Transforming Your Business During COVID-19: Our Strategic Advice

Pivot your Strategy and be Inventive

If your business cannot be operational right now, you need to pivot. It’s time to be inventive and think outside the box. What can your company do? It could help if you explored adding another line of business or multiple business lines providing items or services that are specifically in need right now if you have some capacity to make those items or provide those services. Perhaps you can coordinate or partner with others to make or source them. For example, many distilleries have converted their operations to make hand sanitizer. A product that is urgently needed right now.

Similarly, textile designers have created sewing teams making masks for medical personnel and individual use. Automotive manufacturers and defence companies are making valuable medical ventilators for hospitals. Ask yourself: what else could my business be doing to bring in other revenue streams related to what we currently do or offer? It may end up being something completely different, but you will have to adapt to ensure you have new or multiple sources of revenue.

If you haven’t already, now is the time to consider investing in your organization’s post-COVID-19 recovery plan. We can help you start your business transformation process by examining your current business model, readjusting your organization, and supporting you with new business launches or implementation initiatives. Many of our clients are taking advantage of this period to reposition themselves in their existing markets while seeking opportunities in new lines of business. Our strategic advice is to do the same.

If your business is one of the many impacted by COVID-19, now is the best time to examine and recalibrate your organization for continued growth and success. You are most likely considering how your business will survive during this global pandemic. You are worried about making payroll, paying your bills and ensuring that clients and customers do not abandon you as they looked to cut costs and save their money.

Other factors may also be impacting you, such as how much business debt you have, what your costs are and where you can cut nonessential expenses. You could be worried about finding a backup source of funding should the pandemic period be extended into 2021 and beyond. Now would be a good time to examine how you will implement changes to your business model. For example, how can you and your employees work remotely from home or elsewhere? How will you respond to supply chain disruptions? It would be best to explore how you will innovate and bring your business online or use technology to your advantage.

Realign and Diversify your Business

Beyond recalibrating your internal business functions and operations, other determinants must also be considered. For example, our firm is working with clients to realign their business sales and government relations strategies to minimize the ongoing pandemic impacts through market diversification. This might include reviewing your local, national or global marketing and sales strategies and assessing how the current situation has uncovered new business opportunities previously not thought of in the typical business environment.

We also encourage you to consider entering or further expanding your business-capture resources to include government procurement opportunities now available to many businesses of all sizes. For example, the federal government is calling on companies to provide goods or services that could support Canada’s response to COVID-19. We are working with clients through our government relations practice to reposition their unique value proposition to federal departments and agencies, such as staffing augmentations and IT support services.