High Time: this lock down refresh Who Moved My Cheese – Sniffs & Scurrys will only survive- #COVID-19

The lock down has started getting unlocked in phases. Ever since the alarm was raised by WHO & learning from those nations who took it lightly, most of the countries opted for lock down prioritizing, human lives over the economy. No doubt the lock down has put a strong check on the rapid spread of COVID-19, but it’s for sure the mutating strains of it is not going to leave us soon & we need to learn to live with it.

Social media is full of posts of people who have learnt some new skill sets or mastered their cooking skills or have learnt to value their lives, friends, relatives & much more. In short, we all have changed a bit & are not the same as we used to be prior COVID- 19.  We are ordering more online, we prefer getting things  delivered to us than physical shopping,  we have taken up our hygiene to best , we are concerned about our immunity  & if we are actually working from home then hardly any one would be left who has not  zoomed or used team viewer.

I wanted to bring these points just to highlight that the business dynamics has changed & its going to change more, because everyone has changed. It’s time to grab Dr Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese & refresh again. We need to be Sniff who can smell the change & Scurry who acts fast to adapt to change if we want to survive. Hems who are resistant to change thinking the things will be back to normal are bound to perish.

Airline industry, Tourism, Hotel, Amusement parks, Cinema halls and similar industries are worst hit. But one sector which has shown least effect is the healthcare & pharmaceuticals. In fact, their business has shown upswing for a few segments. Is it because these industries are totally recession free or is it because they sense the change & adapt fast? Telemedicine was in its infancy since decades, but the current scenario was the right time to roll out full-fledged Doctor On Call services, where one can consult a doctor over phone  call or using internet , get their prescriptions , make online payments  & get their  prescribed medications at  the door steps.

Chronic medications saw a steep rise in their sales, which many say is because of overstocking of medications by the patients. But we can’t deny the fact too that adherence rate too has gone up & even those who willingly skipped their doses at bargain of yoga or alternative therapy are now taking their medications religiously out of fear. The fear factor has worked. It took WHO decades to tell people to take care of their hygiene seriously & keep washing their hands properly with soap, but this pandemic made people accept this in weeks. I am sure many in their 50s too would have learnt the actual way of washing their hands during this phase only.

To cut the story short, accept it or not but it’s not the same world which was at beginning of 2020 & we need to accept it and find our ways fast & learn to live with it. Students are having their online classes right from KG1 to the highest level. Way back when Dr C K Prahalad in his last talk in IIM Ahmedabad had said , online education is the future & solution to hit even the bottom of pyramid, many thought it was too futuristic but we all know its successfully getting implemented right now & that might turn out to be future too.

Yet another change which has appeared in a big way is re allocation of marketing budget & business operations. Those who are yet thinking & expecting to stick to their normal plans post this scenario, I must say good morning to them. May be its high time with opening of the new decade its time to go digital. Already FMCG & other sectors had taken up this route but pharmaceutical companies were bit reluctant to accept it whole heartedly, but in the past two months they have shown the best adaptation to reach to their customers using digital forum & multichannel marketing . This is going to be future too. Already hospitals have started expressing that doctor visit to the medical representatives is most likely to be just once & then they can touch the doctors using the digital means or over phone call. GSK is all set to re allocate its resources , they are  giving their representative PPEs & have already shared  that their field force would be made to visit the doctors wearing PPEs,  but the big question is will the hospital & doctors permit them to do the same.

Population of world is increasing, so is stress , anxiety & metabolic disorders, believe it or not, till humanity thrives all business will survive but only those players would survive who adapt with time , as that’s the law of nature survival of fittest. When thousands are losing jobs, there are certain sectors which are hiring too. When business is collapsing there are people like Arjun Deshpande who are getting investment funds from Ratan Tata for online business of Generic Aadhar. Business giant Mukesh Ambani is all set to acquire stakes in online pharmacy Netmeds. A few pharma companies are tying up for e consultation of doctors & hospitals have already started doctor on call, which might not be that palatable to people now, but it is the future. It will reduce the load of repeat patients to hospital sector & also save the time of patients too, with encouragement of home-based monitoring by all the major bodies & that being vouched upon by top key opinion leaders of industry.

Airlines industry might think of redesigning their interiors where distance between two seats can be of a meter, that might affect their profitability but may be that might turn out to be new norm if they too want to survive. That ideas might work for cinema halls to in future.  Just as we adapted with uniform business formals across globe, mobile phone became an extended part of our body, may be the mask too becomes a mandatory part of our dress code & a pocket sanitizer too finds its space along with our wallet or may be in form of a card which can find space in wallet itself.

Hollywood has shown us many fiction movies showing how world could be after a so-called alien attack & how humanity finally wins over that. The time has come, the bug or the virus has already attacked us hard & has touched almost every corner of world irrespective of the race, place, gender, educational qualification or the positions which one holds. It’s high time not to procrastinate & cry why did this happen & what will happen, rather it’s time to become Sniff, smell the change & Scurry, to act fast

Economic ice cream is melting, but rather than crying over it, we need to find ways how to sell the cold flavored milk of that melted ice cream.