Last week, we looked at 3 industries that are going to suffer long-term from the effects of coronavirus-driven behavior changes.

In this inevitable transition to come, though, there will be winners, too.

Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella had an interesting quote in his last earnings release:

We've seen two years' worth of digital transformation in two months. - Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

The "digital" part is really important here. We definitely have not seen the end of in-person entertainment, or work, or shopping, or anything else. But we have certainly learned some important lessons about the important of digitization in almost all sectors of business.

These lessons are going to form decisions being made right now. Those decisions, in turn, are going to shape a different economy going forward.

Here are three industries that are likely to benefit long-term from these changes in a post-COVID world.

Business Collaboration Tools

In the prior article, we discussed at length about the work-from-home (WFH) transition that was forced upon almost everyone at the start of the COVID crisis.

During the two months that followed, a lot of large companies have learned some important things. One, that their business can survive, and in many cases even thrive, with nearly all of their workforce doing their jobs remotely, away from (expensive) company-owned offices. And two, that their employees in many cases have found the benefits of working from home life-altering - benefits they are likely going to demand going forward.

Given these factors, working from home is almost certainly going to be a much more utilized model in a post-COVID world.

Importantly, this model only works when the digital tools are there to accomplish it effectively. Employees still need to be able to communicate with each other, to meet in real-time, and to share business resources.

There are numerous stocks of companies that should benefit from this increased demand.

Zoom (ZM) is an obvious one, providing collaborative real-time video solutions.

Microsoft (with Teams) and Slack (WORK) have formed the backbone of remote communication for many large firms.

Atlassian (TEAM) provides several collaboration tools like JIRA (for project management) and BitBucket (for code sharing) that are critical in software development.

Almost any of the cloud-driven SaaS business software firms have benefited, as access to their platforms changes very little in a WFH scenario. Peripherally, firms like Zscaler (ZS), who provide software-based security firewalls between company networks and cloud software, should benefit as well.

As Satya Nadella said, the ongoing digital transformation of the past 5 years or so has been massively accelerated. These firms, at the spear point of the modern business economy, have had their vision validated and stand to see even greater adoption going forward.

Pure E-Commerce Plays

The "digital transformation" is not taking place only at the business-to-business level.

We've seen some marked change in consumer habits, as well.

A lot of that behavior change has been forced. State and local governments the world over have explicitly disallowed businesses where large groups of people congregate in small places, except for "essential" needs. Malls, "non-essential" retailers, and restaurants have all had to modify the way they do business in order to stay afloat. The ones that already had a digital presence were in far better position to weather the storm than those that did not.

It is likely that some of this consumer behavior change will stick. Folks who were not aware before have discovered the advantages and convenience of e-commerce, from shopping online to ordering food delivery through an app. The COVID crisis has accelerated the move to e-commerce dramatically.

As a result, firms with a substantial online presence already are going to be big winners over the competition that does not.

Pure plays stand to benefit the most. We've already seen substantial sales increases reported from Wayfair (W), Etsy (ETSY), and of course Amazon (AMZN). Unlike traditional retailers with no or a minimal online presence, these firms don't have the huge costs of running physical retail locations to unwind as they transition to digital. That's a big advantage.

Dedicated e-commerce models in the restaurant space don't really exist at this point, but restaurants that had already developed a digital ordering experience have fared better then those that haven't (Chipotle (CMG) and Starbucks (SBUX) are two examples). It will be interesting to see if anyone attempts to develop a new restaurant model that is built solely on online ordering and pickup/delivery - basically a modernization of the traditional "carry out" model.

Digital Home Entertainment

Perhaps the most drastic way that the COVID-19 lockdowns have changed consumer behavior is in the realm of entertainment.

Think of all the ways this has changed. Televised and live sporting events have been completely shut down, taking away a primary source of entertainment for millions. Movie theaters and performing arts centers are closed indefinitely. Bars, bowling alleys, pool halls, all sources of social entertainment, all closed.

That's a lot of time people have on their hands. And they are turning to digital home entertainment to fill the void.

This is great news for those companies that provide it. Particularly attractive are the businesses with subscription based models. Many consumers who signed up during COVID just to fill time are likely to hold on to their subscription after seeing the benefits.

Probably the most obvious benefactor here is Netflix (NFLX), who saw their subscriber count soar to more than double their expectations last quarter.

Digital gaming is another space that has seen a marked increase, and one that should last for a time as habits form around it. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) exceeded its quarterly guidance for revenue by almost 10%, and digital net bookings were up 27%. These were driven by interest in new release Call of Duty: Warzone, and renewed interest in World of Warcraft. Electronic Arts (EA) reported similar increases, and it is reasonable to expect Take Two (TTWO) to follow suit when they report quarterly earnings in the next few weeks.

The digital home entertainment platforms that rely on advertising revenue are less attractive in the short term, as firms draw back ad spend during a recession. However, the enduring shift in consumer habits spurred by COVID-19 should make them net benefactors over the long term, as the trend of ad dollars moving into digital channels accelerates. We feel this will ultimately be a boon to firms like Roku (ROKU), YouTube (owned by Google (GOOG)), and Facebook (FB).

Conclusion

Let's wrap it up by remembering legendary marketer Seth Godin's quote:

Change is not a threat, it's an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is. - Seth Godin, Marketing Wizard

That about sums up the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns. They are inevitably going to drive long-term changes in the way both businesses and consumers operate. Digital, online channels - already developing as the model of the future - have been rapidly accelerated in the past several months. While there will be some revision to previous norms, digital as a way of life has been advanced and there is no going back.

Firms that were already positioned to take advantage of this are going to be the firms that thrive in this "new world order". Firms that were holding on to old models of doing business will not do well. Many of them will not survive. This was happening already, and again, COVID-19 is just an accelerator of previous trends.

All investors should position their portfolios to take advantage of this. This change is not a threat, it's an opportunity.