The New Normal: Reaction, Recovery and Resilience

Cultural change normally happens gradually as new ideas take hold and gain gradual adoption and acceptance.

Covid-19 social distancing rules have forced cultural change overnight and they may be in place – in some form – for many months to come. When this crisis is over our expectations as employees and consumers, and how our business has to operate, will have undoubtedly shifted forever.

But how ready is your organisation for the new normal?

We believe the evolution into the new normal will go through a journey of three phases; reaction, recovery and resilience.

Each stage brings its unique challenges. But having the right structure and approach will get you through.

Reaction. This is about survival; staying afloat during the lockdown crisis!

If you are still in this phase you are already behind the curve and need to take urgent action for recovery.

What are the most impacted areas?

• Any face-to-face activity
• Multichannel (siloed) operations
• Production/manufacturing and physical services/delivery
• Paper/signature/location-based processes
• Site-based servers/equipment/security

What should your organisation be focusing on?

• Urgent revision of the business model
• Prioritisation of key activities
• Targeted tactical investment in line with revised Digital Strategy
• Rapid tactical deployment and delivery

Recovery. This is about resuming business during prolonged social distancing.

What are the most impacted areas?

• Targeted hybrid or omnichannel marketing
• Seamless integration with physical channels when possible
• Automated processes to rapidly reduce costs but maintain quality
• Social Distancing Controls & reporting
• Distributed & remote working
• Mobile-enabled internal tools and communications

What should organisations be focusing on?

• Analysis and review of the business model in light of emerging new reality
• Revised digital strategy aligned to organisational value drivers
• Prioritisation of key activities during uncertainty
• Agile deployment and delivery
• Delivery of tactical reporting

Resilience. Growth and risk mitigation is critical where ambiguity is normal.

What are the most impacted areas?

• Customer-focused omnichannel marketing, sales & operations
• Collaboration with all customer-facing departments
• Cloud-based online systems and processes
• Electronic processes, authentication and authorisation
• Centralised data and reporting
• Remote operations

What should organisations be focusing on?

• Analysis and review of the business model in the new reality
• Digital strategy aligned to organisational value drivers
• Customer journey mapping
• Product design and solutions and technical architecture
• Prioritisation of key activities
• Agile deployment and delivery

What’s your experience of the ‘new normal’? We would love to hear your thoughts and share our knowledge.