Innovation and Internet: Forging new connections mitigated the effects of the pandemic on businesses--at least those with access.

• Author: Simonelli, Isaac Stone
• Position: TELECOM & TECH

In an age where private businesses are sending people to outer space, the technology that makes the difference for rural entrepreneurs is something many Americans take for granted: stable access to the internet. And the COVID-19 pandemic has forced even businesses in urban centers, such as Anchorage and Fairbanks, to step up their digital presence and embrace processes or tools already utilized by companies in the Lower 48.

"Small businesses were really challenged on the front end," says Jeffrey Salzer, the Alaska deputy district director at the Small Business Administration (SBA). "Especially those that were lagging in technology."

When the pandemic hit nearly two years ago, businesses were scrambling, particularly small 'main street" businesses that had very limited digital presences, despite being on Alaska's fiber network, Salzer explains.

Adapt and Overcome

One of the biggest technological changes for businesses was focused on point-of-sale. This was perhaps most prominently seen in the restaurant industry.

"A large majority of them before the pandemic weren't really optimized for online ordering, takeout, and delivery," explains Jon Bittner, the executive director of the Alaska Small Business Development Center (SBDC). "They weren't using the delivery services: the third-party services like DoorDash and things like that."

Businesses that had relied on walk-in customers suddenly found themselves with a point-of-sale system that simply didn't work during the pandemic.

"It definitely forced more of those businesses to engage with their customers on a meaningful level digitally, as opposed to before where it had been mostly in person or through the phone," Bittner says.

Those restaurants had to transition and figure out how to work with other partners to integrate this new point-ofsale technology, explains Salzer.

"Technology has kind of become what we've all gone to, to cope with the changes and how we do our jobs," Salzer says.

Even the SBA wasn't immune from the need to adapt and change to meet the needs of the businesses that relied on it. The administration was forced to find new ways to help businesses overcome technological barriers just to access funds for the Paycheck Protection Program, the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

"You needed access to technology to do that," Salzer says.

The SBA, along with SBDC, the Veterans Outreach Center, the Women's Business Centers, and other partners, exerted a lot of energy to make sure that the information about resources made available by Congress was getting out to the people who really needed it, says Steve Brown, the Alaska district director at the SBA.

Face to Virtual Face

Another industry segment that saw a rapid adoption of technology was mental health services, says Bittner. The need for social distancing and the increased need for such services created an environment that drove change.

"They have discovered that it's actually quite feasible to do that through a video link. And I think that that's going to allow them to offer a lot more flexibility in their services and cover a larger geographic area," Bittner says.

Alaska is well known for being a leader in telemedicine because of the need to provide services to rural communities; however, Bittner says that the pandemic created a need for a rapid, almost industry-wide implementation of telemedicine offerings.

"So, instead of sort of doing the slow and steady, we just sort of had to flip a switch," Bittner says. "I...