What will a Service Based Business look like in the Post Pandemic World?
How does the New Normal affect our lives? Will it just go back to the old ways or have we learnt so much that we will never go back?
Much has been written on the effects of COVID-19 to World and Local economies. At the time of writing, I have been self stranded in the Philippines, Clark Freeport Zone to be precise. Before the air travel shut down I was moving between Australia, Philippines and Japan on constant rotation. Planes were just another vehicle to get me from A to B onto C and back to A again. When the music stopped I grabbed this chair. What I have seen in the last 10 months shows to me that Globalisation is fragile, giving up local production in favour of geographic arbitrage has lead to shortages of many things everywhere. The collapse of Supply Chains, the overnight eradication of industries, the evaporation of Demand through lay-offs and restrictions have cut deep into the pockets of people, business, countries and governments.
How well did your Business handle the past 10 months?
Were you able to continue to trade? Did you move all or part of your resources to Work From Home? How was Customer Experience impacted? How was productivity, efficiency, moral impacted? Data Security, Compliances, Asset Tracking? What about Billing, On-Time Delivery and Customer Communications?
What we believe
Generally, financial burden has been placed on businesses and households alike. There are certain industries that have actually grown in this climate, however they are not part of this paper. Change Management must be related to ROI and the bottom line. Simplicity and Flexibility coupled with great value. Work From Home on a mass scale has proved to be possible. Moreover, there is a focus on localism. Regional Hubs, transient office space and remote working are not new practises but now is their time in the spotlight. Business models and processes in this Post Pandemic have or must change. Multi-Channel communication, multiple platforms, inconsistent use, lack of integration, lack of security, the inability to have relevant usable objective data in the right hands at the right time are common complaints of the current way businesses are running practises. Confusion of technologies, outdated or server-based technologies are more common complaints. Our billing system doesn't talk to our project management, why can't I see everything to do with a client, a project or a similar case in one place? On the darker side, there has been astronomical increase in cyber-attacks and crime. One recent set of statistics show there a more that 500,000 Zoom user names and passwords on the Dark Web, 40% increase in unsecured remote desktops, Ransomware attacks increased at 105% on the period prior to COVID.Where to now?
Acknowledging that decentralisation, continued remote working and transitioning to smaller hubs is for many the future in the short term and possibly the long term we then look to how to unify our business process and IT infrastructure in the best way for our business. We must ensure we are meeting our customer expectations while maintaining our internal sales and profit targets. Keeping pace with rigours of data security and compliance. Rate yourself on these questions Yes or No:- Our Data and Systems are safe and compliant
- Our Policy and Processes reflect the current work environment
- Our Staff are trained in and use our software efficiently and correctly
- There is no unauthorised use of other software
- We have consolidated and unified of technology stack for efficiency and ROI
- Our projects and tasks are completed on time, within budget, and billed correctly
- Our clients, suppliers and staff love the way we operate
- We have a single platform to talk with staff and clients
- Our HR Platform is fully integrated
- Our Business Intelligence draws from all our business verticals and software
- We have a Learning Management System
- We use Artificial Intelligence in our Sales and Operations
- We have blueprinted our processes and automated where possible
About the author
Sean Sullivan
is the founder and CEO of Cool Runnings Business Solutions PTY LTD. Sean is a process optimisation fanatic and works with his team in the Digital Transformation space. Cool Runnings specialises in configuring and creating software to suit the nuances of your business. Cool Runnings is a Certified Authorised Zoho Partner.
