Leaders and executive teams must look to deliberately (re)design their operations and take a proactive approach to how they will now do business.

Organisations need to work harder and more quickly to remove complexity and inefficiencies from their operations to counter cost headwinds that have emerged through COVID-19. They need to see where new customers are coming from and how to better streamline processes to cost-effectively access diversified traffic. They must improve their performance to efficiently, sustainably and profitably turn businesses and their operations around. And they must assess their business’ readiness for, and response to, the early impacts and stresses of a sudden crisis.

There is a lot to consider and timeliness will have a significant impact on success.

Deliberately (re)designing your organisation

For all businesses, there are a range of factors driving a shift away from the previous ‘normal’. From a reduction and change in consumer discretionary spending, changed customer and client expectations, through to changing workforces, there are proactive steps businesses can take now to ready and steady their businesses for a post-COVID-19 world. Key to this will be considering the new and unmet needs of your customers and your organisations preparedness for a greater and irreversible shift to online.

Shaping the workforce of the future

There is no escaping the fact that COVID-19 has had a huge impact on people – not just on their physical health, but on their mental health and livelihoods. Jobs have been lost, furloughed, adapted or increased.

Now, humans are adaptable by nature – and necessity is the mother of invention. The coronavirus COVID-19 has changed how we work, collaborate and engage. For instance:

• How do you manage remote workforces – not only to ensure productivity but also engagement and collaboration?
• Remote working and productivity are not mutually exclusive – regional areas may be able to tap into talent from other areas, and conversely urban employers can look further afield to find that perfect fit.

Preparing for the unexpected

There is tangible value in being prepared for the unexpected. COVID-19 has provided organisations and business leaders with a unique opportunity to identify real-time lessons learned from the pandemic as stakeholders have enacted the plans. This has allowed businesses to test their preparedness and evaluate their plan in a practical sense. 

Learn and adapt now, because we don’t know what the next disruption could be. Another pandemic, cyberattack, break-down in international diplomacy, market collapse or natural disaster, the effects of which are amplified by our global interactions and dependencies.

For many, this was new terrain and it is still unclear what the next few months will bring. Given this unprecedented global situation, it is an opportune time for businesses to continually assess and adapt their business continuity plans to ensure the smoothest ongoing service possible.