In these weeks, many companies are busy preparing for next year. Strategies are reconsidered, plans are made and budgets are calculated.
Some companies are also putting their own business models to the test. Because the profound changes brought about by digitization and automation have left their mark, as has the pandemic. Many have already learned to embark on new things, have tried out a few things and are therefore successful.
This also applies to new decisions that were necessary due to the pandemic. With these, the question now is whether you keep the new model or go back to the previous model. I would like to invite you to pause here. Because times are changing and sometimes business models born out of necessity are actually the better solution for moving into the future in a good position.
Let's take a look at the small village Remmesweiler in Saarland, which didn't have a single grocery store anymore even before the pandemic. The resourceful residents have made a virtue out of necessity: they have quickly developed a platform on which you can order food from the region. The highlight: The pick-up point is the community center, which quickly offers breakfast parallel to the collection times for orders. The result: more exchange between villagers and a new sense of community in the village.
Can something like this be transferred to companies? It's very likely. Finally, it is becoming apparent that many professionals will continue to spend part of their working time in their home office in the future. At the same time, with this hybrid work, it is important that there is regular personal exchange with colleagues in order to maintain the innovative strength of the companies. In addition, it is more important than ever for managers to keep an eye on the well-being of employees while working virtually (for example, more customer appointments).
And there are other examples of change: Many companies have converted their supply chains because not all connections could be maintained during the pandemic. And there is a new supply chain law that makes contracting companies more responsible. So what would it be like to add local or regional suppliers to the supply chains and thus contribute to sustainability, local reconstruction and climate protection? This could give your own company a whole new look.
Combining different business models is another trend. Many are familiar with food delivery services such as Picnic in North Rhine-Westphalia or food rescuers such as Too-good-to-go. Flink is a delivery service that scores points with fast delivery (10 minutes) through environmentally friendly bicycle couriers and passes on everything that's left over to the blackboard (I see it personally because Flink is in my neighborhood).
A restaurant in Pirna discovered that due to the absence of guests and the exclusive home delivery, there was suddenly much more time for trainees. A trainee menu is sure to be well received even after the lock down. In Zurich, there is even a restaurant, in which only trainees cook. How can you preserve this for the future? Because better-trained employees who take on responsibility are always good. Other companies have used short-time work to provide their employees with continuing education in the form of online training. This is a good investment and could also easily be retained.
It therefore makes sense for companies to continuously check everything to see whether there are more innovative solutions that provide entrepreneurial benefits for the future.
We all hope that 2022 will be a normal year again. There is then a lot of talk about resilience: Get up, knock on, carry on — as before. I think we should be more pro-silient: get up, knock off and start again: with tried and tested and learned new things.
If you would like assistance with these considerations: Just give us a call!
