COVID-19: 5 priorities to help reopen and reinvent your business

49% of people in our survey who never worked from home now plan to do so more frequently in the future. Redesign work so that it can be completed more effectively from home. Train leaders to manage hybrid virtual / physical teams and extend technology support.

• Create not just a safe environment, but a comfortable and stress-managed one as well.
• Limit physical contact and enable more flexible use of space (e.g., operate shift hours). Segment key workers who must be physically present on the frontlines from those who can work remotely.

Companies have an obligation to think beyond their employees. Seek to quickly meet your legal obligations as well as supply chain partner expectations. Consider the role of chief medical officer to manage health protocols for the organisation and its interaction with the wider ecosystem.

Extend protocols for data, network and systems security to manage use of personal devices and new collaboration tools.

Increased levels of employee monitoring and new security measures will demand explicit and implicit contracts with employees.

• Align critical processes with the business strategy and strengthen their resiliency.
• Success depends on applying innovative solutions to create an evolved working environment.
• With governments revising policies each day, local decision-making with central coordination is key.

• Create diverse teams that focus on key priorities across business functions, such as finance and human resources, to resolve new or unexpected issues.
• Quickly identify cross-skilling opportunities.

• Make transactional processes more digital and focus on value-led, proactive operations―driven by data and analytics―to reduce stress on operations.
• Free up talented people for more critical thinking.

• Use a mixture of service models (office, home, countries and time zones) to de-risk the organization.
• Bring together highly skilled, distributed teams that can log in anytime, anywhere and deliver on customer commitments.

Monitor and distribute work across the network in real time using a command center to measure quality, productivity, compliance, insights and intelligence, people engagement and workforce well-being.

Look to reopen the business components that generate cash and/or profits fastest to fuel next stages.

Companies should not allow their restart to get ahead of their ability to maintain a secure systems and physical environment.

• New leadership skills will be needed in the reopening and beyond, requiring a different set of skills and leadership styles.
• This is the time to identify and empower your most entrepreneurial and inclusive leaders.​

Consider second wave cost reductions. Restructure short-term debt to long-term agreements. Reduce SKU complexity to streamline cash management. Variabilise costs, including technology (e.g. software-as-a-service and the cloud), outsourcing and contractors.​

• Create a culture of cost control ownership and a mindset of continual cost assessment. Clearly communicate how cost reduction measures will fuel investment.​
• Invest in greater data intelligence to better adjust cost structures and manage liquidity. ​

Balance short-term protection of liquidity with long-term investment and M&A need. Determine what M&A opportunities should be seized while distressed assets become available.​ Identify how M&A can improve cross-industry ecosystem capabilities that improve agility and resilience.

Assess government support programs and the possible obligations that could impact long-term liquidity or competitive agility. ​

• Seek to understand and empathise with customers, putting them at the heart of how you design—and constantly evolve—your customer experiences. Build more personal and less transactional experiences. ​
• Invest in artificial intelligence and other tools to manage customer interaction and to analyse customer behaviours. Provide frontline staff with the data insights they need to personalise experiences and add value. 

Go beyond using the cloud to drive efficiencies in certain pockets. Migrate applications to the cloud at scale. And then embark on new ways—within the cloud environment—to drive innovation in the use of data and applications.​

Manage the risks associated with large-scale workforce fluctuations. Look for supply chain weaknesses, counterfeiting and new cyberthreats in a less secure industry environment. ​

Underpin all areas of agility and experimentation with clearer empowerment of individuals and teams, supported by greater delegation and revised performance management metrics that reward autonomy.