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Okay—I’m not going to start this blog by delving into the past year. We all know that 2020 and early 2021 were horrible, so let’s leave it at that. But with light at the end of our collective tunnel vision, there is a glimmer of hope emerging that we are all about to put the worst behind us.

As we look forward to a brighter and better future, it’s this renewed hope that has me—and I assume everyone else—craving experience. Personally, I’d like that experience to include me getting on a plane and travelling to somewhere tropical, where I can enjoy a beautiful ocean view while lounging in an infinity pool with an all-inclusive swim-up bar. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. I’d happily settle for a quasi-normal worry-free weekend road trip consisting of a change of scenery and in-person interactions with members outside of my household.

Jokes aside, I know we are all craving in-person experiences. Ironically, it’s our mobile devices—the same devices that enabled us to communicate while distancing ourselves from one another over the past year—that will foster these re-connections.

Since the start of the pandemic, mobile devices have also been the key connection point between businesses and customers and, in many cases, have actually strengthened those relationships. The ability for businesses to constantly connect with their customers without seeing them face-to-face has not only allowed them to stay in constant contact, provide regular updates and new promotional offerings—that ability has also helped them learn about their customers and use that information to create truly personalized experiences.

Now, as we prepare for business to re-open, one question remains. How can brands extend these growing digital connections and customer relationships to in-person engagements, and offer that experience we have all been so desperately craving?

Let’s look at restaurants as an example. For every single takeout order that customers placed in the past year, you already have data that points you in the right direction. Now, it’s simply a matter of implementing a tool that enables you to action that data. Better yet, that same data can now be used to learn even more about customers than ever before—enabling you to ask them relevant questions and build on their Single-User-Profiles to make every interaction special and personalized.

Meanwhile, if your restaurant plays its cards properly, online ordering can be both maintained and leveraged for in-person dining. Imagine the opportunities that a mobile app can provide—enabling your restaurant to invite people to grand post-COVID events, entice people with specials, and to present a whole series of new and exciting experiences for customers and their friends to take advantage of.

The app part is actually very simple. Our own offering at omNovos can have you up and running in mere days—connecting with every individual customer, and prepping them for the kick-off to this century’s own Roaring 20s.

There is no “new normal.” There is just getting back to what matters most—and that’s personal interactions with everyone. Yes, work environments may move to hybrid models, and people may change some habits. But all of this was coming anyway. The only thing we all need to remember is that humans are social creatures, the pandemic will end, and our “normal” will eventually seem wonderfully abnormal as this brief moment in history comes to a close.