The Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed everything

First published in Change Incorporated, 30 Mar 2020

Istoria Group’s Chief Marketing Officer, Lindie Kramers commented on how the Coronavirus pandemic has changed the way businesses should operate, moving from a lean business model to a more sustainable, resilient model.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything – socially, economically, politically. Those changes are obvious at the moment, as the world slowly and cautiously emerges from lockdown. The world into which we emerge will not be the same as the one we left behind. For businesses everywhere, there will be new realities to confront. And while there is a lot of discussion around returning to ‘the new normal’, it is important for businesses to readdress the way they operate.

It is not just consumers that will need to change – there is also going to be a reassessment of working practices, with more focus on resilience. That will mean firms carry a little more fat – in terms of cash, inventory and workforce, for example – at the expense of maximum efficiency and just-in-time practices.

“The ‘lean, mean and agile’ business mentality left no fat on the bone to accommodate future risk. Businesses will have to wise up and build in more robustness and resilience moving forwards. The convenience culture has exposed a lot of supply-chain vulnerabilities in these inconvenient times. The net result is likely to be a move towards de-globalisation and increased self-sufficiency at regional, national and international levels, reflecting a change in consumer mentality too.” 

Lindie Kramers, CMO, Istoria Group

The world is starting to return to work. But it will not be business as usual as we have known it in the past. 

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Lindie Kramers, CMO, Istoria Group