Pandemic caught you napping, but are you ready for the end game  

Contributed Article
April 25, 2020 8:21 pm

The global pandemic has set a new normal by resetting business continuity plans to an unmatched scale, working remotely, and being agile in changing product lines on the fly. Demand and forecast have been random, from a real demand versus panic buying of household and health care essentials.

For the industry, unprecedented corporate social responsibility is taking priority. US based medical devices manufacturer, Medtronic, is releasing its proprietary design specifications into the public domain for other companies to participate in rapid ventilator manufacturing. Companies like Dyson, General Motors, Ford, and Telstra are shifting their product lines to the manufacturing of ventilators. Luxury brand product companies are making masks and sanitisers.

There is a surge in e-commerce from brick and motor businesses due to social distancing and lock downs. In other examples, companies like Amazon are hiring over 100,000 workers; while the Government of Singapore is easing the policy to have private car drivers to deliver goods for e-commerce companies like Lazada.

Getting B2B partners on board e-commerce platforms quickly is taking increasing importance. Companies who have already invested in e-commerce platforms have a big advantage in these times of disruption. Food delivery online platforms have surged in take-away orders, more restaurants are offering online take-away orders. Food outlets and start-ups are collaborating to provide customers with innovative ordering application for shop and go options.

There is an unprecedented push to collaborate end-to-end digitally across the supply chain, with tier 1-2-3 partners, suppliers, and end customers. Companies who have invested in digital, Industry 4.0, and cloud have a big advantage as they are able to stay agile, quickly scaling up and down in response to the volatile business environment and operational conditions.

Nations with the learnings from past outbreaks of SARS and H1N1 have been better prepared, with their governments playing a proactive role.

Recommended action plan

  • Human resources and technology should be in the forefront as opposed to being just back office support
  • Human and technology partnership with business operations is key for frequent employee engagement and communication.
  • Human and technology partnership with business operations is required to keep employee morale up in these tough times.
  • Invest in data science for scenario planning exercises to build a roadmap for the recovery plan.
  • Invest in supplier relationship management and customer relationship management, collaborations solutions for faster onboarding.
  • Improve crisis management and business continuity programmes and establish protocols to drive learnings.
  • Invest in unified communication tools such as WebEx, Zoom, Microsoft Teams to support collaboration and remote work.
  • Invest in e-commerce and cloud technologies to on board partners and scale capacity.
  • Invest in Industry 4.0 and robotics for automation in manufacturing and logistics industry.
  • Record learnings from COVID-19 to improve business continuity plans, disaster recovery, risk management, not just for the current situation but on ongoing basis.

Short term

  • Monitoring should be done daily in a war-room setting to respond to opportunities and issues across the extended enterprise.

Mid-term, long-term

  • Companies with global presence will need to build business modelling capabilities so they can serve countries that are recovering faster and help them ramp up their capacities on their road to recovery.

End game

A U-shaped recovery can be foreseen by the end of 2020. Investments will continue to be made in digital commerce, unified communication, cloud, cyber security, and Industry 4.0 technologies.

Given the post pandemic recovery, there will be a huge backlog of orders to be filled with diversified customer demand and capacity ramping up in the second half of 2020 globally. Those countries that are recovering early will take a lead in their transformation on the road to recovery.

The industries that will continue to grow through the pandemic will be healthcare, pharmaceuticals, logistics, e-commerce, telecom and unified communication, agriculture and food. Post the pandemic, the industries that will recover in a phased manner will be manufacturing, financial services and retail. Airlines, tourism, real estate and hospitality sectors, will be the last to catch up.

Enterprises, governments, and nations, need to rapidly announce and build their COVID-19 initiatives, to take customers, citizens, and global supply chains, towards stability and predictability.

Manoj Saxena at RosettaNet Singapore GS1 gives an overview of the pandemic’s disruption to global industries and enumerates a technology action plan.

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