Many companies initially thought the Corona pandemic would be a temporary event. Just like a flu outbreak, they would sit out the worst few weeks, and then go back to ‘business as usual’. It’s becoming more and more clear though, that ‘usual’ won’t be the same as we know it. And that for most of us it will take flexibility and creativity to regain our pro-pandemic business results. So, the next months we need to be prepared for some unexpected or sometimes tough decisions.
Corona confirms the need for speed
When the corona pandemic erupted, organizations had to change fast to stay in business. They had to increase the speed of decision making, reinvent processes, and accelerate the scope and scale of innovation. The pandemic has shown though that it is possible to make decisions faster. With fewer meetings, fewer decision makers per meeting, and decisions covering shorter timespans. Moving from multi-annual to just-in-time plans, fit-for-purpose planning and resource allocation on a quarterly basis instead of annual. And embracing new technology and data that provide much needed insights.
Change remains the only constant
The first changes have kept a lot of us going for these first chaotic months. But the turmoil is not over yet. Support measures and deferrals will come to an end at some point. Your competitors have not been idle. And maybe you’ll even face new parties that entered your market. You’ll likely be forced to make additional adjustments to the markets you serve and offer you provide but also your operating model. It’s more visible than ever that change truly is the only constant factor. So, you’ll need an operating model based on strategic agility.
Strategic agility requires an external focus
Strategic agility is the ability to change the business’ strategic course fast and effectively. To use opportunities offered by changes in the market. And resilience to handle often large and unexpected changes. Not only to survive, but also to increase competitive position and profitability. Strategic agility comes from an agile working approach with self-steering teams working in short project sprints, flexible processes & IT systems and a fast decision-making process that facilitates contributors with proper market insights.
Organize to ensure your analysis does not take months
Proper market insights ask for market research, trend watching and validating assumptions with customers, suppliers, stakeholders, industry organizations, etc. Preferably by experts worldwide. Mapping all relevant factors that affect your business. You’ll often find input for your insights in different systems and from a varied group of co-workers from various disciplines. A holistic market analysis is pretty time consuming but including all relevant factors and points of view avoids tunnel vision. To keep the lead time under control we recommend you set up a solid process, that covers which data you need, where to find it, who should collaborate and how you update it regularly.
Struggling to manage the lead time for your market analysis? SpotOpp organizes, digitizes and visualizes all relevant data showing you your market-fit and sweet spots. Validated results in minimal time. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to know more.