Navigating the next normal
This year…2020…is a seminal year. It is a year that will be written about in history books. Back in June, I wrote that…if there’s a prediction to be made…it’s that society will emerge from this pandemic warmer…indeed, more human and certainly more flexible, resilient and collaborative. As I speak to colleagues from countries that have been able to squelch the pandemic effectively, I've got increasing confidence in that prediction.
Now, as we wrap up 2020, it's a good opportunity to look back at a year of profound transformation. It’s been a year that has forced all of us, as individuals, to rethink just about everything. A few overall themes have emerged that are relevant to every one of us as we’ve each tried to navigate through 2020…themes that have also taken on real importance for the industries that my company, GS1, serves. These themes have emerged as foundational to guide us into a future where the pace of change and disruption will absolutely continue to accelerate. It turns out that these ideas are also at the core of our Innovation Board’s recently-published Trend Research Report 2020-2021:
Resilience and Flexibility. Supply chain capacity was highly stressed in the early days of the pandemic, with companies challenged to manufacture, stock, warehouse and reroute goods to meet rapidly changing consumer fulfillment needs and increased demands across patient care systems.
Improving supply chain resilience at times of immense disruption requires visibility in all aspects of manufacturing and flexibility to adapt. Companies that had digitised their supply chains and invested in e-commerce capabilities were better able to serve their customers throughout this past year. In coming years, it is going to be important for all companies to model and plan for disruption to ensure that they have the agility to change and adapt.
The key takeaway is that companies must develop contingency and continuity plans, stress testing their systems, to identify opportunities to become more flexible and adaptable so that the change can happen when it is needed most. GS1 continues to advance ways that identity and data can empower the next generation of information sharing…to create the supply chain visibility needed to ensure resilience in the face of disruption.
Collaboration and connectivity. Everything requires more data…more data to connect consumers to the things they need, more peer-to-peer data exchange to create operating efficiencies. And yet, the value of data can only be realised if companies break out of operational silos and engage in active collaboration with their trading partners, customers, consumers and patients.
Working toward increased transparency and interoperability is only partly enabled by technology. The real value is unlocked when strong business practices are developed based on openness, collaboration and innovation. When we listen to each other, to the customers we serve, to the patients that we treat and to our trading partners, we help to identify new ways to collaborate and to share information.
Innovation and Diversification. We all saw it this year: grocery stores rapidly shifted to enable pickup and delivery, liquor and perfume companies repurposed themselves to produce hand sanitiser, foodservice companies leveraged their transportation infrastructure and shifted to consumer delivery. Businesses of all kinds added contactless delivery and payment options to minimise physical contact. These are all examples where companies and organisations acted quickly to flex and redeploy their capabilities, both to meet existing needs in new ways and to adapt to new and diverse business drivers and opportunities.
In a post-COVID world, companies need to think and act like start-ups, embracing ways to continuously innovate their business models in the face of ever-changing markets and consumer needs. GS1 is here to help them in their journey.
Looking ahead to 2021, we find ourselves, as they say, standing on the shoulders of giants…those who pioneered the ubiquitous use of what GS1 is best known for…the barcode. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the original commitment to collaborate across the retail industry and to use a common barcode, we’re working with the industries that we serve to lay the foundation for growth and migration to a new generation of far more capable barcodes. We’re working together to unlock a future where everyone will be able to continue to build value. It is about all of us working together to accelerate into our digital future, to explore a new set of challenges…and I personally can’t wait to see what we will accomplish.
Read the GS1 Trend Research report 2020-2021 here: https://bit.ly/3miLORG