“The Covid-19 crisis has established the utter importance of values and the “multi-tech revolution” as a permanent shift”

I’m pleased to share my insights published in the 6th edition of the "Digital maturity Report" edited by IBM, Marc Bensoussan in collaboration with The HUB Institute.

The world has experienced and is still experiencing a completely unprecedented shock with the pandemic. None of any business continuity scenario could have imagined a phenomenon on such a scale, happening all over the world at the same time, invisible and risking the health and lives of citizens everywhere. This crisis will mark a lasting turning point for our businesses and introduce profound changes in both how we work as individuals and how collectively teams are organised, but it will also have a long-term impact on the products and services we offer to consumers. The crisis has forced us to take a fresh look at how we relate to other people: it has had a deep impact on each of us in our private lives but the same is also true for businesses, their ecosystems and stakeholders. The symmetry between withdrawing into ourselves on the one hand, and the profound need for other people, is striking. In this sense, the crisis is a turning point for companies, accelerating development in numerous areas, reshuffling the cards of consumers’ priorities and paving the way to a new round of opportunities, which we need to seize for our businesses. Moreover, this crisis has been Darwinian in testing our capacity for resilience and agility: only the fittest sectors - as well as structures and organisations - have been able to cope.

Responsiveness, both upwards and downwards, swift but informed decision-making, an ultra-efficient command structure and a sense of responsibility, but also the ability to seize opportunities have enhanced and will undoubtedly strengthen the position of some organisations, while others, which have been less skillful in organisational terms or in demonstrating the sincerity of their commitment, will suffer or even disappear completely.

Finally, we are seeing the switch from a physical world with a layer of digital technologies to the latter penetrating deeply into every layer of society, from how we interact as human beings to the way we run our businesses. The world was becoming digitalised gradually and inconsistently; now digitalisation is a matter of survival, both in our relationship with consumers (through e-commerce, direct-to-consumer relationships and digital media) and in our teams (with the digital workplace and new tech revisited jobs). The digital transformation has been underway for years, but it has been an undeniable, clear and crucial advantage during this crisis. Lastly, sharing our experience at L’Oréal, we have come together in an unprecedented spirit of solidarity: the wave began in China at the end of January, and our teams worked hard to develop digital ways of exchanging ideas, instructions and follow-up, promoting transparency, commitment and critical thinking. Later, we were able to adapt what we did in China to the different stages of the development of the crisis in every country. It was a very fundamental experience and an opportunity to deploy learning loops on a global scale, from the way we interact with consumers to health measures for our employees, partnerships with our ecosystem, or our convictions. Together, we have been able to keep the business running, protect our teams and implement security and solidarity initiatives with our entire ecosystem.

Indeed, because L’Oréal is a significant economic actor, we had a responsibility to maintain and adapt in all fields, and our IT and technological tools were at the heart of solutions to respond to everyone’s needs as effectively as possible:

-         for our employees, the absolute priority was to protect their health and it was thanks to technology that we were able to ensure business continuity. By expanding our bandwidth and networks, our teams pulled off the tremendous feat of connecting over 58,000 people at the same time.

-         for our partners – both suppliers and customers – we froze the debts of almost 100,000 small customers (such as hairdressers and perfumeries) and conversely, paid almost 9,000 small suppliers in cash. Our infrastructure and platforms allowed us to work together all over the world, in real time.

-         for our customers, who need personal care, skin care and cosmetics products, hair colour, hygiene products and so on, e-commerce continued its spectacular rise as an alternative option for shopping.

-         in our factories, production was switched to hydroalcoholic gels to provide millions of gels to hospitals or firstline workers and we donated hand cream to health care workers, with all L’Oréal factories swinging into action all over the world.

