WEAR WORDS
What immediate and medium-term effects do you expect the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions to have on your sector ?
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Sir David Bell , Vice-Chancellor , University of Sunderland ( Education ) The lifting of restrictions is very good news for higher education as it will allow on-campus activity to resume for students and staff . With that comes all the benefits of in-person activity that is at the heart of a university experience .
Medium-term , we are looking forward to welcoming back the thousands of international students that have become such a positive feature of life on Wearside in recent years .
Michelle Cooper , chief executive , County Durham Community Foundation ( Charity ) I think a lot of charities and volunteers are trying to catch their breath right now – after 18 months of meeting intense public need under huge pressure . Those who could have pulled out all the stops to support charities ; but there ’ s a lack of visibility around future funding and what that will look like – especially around replacement funding following Brexit .
Our communities will need ongoing support with mental health , poverty and hunger and long-term , we need to address the inequalities that made the pandemic particularly merciless for some .
Richard Swart , global sales director , Berger Group ; chair , Advanced Manufacturing Forum ( Manufacturing ) Swapping self-isolation for negative PCRs and immediate work return was a welcome shot in the arm . Despite this , and vaccine progress , due to global Covid-19 issues and economic impact we are far from clear .
Strong economic rebound and order books , commodity shortages , sharp price increases , Brexit complexities and costs , mental health and fatigue issues , skills and labour shortages , all combined with Covid-19 cases make for a casserole of challenges difficult to digest in a healthy and efficient manner for many manufacturers in the medium term .
Mark Wilkinson - group commercial director , razorblue ( IT )
We are already seeing an uplift in buyer confidence and the pandemic has been a wakeup call for businesses to invest in sustainable
IT solutions , especially digital transformation strategies .
As the UK economy begins to recover , enhancing efficiencies is a top priority for businesses and we expect to see an increased interest in automation and AI .
Cloud and cybersecurity will also remain top of the agenda to enhance hybrid working solutions .
Marc Gordon , director Fresh Start Events , EXPO organiser ( Business events ) As restrictions ease , we see events starting to return once again , which begs the question has the virtual option now served its purpose as meeting physically is now back on trend ?
But lockdown taught us that meeting virtually is timeefficient , cost-efficient and a lot easier in some cases .
The new buzzword in the events sector is ‘ Hybrid ’, a physical meeting for some and virtual for others . Is this now going to be the new normal for some events or conferences and exhibitions ?
The virtual option is here to stay and will form a big part of our business model going forward .
Alex Gordon , director Network B2B ( Networking ) The lifting of Covid-19 restrictions will only enhance our networking groups even further than what the pandemic itself has already done . The pandemic forced Network B2B to move all its networking meetings from face-to-face to virtual meetings via the Zoom platform . Initially , this was a bit of an upheaval , but time soon showed us that this was a far better way of networking as it saves massively on participants ’ costs and time .
We will have the one monthly face-to-face meeting but weekly meetings will continue to be virtual .
Mark Doherty , managing director , Identity Consult ( Construction ) While social distancing restrictions have been lifted , we all understand the pandemic is not over and Identity Consult is certainly still seeing our sites exercise caution by following the government ’ s guidance around Working Safely in Construction .
The construction industry has adapted in the short term but even over the medium term this virus is still going to be circulating , but the industry is adapting well and the impacts experienced in terms of supply chains we expect to start flattening out by the first quarter of 2022 .
Austin Carney , owner , Infinite Durham MultiActivity Park ( Leisure ) The lifting of Covid-19 restrictions was massive for us in terms of re-opening our indoor football , trampoline park , ice cream parlour and the New Ferens Park facilities . Most of our facilities were closed for 14 months . The taking away of table service was a huge boost to us in terms of freeing up staff but that was balanced by the ‘ pingdemic ’ which challenged so many businesses . The recovery is gaining momentum though and I ’ m sure that ’ s the same for businesses everywhere .