The new COVID- reality, fast not big.

In the past 6 months, we have experienced businesses transform the way they deliver and move, in times of extreme measures. For some, it has meant completely pivoting their products and services as they had never imagined and open up new ways of doing, thinking, processing and delivering exceptional customer service, while also delivering employee satisfaction with finding new ways to work from home and remotely.

What did businesses need (then and now) to survive? Many of our clients are on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software which enables them to swiftly re-evaluate and move processes where necessary, they are able to do this because they have a very visible and clear single source of truth across the business. In times of complete despair our clients were able to forecast and plan for different scenarios and realities, which enabled less stock sitting idle or cutting back and in some cases ramping up on the manufacturing of raw materials.

It also meant a re-evaluation of legacy ERP and disparate systems in play, how did these systems serve this new future we were (are) facing? For some, it has been uplifting to the cloud, for others it has been upgrading, although with a myriad of customisations some are terrified of the impacts of an upgrade or uplift. It has been stated that we saw the adoption of 5 years of technology move forward in 8 weeks. For the majority of our clients, it has been about defining and implementing the roadmap to enable an omnichannel solution away from their disparate way of doing things.

Solutions in play during COVID and beyond.

Some of the solutions that our clients initiated to play during COVID are; Document Management Capture, Warehouse Management, Delivery Systems, CRM for disparate teams, Configuration Management of products as set by the consumer, internal Messaging and Communication platforms, ERP’s, and BI. These have all played a significant role in ensuring exceptional customer service for our clients’ and keeping them ahead of the game.

Supply and distribution have been key indicators on solutions at play, with lead times from overseas resources becoming longer and more intermittent and stock levels across different warehouses over the country needing accurate forecasting and visibility at the consumer level so businesses can deliver on what they sell and more importantly on what they will need. What does this mean now for the new covid-reality we find ourselves in?

“In this new world, it is not the big fish which eats the small fish, it’s the fast fish which eats the slow fish.”
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum.

What we do know is that a single source of truth with a defined BI strategy and the right tools in play has enabled businesses through COVID to pivot, extend, scale up or down, but most importantly move at an agile pace to what the world will throw next. It isn’t only COVID we should be planning for, it is at any level of risk mitigation, and the only question you need to be able to answer is ‘are we prepared’ and for how many scenarios?

On the flip side; what are our consumers doing now and how can we best serve them? People are depending more and more on online shopping, delivery services, and they need dependable services in a world of unknown.

Let me say that again, they need dependable services in a world of unknown.

McKinsey states that 75% of first-time users will continue using digital post COVID, it is here to stay.

How will your business become the security we need in the world right now, and which fish will you be?

We hope fast.

Contact us to find out how we can help your business become fast.

BrainStorm IT are helping businesses thrive through COVID by enabling, implementing, strategising, road mapping technologies as a single source of truth for their entire supply chain with their business goals at the forefront, for now, 3 months, 5 years and ten years into the future. Contact us to find out how we can help your business become fast and survive in this new COVID-reality.