The Next Decade is Here

The pandemic might have stolen almost a year from the calendar, and most of us, the businessmen, professionals, and employees, are waiting to get this mess over. But is it the right attitude to handle the situation? Are we missing something out? I think we are not handling it right. We need to approach this entire issue in a different way to prepare for the best future we can have. Let me explain why and how.
We have many people requesting to buy only from the local vendors by curtailing online purchases from biggies like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. At first instance, it appears convincing and reasonable, but on a deeper look, it seems misleading. Most of these kinds of online stores are platforms that are enabling small vendors to reach out to farther customers. In that sense, we are buying from small vendors through these platforms. But more importantly, an argument to help small retailers by halting purchase from online platforms shall lead to another more significant problem. It may put entrepreneurs not realizing the opportunity this pandemic offers to upgrade their businesses to another level. This is the opportunity to update your businesses to challenge the new realities and tap the opportunities it may create.

Because of the months we have lost due to the pandemic lockdowns and related issues, and we are actually bypassing ten years in our life. This is a giant leap in the advancement of the lifestyle of people across the globe. There will be tremendous changes in how customers are looking at problems and how to solve them. It directly means that the solutions we have or the way we are delivering the solutions may be valid anymore. We have to fine-tune our products and workstyle to fit a new atmosphere. By this pandemic, customers are forced to a quick-adoption of technologies that are getting ready for use after ten years. Businesses have to catch up with the changes happening to the customer community. But the worst part is, only a maximum of 3 months left for the makeover. The point is, instead of finding quick remedies like using sympathy to raise sales, the businesses shall concentrate on changes to meet the customer expectations immediately.

I have recently attended a few international and national level conferences, including TiE Silicon Valley and the National Management Convention of All India Management Association. All the meetings are organized in specially curated online platforms, and to my surprise, most of the events are better than the original traditional version. In one of the training sessions during the lockdown, Mr. Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director of Hindusthan Unilevel Limited, shared changes in his schedule that he used to travel to the UK to attend the Uniliver Board meeting, and now it is completely changed and attending such meetings using video conferencing tools. Tools like ZOOM are highly sophisticated to organize meetings and even daily office functions online more efficiently. An office’s daily operations can be managed in tools like zoom-room; it is more productive and matches a digital world’s speed.
Many areas of businesses are already changed to a digital format due to the effects of the pandemic. Online consultation and the digital queue have become customary in the healthcare industry. Medicine, FMCG, and food delivery have become comfortable for the ‘late majority’ as well. Education has no look back as online learning has become routine for teachers and students. All these indications show that customers’ expectations, choices, and preferences have changed, and it is going to transform the entire landscape of business. It also means that if a company waiting to over this mishap and doing nothing shall be running their last lap before the inevitable defeat.

[ATBC is a business strategy consulting organization. It focuses on strategic consulting services to companies in the scale-up phase. Business Strategy Consultant, Asif Theyyampattil, and his associate consultants collectively frame the organization. ATBC includes Financial Planners, Chartered Accountants, Chartered Engineers, Management Consultants, Company Secretaries, Branding& Marketing Experts, Social Media Consultants, Event Managers, Process Designers, Business Trainers, and Project Management Consultants, etc. Our focus is to create sustainable and profitable companies within our value framework. For details of the activities, please visit Asif Theyyampattil at www.atbc.co]

Now we agreed on why we have to change, but how to change is still to explain. First and foremost, an entrepreneur’s mindset has to accept the changes happening around and prepare himself for a transformation. Digitization of the business is the next step, but here is a note of caution. Digitizing the existing business without creating a clear strategy to capture the developing market may end up in a short span.

Digitization is different from computerization. Computerization is partial digitization, or digitization is a comprehensive transformation of business. If your company has a flaw in any functions or if the strategy is not well set, it will remain even after digitization. Such spots shall be fixed before moving digitization. In case the target community or its expectation about the product offering changed after the lockdown, the entire strategy has to be redefined. Multiple changes in the same circumstance make the transformation more complicated. Changing the product, price, segment, and mode simultaneously is where you have to pay a lot of attention. Otherwise, the entire business may be derailed.
So, before venturing into the digitization of your business, you need to reinvent the entire business. Reidentify the customer segment, redo the financials, redefine the strategy, remodel the marketing strategy, restructure the business system. In some cases, the business’s existence maybe not valid due to new normal conditions. In that case, the business has to find a new opportunity by capitalizing on the existing resources. After completing the entire task of reinvention, the business can initiate the digitization process.

This catastrophe not just brought us tiresome experiences but a lot of underlying opportunities as well. Primarily, we can now cater to new markets that don’t have access before. Technology development was always ahead of time, and there was a hindrance to adopting new technologies because of behavior constraints. This lockdown has changed everything, and all the barriers to technology adoption have now disappeared. In the Indian scenario, demonetization was only partially successful in forcing people to adopt digital transactions, but the pandemic made the process complete. Not just in the case of digital payments, but in the case of using internet tools to get government and other services; even the older generations are comfortably using such services. Businesses need to respond and ready to adapt to the recent change in the behavior of customers.

Those who are in a trading business may adapt to value-added trading to revive their business. They can also consider adding service into the portfolio or plunge into manufacturing the materials they used to trade. If they look to reinvent their existing business strategy, they should have a deep understanding of various business areas’ strengths and weaknesses. Consultant interventions shall be sought if they think so bring clarity into the business functions and strategy.
Our organization, ATBC, also into various areas of consulting practices, and we are associated with few very successful brands in Kerala. ATBC consists of professionals from different functional areas of business with at least a decade’s experience in business functions. Details can be accessed from www.atbc.co.

The benefits of hiring a business consultant are enormous, especially when it is a big business. The benefits of contracting a business consultant shall include lower risk for such high profile investments, risks shall be mapped, and risk mitigation plans shall be well defined, etc. Finding a suitable consultant for your business shall be tricky because you may find many consulting companies, but most of them shall not ideally fit your requirement, though they offer to serve you. You should first identify the importance of business consultancy services in your business, and you should be clear about their role in improving your business. Then have a meeting with your consultant to have a great conversation to know each other’s values and preferences better. You may be heard a lot about the advantage of consultancy services, but if it is not planned well, it will be an ordeal. If you are planning a high profitable business, let’s have a conversation first. We can support your business in many ways. You may find it helpful to associate with us for your business. Please do make a call to +91 99468 10000 to book an appointment with our team of consultants.

-Asif Theyyampattil