Covid19 Lockdown - The impending exit - Are WE ready?

The current scenario

There are some sectors opened up already, may be in limited places and in limited capacity, but they are working. More will be opened soon. As we all know, shutting countries and economies down for ever (until we have effective cure and vaccine for Covid19) is not an option. The ministries, bureaucrats and those who matter may already be mulling the strategy for the exit.

Exit or Entry ?

Exit from lock down necessarily means our entry back to business, at what ever pace it is. One may ask why call it entry, why not comeback or just resumption. I wish to call it entry, as it is an entry to the Covid19 Environment. It is indeed an ENTRY. Things are not the same, we have spoken and heard about "disruptions", this is the mightiest disruption to our businesses yet!

Is our strategy ready?

A strategy for Covid19 management is a MUST. It is not optional, and one needs to have a detailed and well thought out strategy for survival in the Covid19 Environment. More than the fear for sanctions, penalties or penal actions, it is the need for our own existence that should drive this strategy. Each one of us thinking about starting our business activities from our offices, factories, stores or other facilities should use this time to draft one NOW! if not already done.

What should one consider?

I am not a health expert, but from my reading and discussions with people from different industries and walks of life, I have gathered that there is no single strategy that all of us can adopt. While it holds good even in general, in the defence against Covid19, it becomes more evident. Our strategy should consider many factors like different type of premises we have, number of people working, exposure (customers, visitors, vendors etc), air circulation, temperature conditions, proximity of workstations and the list goes on.

The Strategy

The key here is to have a Strategy, how ever basic we think it is. None of us know it all. We keep adding to our knowledge based on the information available, and therefore, the strategy will keep evolving. The strategy for defence should entail some key components as listed below.

1. The internal process to our business on Covid19 defence should be defined.
2. The possible risk areas to be identified
3. Necessary controls to be designed to mitigate the risks.
4. A protocol should be set up to monitor any additional risks and/or the controls put in place (Their implementation as well as adequacy)
5. The above step could be done by the Internal Audit team or all of the above should be overseen/Audited by the Internal Audit team. It is worthwhile to get this done by an external partner/vendor, if the organisation is not large enough to have an Internal Audit team.

Risk and Control Monitoring - The multi-layered approach

Monitoring the Risk and Control is most effective when handled through a multi-layered approach. It is imperative to handle it like this as the importance of the monitoring is beyond imaginations. An oversight here, could prove risky for the business, lives of the staff and the safety of the community at large. My take is that the monitoring should happen at the below mentioned levels.

1. Basic monitoring of the controls through a check-list based approach. This could be managed through a self audit or a cross audit.
2. The process owner/business head could, rather should do a second level check through his supervisory team.
3. Both the above, their existence and efficacy should be overseen by the Internal Audit team.
4. In addition to the above, you can add a fourth layer, if we are in a customer facing business. We may get our customers to rate us on our Covid19 defence (as seen by them at our stores, branches, outlets and so on).

Why duplicate efforts?

The more data we have, helps us analyse any scenario better. The same holds good here as well. As the number of checks go up and the frequency of the checks goes high, the chances of catching any short-coming are on the higher side. The more we are able to receive information about our facilities and the better we are able to process them and use them for decision making the better we are equipped and the more we are confident.

But why will my customers do it? They have not done it so far..

Well I believe none of us would remain the same. What we were before Covid19 (BC) and What we will be After the Disease (AD) will be very different. Our behaviour will change. We all would like to be cautious about getting infected. We may want to rate a facility based on our experience on the Covid19 defence readiness now, it is not similar to a user experience survey/rating that we refused to do hitherto.

But why so much of focus? Is it not an overkill?

In my humble opinion, nothing is an overkill. The measure here is how much assurance we wish to give to boost the confidence of different stakeholders, to our business. That if achievable, can be the single most reason for any one of us to do all the above, or more. Our Staff, Investors, Vendors, Partners, Contractors, Regulators, The Government,The Society at large and above all the KING, our Customer has to have confidence in us, for us to survive. If we can instil confidence in each one of them, then we would again be talking growth. Yes! we definitely can. It is not wishful thinking or misplaced optimism.

But the cost?

Cost is definitely a concern. Especially due to the economic condition across the world, thanks to the disruption Covid19 has caused. But there are ways to optimize the cost around everything we do. Technology can offer solutions, which can simplify and bring efficiency to many operational aspects of what we discussed above. The only point here is to choose the right solution here, which fits the bill. In this case it has to be very cost effective at the same time something that is flexible and adaptable and one that brings in efficiency. An investment in technology is perhaps the last thing we would want to do at this time, but if it can save cost and still help us achieve all of our requirement, it can come right to the top.

To Conclude

All of us need to come back and come back for the best. It is not going to be easy and life is not going to be the same soon. It is for us to take that extra care, that extra caution and the extra effort to make sure that our life and the life and well being of all others connected with our business is taken care of.

Stay safe and Stay healthy.