COVID19 the Biggest Global Disruptor or Greatest Opportunity of Human Ingenuity, Human Centricity and Resilience-driven Global Digital Organizations ?

By all accounts our lives have tumbled upside-down and by a microbe.! We are witnessing a Global Disruption which is not in anyone’s living experience so far, with history alluding to a global Pandemic of this scale happening once every 100 years. Bewildered as we all may be at its shear global scale and impact, on a lighter note, one might perhaps be pardoned to imagine the event to be almost a paranormal message for us from the Universe…!

The Future of Things : Howbeit, given we are right in the midst of the pandemic with everything at stake, it begs a deeper collective reflection on the What’s & the How’s of continuing with our global businesses/industries and more importantly if this is after all about something Big.!? Are we at a threshold, an inflection point of a larger leap into the hitherto unknown ‘Future of Things’…And if so, then more importantly are we playing our roles proactively & appropriately, lest we end up being its only resistance..?

The New Normal: In our daily chores, going digital in smaller ways helped. Never did we ordered fruits/vegetables online (groceries, yes) and getting delivered home…Our Offices packed-off, WFH became the global norm so did the global schools/colleges going Online-Now that’s Big. But then the magic began – With almost 6-7 months into it, the buzz around ‘New Normal’ is fast turning into routines. Remote Launch of critical Projects/System, Tools / ERPs etc are on going with increased ease. Video/audio conference calls are replacing hitherto critical F2F meetings & reviews, even the critical company Board meetings too.

The Critical need for the Big Digital Leap: However it would be self-deceptive if we fail to note the larger change needed to be embraced. COVID perhaps brings with it an Opportunity, a Mandate/Message of 'Transformative Change' and not just a challenge to be solved somehow, far less to be Resisted.

1.   The Digital Organization (From Efficiency Driven to Resilience Driven)

a.    COVID is driving a Re-Imagination of our Business Model/Approach and a new Delivery Method. A True Digital Organization, apart from requiring an open ended collaboration between SMEs/Data Scientists and AI/ML specialists etc, it would more importantly require a Change in its 'Intrinsic Cultural and deep Behavioural' aspects…And the change need to flow Top-Down. In essence, the Organization need to be Re-Wired & Hard-Wired towards a new Thinking, new Culture and a whole new sets of Business Behaviours.

b.    The Global Disruption is also mandating our critical Hard-Wiring towards building a Resilience Driven Business Model instead of an Efficiency (bottom-line) driven one.

c.    Digital Twins are playing exceptional roles in laying-out multiple What-if models of an entire Physical Facility/ Plants/ Warehouses/Yards etc on a Laptop, remotely and accurately determining the Right model to choose, for a given purpose, budget, timeline and multiple other constraining factors.

d.    Ironically, pre-Covid, the industries were busy with Manufacturing 4.0/Logistics 4.0 studies and drawing-out concepts of ‘Factory of Tomorrow (FOT)’. Little did one know that we would be critically Re-Drawing the basics of ‘Factory of Today’ requiring far more digital insights under far more compressed timelines to get ahead of the Covid disruptions..!!

e.    Digital Control Towers with inbuilt AI/ML capabilities are turning out to be key Enablers towards driving Global Track & Trace of Transportation & Logistics operations, thereby enabling Autonomous Decision making... Ultimately moving towards a 'Human-Touch less' Supply Chain.

f.    A new End-to-End Digital Eco-System is emerging as it is just not enough to know only our Tier1 Suppliers... Instead the Entire T1 to Tx Suppler base information is critical and must be Assimilated for the organization and the Industry/Eco-system at large.

2.    Businesses are becoming more 'Human/Customer/People' Centric

a.    Putting-People-First (be in Office, receiving Visitors or in Showrooms, receiving Customers or in shops/malls, parking lots or even elevators or public-walkways - Focus on People’s Health and a Healthy environment/surrounding is the Top-Priority today. While I draft this article, a Global MNC is mulling the idea of distributing ergonomically designed office furnitures to its staffs (to their homes) to ensure their health is safeguarded (after long hours of audios/ online meetings/ webinars etc).

b.    All these Tectonic Shifts in our Business Models/Approaches are happening at break-neck pace and at its Centre is the most valued commodity of today - i.e Human Ingenuity, Human Values & Ethics and Sustainability.

c.    The New Global Yardstick of Customer Loyalty/Retention would be based upon 'Human Centricity' and a new paradigm of ‘Humane-ness’.

d.    Going forward, it will No More be those '$1 T-shirts' manufactured in remote low-cost country that would find its way into global mall outlets. Instead, the clothing label stitched on the T-shirt/fabric would be Promising its entire end-to-end supply chain upto the point of placing it in the mall’s showroom shelves, to have been achieved through “appropriate social distancing norms, safeguarding human health with highest respect and mutual Trust’. Upon that promise would rest the product’s Brand Loyalty, Customer Retention, Global Brand-Equity and its ultimate Business expansion Aspirations.

It’s about time we realise that the Virus is here to bring back the “Humane-Touch”, through 'Human-Centricity' and 'Human-Ingenuity' and Going end-to end Digital 'just became a Critical Must'.

Amlan Bose, Chennai ; 23rd Aug'20