BEYOND COVID-19 PLAN (a new BCP)

We often hear about the importance of Business Continuity Planning (BCP) in today’s dynamic environment. Simply stated, a BCP is a document that outlines how a business will continue operating during an unplanned disruption in service because of certain risks: natural disasters—fire, flood, or weather-related events—and cyber-attacks.

But even with the existing BCPs, COVID-19 has brought on a business crisis without precedent in recent memory. In the world characterized by “VUCA” (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), the static BCPs would not work. We need to be ready for more such global disruptions. Also, these disruptions are far from rare. In the last century, the world has experienced at least five dangerous virus attacks, from the pandemic of 1918 that infected about one-third of the global population to COVID-19 in the present. There were also at least two devastating nuclear reactor meltdowns, two world wars and several near-misses, numerous earthquakes and tsunamis, countless regional armed conflicts that threatened supply of essential goods. Climate change, overpopulation and rising worldwide inequality have only increased the likelihood of these threats occurring again in the future. Hence, the current pandemic should be treated as a ‘Halloween rehearsal’ wherein we try out different new systems and choose the best out of the all. For this purpose we need a Beyond COVID-19 Plan.

Factors involved in our new BCP

The major difference between a Beyond COVID-19 Plan (our new BCP) and a Business Continuity Plan would be that our new BCP would require a look at both organisation’s internal resilience and external reality. For implementing and designing this new BCP, we need to look at the six horizons that govern it. While developing the new BCP, one should draw insights from the experiences lived by the organisation, its stakeholders, the industry, the community, and the national and global changes.

• We should understand the brand promise of our organisation and its key competencies. The organisation needs to adapt to the changing dynamics while staying true to its values.
• All the needs of the stakeholders of the firm, from the executive employee to the top management, should be taken into account. New solutions would be implemented in the firm and proper care should be taken on how these changes would be communicated across the firm so that there is less difficulty in adapting.
• The industry needs to be carefully studied. New trends would emerge specific to the industry you’re dealing in which needs to be accounted in the new BCP.
• It is also important to understand your “new” community. The priorities of people have changed. Their buying behaviours have significantly changed because of the COVID-19. Hence, proper research studies have to be done to understand this new community.
• The national and global changes would have significant impact on the supply chain. Firms would now look for localisation of their supply chains so that they are less impacted by severe change across borders.

The above listed horizons can be considered as six factors that would form the basis for the internal resilience and external reality of our new Beyond COVID-19 Plan. In the end, our BCP should account for all the listed factors.

Planning of the new BCP

Now, keeping in mind these factors, we now need to explore the actual planning part of our new BCP. Since planning of the BCP would be specific to the firm and its industry, we will explore the key considerations (that would be common to all industries) that need to be kept in mind while planning our new BCP. Before looking at these considerations, let us understand what “planning” actually is!

The term refers to three separate systems. There’s strategic planning, or the process of developing strategies that inform goals and the allocation of resources (finances and people). There’s financial planning, which converts a subset of strategic goals and resource-allocation decisions into financial commitments to stakeholders and time-based objectives. There’s also the performance review and reward system, which assesses individuals on achievements and personal development. It relies on several factors, including performance against strategic or financial objectives.

For all three levels of planning involved in a Beyond COVID-19 Plan, the key considerations would be fundamental to its core essence which are stated as follows:

• Survivability and Resilience Before Economic Efficiency

Firms should focus on diversification and reliability in their operations. In the world post COVID-19, reliability and resilience should supersede economic efficiency. Instead of looking out for the most economic supplier, the least-cost measure, the firm should rather forego some of the most lucrative partnerships in favour of those that can withstand a missed shipment or delayed payment here or there when fate intervenes.

Instead of structuring partnerships on the basis of leverage and getting the better end of the deal whenever possible, firms will have to be much more strategic in choosing which alliances are essential, and which are transactional. Rather than “What’s in it for me?”, the first question ought to be “What if?”

Investing too much in one partner, supplier or market can be as bad an idea as betting your life savings on one horse. For example, many major multinationals may be regretting their decision to rely so heavily on China as the pandemic exposes fissures in the nation’s prosperous facade.

• Quantify Ecological and Environmental Threats

Today, the firms have the opinion that it is difficult to quantify precisely the impact of ecological and environmental threats and hence to come up with a mechanism to deal with such events is a bit difficult. But due to changing times and increased extreme upheavals, it is the need of the hour that we invest in developing algorithms catering to this field.

Also, it needs to be understood that the main goal is not to be accurate, but to train the organisation to plan for various “unimaginable” events. Hence, deep analysis should be carrier out and we should get acquainted with AI and Machine Learning tools - such as heat mapping algorithms that can quantify political risks based on social-media sentiment analysis.

• Strong Organisational Immune System

In today’s VUCA world, it is very that the firm is brave enough to deal with problems effectively. Instead of just flinching the problem, the problem should be diligently discussed among the top management (with due participation of the employees). The downfall of Nokia’s smartphone business is a perfect example of how immune-compromised organisations collapse from within. Nokia used to follow a “culture of fear” wherein it believed that fear will lead to higher economic performance in a predictable environment. But today, the employees need to feel empowered and respected so that the firm is quick to identify any small problems and cure it immediately.

• Government Policies

It is best if we plan according to the national government policies. As of May 2020, the international air travel is all but frozen entirely, and global supply chains have been chopped to bits. To localise the operations is the new trend emerging. If we attempt at integrating government politics in our business strategies, some big opportunities can be created.

For one, homegrown innovation capability will be valued by national governments and benefit from higher economic and regulatory support. Additionally, rising patriotism – creating “good” jobs for your own people – could benefit these firms in their own countries, much like Alibaba and Tencent and Baidu have profited in part from relatively low foreign competition in China.

Keeping in mind the key considerations and the several factors, the businesses can form their own Beyond COVID-19 Plan and thus effectively tackle the current pandemic and be prepared for any such “unpredictable” event. In the Beyond Covid-19 Plan, we need to focus both internally and externally and shift our priorities towards more sustainable and reliable systems. Also, it is important to note that in no way a complete revamp to the existing systems is required, rather just adaptation of the existing systems to becoming more resilient is what is essential.