Why now is a great time to refresh your business strategy.

TLDR: The government-mandated “work from home if you can” directive (“Lockdown”) in 2020 has fundamentally changed the working world. Have you considered how this affects your business, your employees, customers, the markets you serve now that it’s ended? What products or services are no longer required, what new opportunities have opened up? Take this moment to evaluate your strategy, and if it’s time for a refresh or new development, reach out and consider a new approach.

What is the "new normal" for your business?

One year on. A year lived under restrictions that have fundamentally changed the working world for many people. Whole industries have endured pressure never before faced, while others have seized new opportunities and ways of working. 

“Necessity is the mother of invention” (Plato, 6th Century BC)

From the deepest despairs of lockdown forcing some industries to completely shut up shop overnight (live music industry, theatre etc.), companies have found innovative ways of surviving. From your local pub offering take-out meals and beers to theatres delivering virtual tours and behind the scenes access via the internet, the pressures of the pandemic have forged some diamond new business models, but of course, have caused some others to be crushed.

Take the example of tour operator, Lights over Lapland in Finland and Norway offering virtual tours of their ice-scapes with the added thrilling light show of the Aurora Borealis, making available to many more people the sights of this extraordinary feat of nature, and potentially filling their order books for future trips when free travel is possible again. 

Look at the Minack Theatre offering live streams of their unique cliff-top theatre and 3D behind-the-scenes access, until live performances are possible again. 

Now that (here in the UK at least) things are starting to open up, have you considered the changes that the end of lockdown will make to your current business? 

Employees

First, and foremost, now that your employees have adapted to over a year working away from your office, what changes will the end of the working from home directive bring? You may see some short-term levels of anxiety as people return to office-working that you’ll need to carefully support. Your team may need more flexibility in working patterns to provide care for their dependents if isolation is suddenly enforced. Have you seen an increase in productivity from at-home working? Should you be looking at new ways of flexible working, (vflexible, as I’ve heard it termed) where employees continue to work part-time at home and spend an agreed number of days in the office? Does this impact on your need for office space, could you remain truly virtual? Talk to your closest customers, see if they have noticed differences in the service they get from you, you may find they prefer the accessibility that online delivers, and get faster responses from your team.

Service Improvements

The pandemic might have changed the game forever for certain industries. Customers may now require services as standard that previously were offered as optional extras, for example travel agents now include cancellation policies for holidays which had previously been an item to upsell. You may wish to review how the pandemic has changed your customer expectations, review what is an element that is expected as a bare minimum, what is a differentiator to your competitors of your offer, and what provides the “wow factor” of customer experience. These moments where your service has delivered above and beyond create unforgettable “takeaways” that generate glowing recommendations that have been proven to increase referrals and what any service-based organisation would aim to deliver. There’s a great Canvas you can use to plan these wow experiences over at the Delivering Happiness blog - https://blog.deliveringhappiness.com/how-to-create-wow-customer-experience 

Enabling new collaborations

The Covid-19 global pandemic has proved the adage that some problems are too big to be solved alone. So many organisations have formed collaborations that haven’t only contributed to addressing some immediate problems created by the pandemic, such as the global supply shortage of ventilators, but have also shorn up their profit and loss accounts as demand for existing products and services nose-dived. Take, for example, the Mercedes Formula One team applying their world-class just-in-time engineering expertise to the design and fabrication of a breathing aid for China, Italy, and the UK in collaboration with University College London Hospitals or pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk and drinks giant Carlsberg collaborating to convert alcohol into hand sanitiser for the Danish healthcare system. Major international collaborations in vaccine development and roll-out, therapeutics development and high-performance computing networks have not only facilitated the global response to the pandemic, but have perhaps changed many perceptions about competition and collaboration between the private and public sectors forever.

Collaborations using your company’s intellectual property (IP) out-licensed to serve new markets, or your expertise and resources to manufacture new offerings based on in-licensed IP may generate additional revenue streams that can protect your company against the downturns in demand that the pandemic has brought, and may yet still bring. 

Now is a great time to consider who you could collaborate with to shore up your company’s future position, be it another private firm to serve new markets, a research provider to commercialise new technology, or using any spare manufacturing capacity to serve the new markets that have been created from the pandemic. 

Summary

Don’t make the assumption that business will be exactly the same as before the lockdown, for your employees, a return to pre-lockdown working may not be possible, and some flexibility and engagement with your workforce about the future will pay dividends. It is well worth taking this time to evaluate your company’s offerings, structure, and positioning in light of the enormous changes the pandemic has brought, and having a fresh look at what collaborations are possible to strengthen your company’s position in the market. Getting your senior team to co-create a post-pandemic strategy, potentially through a facilitated workshop process may harness the good ideas of your team and ensure their continued support as you navigate this new world of business.

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