Re- Strategising and Prioritising after COVID-19
Where once the path seemed clear and the road well mapped (think medium term strategy, budget), COVID-19 has quickly ripped up all this good work and made executives and management take quick reactive decisions to keep businesses operational or at the very least afloat.
Projects have been cancelled, staff furloughed, contractors off loaded and operations and business models quickly adapted to operate in this new world. Clearly there is much still to do, but with the dust beginning to settle in this new but temporary normal, businesses do need to start to think; what does my new strategy look like? which projects still need to go ahead? and what else needs to happen to ensure my business is sustainable and profitable?
In my mind, and being simplistic, two things have changed.
1) The world has been forced to use more digital services, for example even those who shrugged video calls have taken to operating via Zoom, Teams and Whatsapp. Personally with family scattered across several geographies and typically only meeting once every several years we have got together more often in the lock-down, via Zoom, then over the last ten years. Sure we could have done this before, but it was COVID-19 which made it happen.
2) Being lean, agile and flexible is no longer optional. With the road ahead foggy and most likely to still have several sharp twists and turns having the ability to quickly change and adapt is a must to maintain customer trust and loyalty (and don't forget that the best moments of delight are created in the moments of highest need) as well to keep some sense of profitability.
Business strategy and priority need to reflect the above and it is a happy coincidence that the two are not mutually exclusive. Digitalisation, if done correctly, can give you both a better customer experience as well as a leaner and more flexible operation. But I must stress, this only happens if done correctly. The use of technology needs to be grounded in customer and business needs and wants (definitely not technology for technology sake) and be built in a way that is can be changed, flexed and expanded quickly.
To help with Re- Strategising and Prioritising I would suggest considering the following questions as a starter for ten.
- Which projects, already in play, help digitalise and move me towards being lean, agile and flexible - perhaps these are the ones to priortise and continue?
- What can I do to make my operations leaner, more agile and more flexible? This will not only save cost, but mean you can take advantage of a changing world.
- What are my competencies as a business and what do I currently offer my customers, and what else could I offer my customers? This will help tease out new opportunities.