Fight or flight, pivot or pause – the world’s Magic 8 ball just got kicked into the sky and who knows what it might say when it lands.

But that’s exciting, right? Old doors shut, but new doors open, customers change, needs adapt and priorities are turned on their head.

A tweet circulating right now is scarily true…

I’ve said this in a previous post, the world has been forced, at pace, further into digital. This time it’s more than just digitising your services or making your business more accessible – because if you could do that, you’ve already done it. 

This is something different, digital is no longer just efficiency, it’s the tool for rapid development to quickly get out in front. Your customers have changed, their journeys have changed, and I’m afraid of sitting it out, amounting debt in government-backed loans, isn’t creating a foundation for success, it’s hibernation at best. And hibernating while others are redefining the rules just doesn’t make sense.

Admittedly, there are industries that will be hit harder than others. The CEO of an airline with the entire fleet grounded isn’t thinking about ways to generate revenue from planes on the tarmac, but they probably are using the additional bandwidth to focus on innovation, something that usually takes a backseat to the day-to-day running of the business. Now is the time to capitalise on uninterrupted thinking, focussed minds and unprecedented bandwidth.

One of the biggest issues an agency has to deal with when running a project with a client is that the client still has their day job. The project is usually in addition to what is normally expected of them, and so finding that capacity, finding that time and focus, practising real deep work (fantastic book btw), never happens.

So yes this is a time to pivot, redefine customer wants and needs, minimise impact and innovate out of a crisis, but, let’s be pragmatic – that simply isn’t an option for a number of industries. But what is not only an option but an absolutely unique opportunity, is maximise that bandwidth – practice Design Thinking, build a strong foundation for the long term growth and expansion, not just short term survival.

There really isn’t a better time to be strategic. Great strategy happens when we can focus, have clear minds and determination in our bellies.

Short Term Adaptation Workshop

If you’re worried about how all this might be affecting your business and need some help assessing the situation, finding some solutions and prioritising an action plan we are happy to talk. With our clients so far we’ve dissected customer journeys, pinpointed anxiety points or areas no longer possible, and rapidly defined new propositions and acquisition strategies.

Reference:

Adam Smith, Digital Just Became a Necessity, https://www.rawnet.com/insights/Digital-necessity, Rawnet, April 2020