Covid-19 Pandemic: Staying Alive, Afloat, Ahead
The pandemic may have paralyzed societies and businesses worldwide. Salaries cut, employees fired, companies shut — temporarily or even permanently. During this difficult time, everyone is advised to stay home and freeze all activities, but what if we take a different approach, use this moment of uncertainty to plan ahead for when things will become better?
The new normal: e-commerce, remote working, remote learning
We had to adapt a new normal within a very short time. All those e-things that we were trying to convince our old school bosses for the past few years suddenly became reality thanks to social distancing. Take e-commerce, omnichannel marketing was something that companies were trying to implement — now it’s an obligation and in place. Among all industries, grocery ecommerce soared during the pandemic — shelf stapled items such as long-life milk and canned goods, health related items such as masks, sanitizers and cleaning products are constantly in shortage. Consumer behaviour also changed, online grocery is growing in every country even those who are traditionally less tech savvy. Online shopping is here to stay, as this consumer behaviour is anticipated to be altered permanently even after the pandemic is over.
As the situation progresses, many employees come to realize that working from home sounds cooler than it actually is, as it takes some getting used to and not every duty can be performed out of the workplace. Staying focused can be hard to do when there are distractions around us — especially for working mothers — even a simple zoom call can be a major organization. On the flip side, those companies that used to expect employees to stay late in the office as a sign of their productivity can no longer enforce this as WFH becomes the new normal.
Remote learning has been a great discovery and the expedition of it will become a great future benefit after our professors and students return to their physical classrooms. In today’s education, efficient learning will happen via a mix of digital tools and face-to-face learning. Online education will also be recognized as an important part of to every school’s plan and budget.
Stick with basic costs and plan ahead
The pandemic has destroyed everyone’s annual budget plan. There is only one way to survive — to ensure that liquidity is sufficient to weather this ultra-long storm. Companies should model their financials (cash flow, P&L, balance sheet) in different scenarios and identify issues that might further impair liquidity. Just because the situation is over doesn’t mean that businesses are ready to resume or customers are willing to spend in your business — their habits may have permanently changed, government regulations may still be restrictive, or in general, people just become more conservative because of their lost jobs or being in an extended reserve mode.
Stabilize the supply chain. As most companies are primarily focused on immediate stabilization — companies also need to think ahead and plan how to manage the supply chain as soon as things become normal again. Logistics companies will pick up its speed as factories start to reopen, but all of this is a gradual process.
It is advisable to take this down time to plan ahead what the realistic targets are once the pandemic is gone, in order to make up for the current loss. Once targets are set, work backwards to see what must be done in different phases, while monitoring closely on the levels of improvement of the business environment.
Pivot your business
Always stay close to your customers. Companies that navigate disruptions better often succeed because they invest in their core customers and anticipate their behaviours. When physical shopping suddenly disappeared, the consumers didn’t go away — they simply shifted their spending online — therefore companies needed to quickly speed up their omnichannel distribution. The F&B business was one of the hardest hit industries, many restaurants quickly shifted their gear and pushed delivery sales in order to stay ahead of the pack. This change in behaviour will likely to remain, because digitalization was just a long-awaited change that was dragging to happen.
Remind yourself why you are doing what you are doing
Covid or not, every business should have a purpose and this is a time to show the world why you are doing what you are doing. Businesses rely on their communities to sustain and survive. The world has come together and giving what they can: Many companies continue to pay their staff, LVMH is giving free hand sanitizers to its employees, UberEats has waived commission fees and many luxury companies in Italy donated to hospitals and research projects. All of these unite us as mankind and great PR will always be remembered when we are in the position to make consumer choices again.
Covid-19 pandemic had been an awakening moment and it reminds us the real meaning of staying alive, whether as an individual or a business. It has sped up many technologies that the world was brewing but at the same time, reminded us what is truly important.
