If you are an employer or a business leader, your business has been affected positively or negatively. Some companies like Zoom, Amazon, Netflix, and those with digital delivery channels have reported increased demand for their services. All financial institutions with robust internet and mobile banking have too, reported a great first quarter.
Some companies and businesses that depend on tourism and travel have been adversely hit. Airlines, hotels, fashion houses, sports, and the entire ecosystem is under the cold. Now is the time to rethink the business models.
Below are some key issues for leaders to consider and how to respond:
- Issue: how do we survive? Response: Review your business model and adapt it to the new normal. Change.
- Issue: Which costs to cut? Response: None productive costs. The first thing to look at are rental costs – reduce your rental space to cut costs, service level agreements not delivering results since people are on leave, etc. Staff are the most productive asset; they should be the last resort to look at if you must. Examine your payroll, and the value delivered by the respective staff. You may be surprised that during these times, some frontline staff who are usually paid low salaries are delivering the most value. Do your staff rationalization exercise strategically.
- Issue: How do we re-invent ourselves? Response: Listen to the customers. Do not copy and paste. Develop a unique delivery approach that is informed by data and insights from customers. Who are the top customers that bring you 80% of the revenue? Focus on winning with those. Shout them out and understand their needs.
- Issue: How do we enable remote collaboration? Response: identify the staff that can work from home, the infrastructure they need, and invest accordingly. Document a remote working policy and implement it. Provide clarity of targets and collaborations.
Which issue would you add on this list? And what would be your recommended response?
Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa, 2020. All rights reserved.
