Story By: Renata Aguilar
It has become more evident that the world is changing at a rapid pace due to the hard impact of the COVID-19. This pandemic has in a way obligated us to reflect, learn and adapt to harsh situations to which most if not all countries were not only prepared for but it shines light to the grey areas of all economies and health care systems thus paving the way for lots of room for improvement and tweaks needed to be made. Perhaps those grey areas have to be dust off this time and be paid the necessary attention to avoid less catastrophic pitfalls as the world begins to stabilize from this shock wave.
“It is possible to not only secure and reshape critical functions, but also establish a cohesive set of leading practices that can be scaled across all dispersed locations — both now and as the crisis unfolds.”
Remote Working
Many companies have already started to implement remote working way before the times of COVID-19 but there were still some companies and industries that were not on that wagon yet for many valid reasons. Whether it be because of physical manufacturing, manual processes, or maybe lack of trust or even just plain scared, this pandemic has shown us that things can still work and not fall apart working from home or a remote location. Such industries taking advantage of this new work style are the Technology industry, Telecommunications, and Education. This can prove that allowing employees to work from home more often can have its perks and benefits if the right set of game rules are in place and keeping in mind on learning how to balance the work and private life is key. Remote Working has risen due to this pandemic and is paving the way for communication tools to enhance and improve their performance, quality, and productivity.
Here are key game rules that were established in Grability:
- Work Schedule compliance → Wake up with the best attitude, have a good healthy breakfast, enjoy a nice shower but don’t stay in your pajamas!
- Designate a comfortable space → Seek to condition a space so that it works as a home office with good lighting, with some privacy and that has all your style.
- Set Schedules and Establish a Routine → Just like in the physical office but just at home, with a sense of responsibility, honesty, and passion.
- Avoid Distractions → With schedules & routines already set, communicate to your loved ones the times you need more focus than others for meetings and expected deliverables.
- Allow Time for Relaxation → Make time for active breaks to stretch, meditate when feeling stressed or under pressure, and make some pit stops to hug and show love to those around you.
e-Commerce
With the e-commerce market, there has been a rise thanks to the pandemic as it has detonated a new trend regarding commerce innovation. It has definitely paved the way for new and different buying or purchasing decisions and behaviors. This means that for Direct-to-Consumer and B2B organizations, they have to re-think their distribution channels and innovate different ways to deliver their products and services so that their customers continue to be engaged and their operations continue to stay afloat during these hard times. This is key because if businesses are not evolving even during this world situation, they can potentially be losing grip of things and allowing room for those businesses that are not afraid to try new things despite the risks. The boom of “contactless” delivery and “curb-side” pick up are strategies that are working their magic to continue product operations alive. According to Emarsys and GoodData, it is evident that e-commerce’s revenue is up 37% and orders up 54% in the US for this year alone. Another interesting data is provided by SuperMarket News that based on a study provided in late April 2020, month-over-month sales growth reflects from 46.9 million to 62.5 million, plus a 3% gain in order size — from $82 to $85 — as households continue stock-up purchases of essential products.
At Grability, We make innovation happen
Grability is in constant evolution when it comes to entering new markets, transforming the Fintech and Software As A Services industry, and accepting new challenges through our innovation with Grability Labs.
Mobu: Reinventing access to Apps for small & medium retailers through the SaaS — B2B model made in house.
A2censo: Exploring new horizons in growing markets to become pioneers in the development of the first collaborative financing platform in Colombia. Crowdfunding.
Grability Labs: Provide an innovative incubation methodology in the technology industry to build value propositions for scalable and profitable digital products.
Automated Jobs
The evident revolution of the robotics and automation has spread its wings. Let’s be real, this was bound to happen sooner or later but thanks to COVID-19, organizations are relying on Artificial Intelligence, Enhanced Intelligent, Machine Learning, and IoT to keep up the fight with the pandemic. As the risk for infection continues to be high and could be deadly, avoiding human contact is saving lives and that means that robots can assist to prevent the contagion thus replacing the human jobs of retail store staff, deliveries, and pickups, fast-food workers and grocery store staff to name a few. This goes to show that any jobs that can be automated, will be replaced and according to a McKinsey study, it is projected that up to 30% of jobs in the US will be automated by 2030, and strongly believe that “automation and AI will lift productivity and economic growth”. Also, a study from Oxford Economics predicts that 12.5 million manufacturing jobs will be automated in China by 2030.
Value Chain — Supply & Demand
Businesses continue to safeguard their value chain at all costs considering the pandemic negative impacts, nonetheless, this proofs to show that most companies were not fully prepared to address such stir at a global level but let’s be honest, no one could have ever predicted something like this could have happened and not to mention the repercussions this world widespread will bring once the COVID-19 has been stabilized. To better understand, P & G have given this situation the term “ bullwhip effect” which is the named phenomenon that forecasts the supply chain inefficiencies thus demonstrating the variations of customer demands, a pretty interesting rollercoaster ride!
“We’re seeing that organizations who diversified their supplier base after experiencing tariff impacts are potentially more equipped to address the effects of COVID-19 on their supply chains,” — ISM: Impacts On Global Supply Chains
The impacts are high for manufacturing because there is a big dependency on the materials or specific resources used which some if not most may come from other parts of the world. In addition, there is the distribution area which of course requires warehouse respondents and a logistic operation that due to the lockdowns continue to affect the supply thus meeting the high demands from consumers and customers.
An interesting study performed by the Institute for Supply Management, provide interesting figures such as “Nearly 75 percent of companies report supply chain disruptions in some capacity due to coronavirus-related transportation restrictions, and more than 80 percent believe that their organization will experience some impact because of COVID-19 disruptions”
“Some industries increasing revenue targets include Food, Beverage & Tobacco Manufacturing (+8.8%), Wholesale Trade (+0.3%), and Management of Companies & Report Services (+17.5%). Significant demand is hitting Health Care & Social Assistance (+50%) even as they adjust their revenue target -30%.”
Grability, your superhero!
To conclude, it has become more relevant that in hard times, as one, we must all understand the situation, be alert to avoid further contagion, adapt to the changes and circumstances, and most importantly, we must learn how to live with the matter so we can continue on making improvements that can benefit short term so that we can apply them for long term use. Nonetheless, not even Superman could have saved the world alone, he needed help from his other superhero pals, so with that being said, reach out to us so we can help you transform your industry through innovation and continue to provide unique and disruptive solutions in these hard times.
