The COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on business around the world has forced organisations to make sudden and dramatic changes. Not only have they had to deploy remote workforces virtually overnight, but many have also had to consider new markets and business models. Successful pivots delivering rapid results demand a highly strategic approach, says Equal Experts, an international consultancy now operating in South Africa.
Jon Ayre, Strategic Advisory Practice Lead at Equal Experts, says organisations are currently adopting one of three approaches to the current disruptions: they are putting their heads in the sand and hoping it blows over – which he describes as a dangerous approach; they are protecting and storing assets and pushing ahead on course with stability as their main goal; or they are operating like ‘sharks’.
“The sharks are looking around to find opportunities – areas of the market going quiet and new talent coming onto the market, and they are taking advantage of these opportunities. We’re seeing large cash rich companies moving to buy smaller companies, and around one in four looking to make an organisational pivot,” says Ayre.
He notes that small startups can pivot quickly, but it is harder to ‘turn big ships’. “Large organisations have to pivot in a slower, more controlled manner, but it is possible for them to start to do so within a quarter.”
Equal Experts has combined its Remote Work and Disrupt playbooks, together with its unique Business Evolution Map, to help organisations identify viable areas for diversification and quickly seize new opportunities.
“We created the Business Evolution Map as part of our model to help organisations pivot. We have tested the model within our own organisation, as well as against known successful pivots, and we know it works,” says Ayre. “We can fundamentally change the business in a relatively short space of time; with a planning and disruption strategy in place in as little as four weeks and delivery of value within the first quarter. From then on, it becomes a process of continuous evolution.”
Brian Blignaut, Equal Experts South African business unit lead, says: “Businesses need to pivot, but they don’t always know how. This has become so much more urgent in light of recent events. With access to experts and a vast number of consultancies across industries, we are positioned to add a lot of value to clients as they accelerate their transition to digital and move in new directions.”
Areas where businesses are having to pivot include remote work, which until just weeks ago, was not the norm for most organisations. “We’ve done a lot of remote first delivery so we have experience in overcoming the teething challenges in communications, infrastructure and tooling,” says Blignaut. And because social distancing is driving new approaches to doing business, another pivot is businesses having to make the leap online. “South Africa is fairly unique in that the digital economy is still quite far behind the rest of the world. Local businesses are having to move online quickly, or take their e-commerce strategy to the next level, and they need the right partners to guide them through this change.”
Equal Experts has developed an in-depth approach to help businesses adapt quickly in the face of change.
