Adapt To Thrive

Forced Apart, But Better Connected.

It’s been a strange old time of late, that’s a fact. Can you even remember what all the fuss was about before? Something that began with “B” I think it was. Now, instead of all the attention being around leaving something, we have come together as a country, with Europe and the rest of the world, to fight for a common cause. 

The primary cause is of course to save lives. However to save jobs, businesses, economies, our way of life and mental well being are all very important secondary objectives that are starting to have a bit more air time. 

From a business point of view the lock down and initial shock in consumers looks to have hit the economy badly. And this is likely to continue. Throughout the uncertainty of the past 8 weeks of lockdown the most positive element has been how many businesses have taken the opportunity to take stock. Time they would never normally have to regroup (even if they were forced into it). Their objective has been to find a way to adapt in order for their business to survive. Not only until things go back to “normal” and return to “business as usual”. But they’re also accepting there’s going to be a new normal on the horizon. They now need to plan the steps that they need to take, so that their business can maintain some of these changes in order to thrive.

You Got This

Evolution Through Digital.

The go to solution over the past weeks has been digital. For some businesses they’ve had these digital assets already and almost unexpectedly come of age. For others they have had to work at considerable pace, to add online services to traditionally offline businesses. Businesses of all shapes and sizes have been quickly implementing or augmenting their websites, coupling this with a service attitude of “we’ll come to you” in order to ensure reliable, safe and socially distant deliveries. With people told to stay at home, it’s not only been business survival but often a simple case of supply meeting demand. Although the method of meeting that demand is different, it’s really important that great service remains a focus as businesses adapt.

We’ve experienced some of this first hand, by helping and supporting businesses to adapt. We’ve had projects paused and some accelerated. We’ve put a business into temporary hibernation, and then bring it back to try to pick up where it left off. We’ve also seen other businesses experience a huge drop off initially, only for things to slowly pick up again a few weeks later. Some have had to deal with sudden surges in traffic to their websites in the region of 10x or more.

Overall, businesses have had to learn quickly how online can add something substantial to their business. For some, that extra dimension of choice that customers were already crying out for has been forced upon them. Some others, often due to the nature of what they do, just simply can’t adapt as quickly or to the same extent. We hope they will get through this and emerge relatively unscathed. 

For those of you who can and have embraced what digital connections can bring to your business, you’ve adapted superbly. You will survive. 

Now is your time to thrive.