While the crisis may have reshuffled the cards and forced each of us to adapt at an unprecedented speed, the pandemic has not changed the major underlying trends for L’Oréal. We were already implementing tech solutions, with remote working, cloud migration and smart / learning applications and algorithms... our digital transformation actually began in earnest many years ago. During lockdown, however, we were able to measure the speed with which our teams reacted, reinvented their ways of working, implemented new initiatives for both consumers and customers, kept the business running and shared moments of creativity that strengthened relationships and our overall performance. I am very impressed by our community, the sharing and pooling of intelligence, and the courage and solidarity that has emerged at all levels. Rarely do we have the opportunity to observe the “truth” about a business and a team, and their values.

I have emerged from this first phase of this global crisis convinced that we have embarked on a profoundly transformative cycle, while the fundamental values that we all shared are more firmly anchored than ever.

One of my favourite quote is: “…As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it” from the French author of The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. However sinister the crisis may be – because first and foremost, it’s a dramatic event – it is also an unprecedented opportunity to imagine the world of tomorrow. It clearly illustrates the transformation in the nature of risks: pandemics, geopolitical risks with an acute need for a coordinated response between the state, businesses and their stakeholders, but also our ways of working, the power of shared expertise, the importance of shared values and the needed agile command structure.

Before the crisis, civil society was essentially pushing businesses to share more of their economic value. That simply won’t be enough in the future. The raison d’être of our businesses – our ability to address societal issues – will be at the heart of success and growth. At L’Oréal, not only we started years ago but also we announced in June this year an ambitious “L’Oréal for the future” plan. It includes a commitment that our activities in all areas will operate within the “planetary boundaries”, to create a fundamental link between our growth, protecting a planet with limited resources and sharing value with those who are most vulnerable. A commitment that is not just confined to us but includes our consumers, customers and suppliers and makes it a shared ambition for all of us. Moreover, two years ago we announced our determination to become the champion of Beauty Tech. An acceleration programme that puts new technologies (AI, AR, VR, IoT, etc.) at the heart of our strategy and continues to focus in parallel on both consumers and employees. Creating the beauty of the future by becoming the business of the future. Increasing our offerings and services for men and women all over the world and enhancing our areas of expertise and ways of working to “Create the beauty that moves the world”. As someone at the heart of the process, I am excited by the scope and opportunities offered by the digital transformation: accelerating the digitalisation of new services, creating new business models, the capacity to develop at scale, and produce and offer customised products that reflect the needs and desires of every individual. But also, by shortening the decision-making process, ensuring easier access to knowledge for all, through the transparency that this promotes, and strengthening performance linked to our ecosystem.

Ours is a 100-year-old business that has survived numerous crises. Like everyone else, we have got through them with the degree of uncertainty and difficulty inherent in a crisis. That said, they have always made us stronger. The digital revolution that has accompanied the Covid-19 crisis has opened another new horizon and I am confident that we will emerge stronger, more creative, more supportive of each other and enhanced by new technologies. At the hardest point of the crisis, we were able to work remotely with our factories, suppliers, customers and consumers to invent products and new services, and switch our investments into different areas. That is the new basis on which we are now moving forward, with different priorities, greater simplicity and greater autonomy at different levels.

The period of lockdown was a chance to engage in more targeted conversations and offer our consumers customised solutions, which have given us great confidence for the future. It’s an exciting new chapter to write but it will be more demanding than ever for senior managers: making choices and deciding on priorities and how we rethink our organisations will need highly smart people with an ability to adapt, now more than ever. That said, there will be a common thread: the recovery will only be possible in all its forms, if we approach it with new technologies and fundamentally different IT capabilities. People have been talking about the “digital transformation” for years. The Covid-19 crisis has established the utter importance of values and the “multi-tech revolution” as a permanent shift.

As we emerge from the crisis, which will have an impact on us all, we will be looking for meaning. Companies’ values will be at the heart of the success or failure for those who still believe it is something superficial. Trust is undoubtedly one of the core values people will expect: trust in other people, trust in brands, trust in one’s company and trust in one’s partners. But trust isn’t something you can legislate for. It is built, embodied and demonstrated. In my view, it’s a magnificent vision for all of us as senior managers, employees and partners. It is rare for our business issues to come into contact so powerfully with societal issues. It is this journey that we have to invent together!