with the goal of helping companies through the crisis and post-pandemic world. For the most part, the digital products and services had to align with corporate strategies. In addition to the productivity and task management tools that reigned before the pandemic, companies began exploring SaaS tools and solutions for teleconferences, remote sales, data security, migration to the cloud and so much more. The abundance of available solutions made it difficult for teams to properly research options and narrow down the list to choose from. Those that inherently knew the components to look for had an advantage.

Related: Pivoting During the Pandemic: How These Businesses Succeeded

How to choose between solutions

There's much to consider when manually deciding between solutions, especially for companies that don't have an advisory committee. In most cases, it's a drawn-out and granular process. For teams that don't have months to explore different vendors, services such as GlobalDots act as an extension of internal IT teams to recommend the most suitable solutions for teams. The cloud-performance and security-value-add reseller leverages cloud technology to help companies find and deploy the best SaaS solutions for their businesses.

As entire economies push through the pandemic and businesses regain their footing, acquiring a comprehensive understanding of every available option can be a loser's game without external help. Teams that choose to go the manual route have more to consider before zeroing in on options. Budget is usually the starting point for smaller businesses, and it's important to determine the true cost of services since there may be hidden expenses or different tiers of service to consider. Some services offer generous trial periods, which can be used to get a good feel for the user experience.

For example, a platform that offers an intuitive user interface across a range of devices that aims to drive increased user productivity and streamline tasks would be a great choice to continue processes without interruptions. The accessibility element gives cross-platform solutions bonus points in the remote work setting.

Related: How SaaS Is Changing the Way We Work

It is also wise to look into solutions that can evolve along with the business, such as cloud-based solutions. With cloud-based solutions, vendors manage regular system updates to ensure that the solution is running smoothly. Vendors also take extra steps to ensure the security of a company's financial data, employee information and proprietary information.

Digital solutions went from being a "nice to have" to a necessity for businesses in the post-pandemic world. Time is of the essence when it comes to choosing and implementing the right solutions. As such, it's imperative that team members understand how to test the waters before committing to services. That way, they can be confident they're making an informed decision.