Deloitte’s many recent discussions with executives revealed seven critical topics (and related questions) that should inform a plan business owners can finalise over the coming months, which sets out how to recover and thrive during and after the crisis. Strategising now will offer the best chance of surviving the disruption interval world, and thriving in the next one. 

1.  Robustness and adaptability

- How much more robust is our financial position, infrastructure, culture, leadership, customer loyalty and supply chain than our competitors’? 

- Can we transition seamlessly in between shocks, such as from physical to digital, and adapt our business model if necessary, faster than competition? 

 

2. Shifting consumer behaviour

- How much are the changes in behaviour driven by better user experiences, and how much by temporary government interventions, or fear? 

- How can we benefit from assets/strategies that have been over/undervalued because peers have over/underestimated the situation? 

 

 3. People’s well-being and the future of work 

- How do we ensure the well-being of employees through sickness and stress, (job) insecurity, suboptimal working conditions, etc.? 

- How will we work after the pandemic: in terms of structure, offices and flexibility of staff? Which employees want to be more flexible, and in what way? 

 4. Financial management and restructuring 

- How can we increase our buffers and improve the strength of our balance sheet?

- How can we make our cost structure more flexible and reduce costs without hurting critical capabilities and our ability to grow again? 

 

 5.  Adoption of technology and data

- How can we further embrace and capitalise on the accelerated adoption of technology to build new business or empower our workforce? 

- Can we gain robustness or adaptivity by better embracing technology to run our company? 

- How do we deal with concerns about data, security and privacy? 

 

6. Innovation and recalibration of ecosystems 

- How can we innovate our business model, products or services to better manage the challenges arising from new shocks and to capture new opportunities? 

- Can we revisit relationships with customers or suppliers and become less transactional? 

7. Being purpose led and sustainable 

- How do we use the crisis to maintain a common sense of purpose among employees for the long term?

- Which good (purposeful) initiatives have come out of the crisis? 

- How do we better align our company’s purpose with its financial objectives?

- How can this crisis be an accelerator for sustainability within our company and ecosystem? 

In conclusion, we have been transported to the future overnight. Many of the assumptions our businesses are built on have been broken. The decisions leaders make in the coming months will shape their new normal and determine how they can thrive in a post-COVID-19 world. These questions should help to inform better decision making for the future. 

 

Article written by Nicole Lentink, Laurens Petten and John Luijs, senior manager and directors, Deloitte