To Survive or not to Survive – Being Agile is the “New Normal” especially for those that want to Survive
Don’t be weighed down by your past, take off those concrete boots and get into the groove by being Agile.
Most businesses did not come into the Covid-19 crisis in great shape. In fact, many were still suffering from the government’s unprecedented increase in “compliance” that was placed on them in 2019. There was more new compliance imposed on business over a 6-month period in 2019 than over the whole of the previous 6-years. Additionally, both central and local government were drawing up new legislation to impose “Environmental Sustainability Reporting” compliance on businesses to commence this year.
Then along came Covid-19, and, for most businesses, the resulting 7-week lockdown has been a catalyst for rapid change as businesses have had to hastily adjust their operations to cope with the immediate crisis of minimal income over the lockdown period, how to operate in a diminished economic environment post lockdown, and how to obtain enough cash flow to survive the lockdown and post lockdown trading period until customers have enough money to pay them.
Fair due should be paid to the Government for the rapid implementation of the Wage Subsidy, Tax Deferral, Cash flow Loan Scheme and other similar measures to prevent a domino effect on business closures, but it has to be said that more should have been done to help businesses come up with business continuity plans.
The two areas in which businesses most need help during these challenging times are:
- Market analysis, planning and strategies; specifically, how badly has a business’ current markets and customers been affected by the crisis and how can it investigate new target markets that have been less affected by Covid-19.
- Developing an Agile Digital Platform to support a business’ marketing strategies and plan.
Being Agile during this crisis is about building business and financial resilience to firstly survive and then move forward. Not all businesses are currently in the same predicament, but all businesses should be taking a long hard look at themselves and their competitive edge to ensure that they firstly retain and then potentially grow their market shares by segment as other businesses adapt and compete for the same customers.
Looking at the graphic below, smart Agile businesses will be moving from Survival to Taking Advantage, while those wearing concrete boots will slide from Survival to gone.
Into the Blue NZ Limited in association with Business Support Studio Limited has put together a “Marketing and Digital Enablement” Service, which has been registered with the Regional Business Partner Network (RBPN) to enable 50% government co-funding up to a maximum of $5,000 for the first 3 months. For more information go to https://intotheblue.co.nz/regional-business-partnership/ and see the “Marketing Analysis, Planning, Strategy and Digital Enablement” service. All services listed on this page are registered with the RBPN and available for government co-funding.
