{"id":8718,"date":"2020-06-30T05:49:40","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T05:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/?p=8718"},"modified":"2023-11-30T17:13:22","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T17:13:22","slug":"the-post-pandemic-enterprise-what-will-it-be-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/future-of-work\/the-post-pandemic-enterprise-what-will-it-be-like\/","title":{"rendered":"The Post-Pandemic Enterprise: What Will It Be Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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In the near term, nations have been mostly focused on surviving the massive disruptions caused by Covid-19.\u00a0\u00a0But, what about the longer term?\u00a0 What will the post-pandemic\u00a0new normal<\/em><\/a>\u00a0be like for societies and economies? More specifically, how will the pandemic impact the world of business?\u00a0How can enterprises leverage the crisis to accelerate their journey toward what most everyone agrees will be an even faster changing future?\u00a0As\u00a0Rahm Emanuel<\/a>\u00a0famously\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0in a 2008 WSJ interview: \u201cYou never want a serious crisis to go to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe future is not what we thought it would be only a few short months ago,\u201d said a recent McKinsey article,\u00a0From thinking about the next normal to making it work<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cAs businesses step into the post-coronavirus future, they need to find a balance between what worked before and what needs to happen to succeed in the next normal.\u201d\u00a0 The article offers 21 concrete recommendations for succeeding in the\u00a0next normal<\/em>, organized into seven major areas.\u00a0\u00a0Let me summarize a few of these recommendations.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Rather than assuming that the old ways will return, start thinking through how to organize for a distributed workforce<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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While there\u2019s some nostalgia for the good-old pre-pandemic days circa January 2020, – when you could bump into people over lunch or coffee, – most executives told McKinsey that they\u2019re pleased with how well remote working has gone.\u00a0\u00a0However, there\u2019s also the risk that companies will rely too much on remote working for the roughly one third of mostly white collar office\u00a0jobs for which it might apply.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cRemote work isn\u2019t a panacea for today\u2019s workplace challenges, such as training, unemployment, and productivity loss,\u201d notes the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working from home may well have succeeded during the pandemic because it was viewed as temporary rather than permanent.\u00a0 It worked particularly well for groups that had already built up a reservoir of social capital through countless hours of meetings, informal conversations and other social interactions.\u00a0\u00a0But, corporate cultures\u00a0may well erode<\/a>\u00a0over time with mostly remote interactions.\u00a0 Newer employees, in particular, may feel isolated rather than part of\u00a0a kind of extended family<\/a>, – an important attribute of a well-functioning organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies should take the lead to\u00a0redefine what the workplace<\/a>\u00a0now means, including how to best organize a more distributed, remote workforce, – where it works well and where it does not.\u00a0 Properly organized, remote work \u201ccould contribute to building a more diverse, more capable, and happier workforce.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Remote work can, for example, help companies draw on a much wider talent pool, make work more accessible for people with disabilities, and offer much needed flexibility to parents and caregivers.\u00a0 But, if not properly managed, working from home will exacerbate\u00a0work-life balance<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0burnout<\/a>\u00a0issues.\u00a0\u00a0Office life has relatively well defined boundaries.\u00a0\u00a0But when your home becomes your workplace, \u201cIt\u2019s not so much working from home; rather, it\u2019s really sleeping at the office.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post-pandemic, companies should lock in those practices that helped speed up decision making and execution.\u00a0\u00a0Agile methods<\/a>\u00a0are a prominent example.\u00a0\u00a0Surveys<\/a>\u00a0have repeatedly shown that organizations that embraced\u00a0agile practices<\/a>\u00a0to better respond to fast changing technology and market requirements, have performed significantly better than their counterparts.\u00a0\u00a0But, only a minority of companies have done so.\u00a0\u00a0The pandemic has now forced many more organizations to embrace agile practices, and for the most part, they\u2019ve have seen positive results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, \u201ccollaboration, flexibility, inclusion, and accountability are things organizations have been thinking about for years, with some progress.\u00a0\u00a0But the massive change associated with the coronavirus could and should accelerate changes that foster these values.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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From just-in-time to just-in-time and just-in-case supply chains<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The pandemic has surfaced\u00a0vulnerabilities<\/a>\u00a0in supply-chains around the world.\u00a0\u00a0How should enterprises manage their supply chains in such uncertain times?\u00a0\u00a0As business executives tried to determine how to best do so, they were largely flying blind because Covid-19 caused disruptions unlike anything seen in over seventy years.\u00a0\u00a0The article offers three key recommendations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Optimize supply chains based on end-to-end values, – e.g., resiliency, efficiency, responsiveness – rather than on individual transaction costs.\u00a0\u00a0This often argues for more flexible, shorter supply chains whose competitive advantage comes from speed and reliability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redesign supply chains to reduce risk by avoiding being too dependent on any single supplier.\u00a0\u00a0This enables companies to react quickly to changes in supply or demand as well as to serious disruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accelerate\u00a0next-shoring<\/em>\u00a0and the use of advanced technologies<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Next-shoring<\/a>, – building production capacity closer to the ultimate markets, – may well become the new normal.\u00a0\u00a0Companies have already been moving away from just-in-time production to more flexible supply chains that can also operate on a just-in-case mode.\u00a0\u00a0Digital and AI capabilities, flexible robotics, additive manufacturing, and other technologies can help quickly adjust output levels and product mixes at reasonable costs.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Create longer term value and a better future for all stakeholders<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Last year, the\u00a0Business Roundtable<\/a>\u00a0(BRT), – an association of CEOs of major US companies, – released an\u00a0updated statement<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0Purpose of a Corporation<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0The BRT moved away from its previous\u00a0commitment to shareholder primacy<\/a>\u00a0to now emphasize a \u201cCommitment to All Stakeholders\u201d and \u201cAn Economy that Serves All Americans.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0This\u00a0new statement<\/a>\u00a0now places shareholder interests on the same level as the interests of all its other stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, and communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corporations clearly have fundamental responsibilities to make money and reward their investors.\u00a0\u00a0But, as a 2011\u00a0HBR\u00a0<\/em>article,\u00a0Capitalism for the Long Term<\/a>, points out, \u201cin truth there was never any inherent tension between creating value and serving the interests of employees, suppliers, customers, creditors, communities, and the environment.\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, thoughtful advocates of value maximization have always insisted that it is\u00a0long-term<\/em>\u00a0value that has to be maximized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Businesses that work to be good citizens create superior value for shareholders over the long term.\u00a0 McKinsey defines long term as five to seven years, – \u201cthe period it takes to start and build a sustainable business.\u00a0\u00a0That period isn\u2019t that long.\u00a0\u00a0As the current crisis proves, huge changes can take place in much shorter time frames.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Accelerate the transition of digitization and automation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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While the need for\u00a0digital transformation<\/em>\u00a0has long been a buzz phrase, a 2018 McKinsey\u00a0survey<\/a>\u00a0found that 85% of respondents wanted their operations to be mostly or fully digital, but less than 20% actually were.\u00a0\u00a0Another\u00a0recent study<\/a>\u00a0found that the average digitization level across all industry sectors was only around 25% of the ultimate potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital infrastructures have kept nations and economies going during Covid-19, – the biggest shock the world has experienced since WWII.\u00a0\u00a0The pandemic has now made the case for accelerating the rate and pace of a company\u2019s digital transformation.\u00a0 Enterprises\u00a0should embrace and scale the changes they were forced to make to help them cope with the crisis.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCompanies that accelerate these efforts fast and intelligently, will see benefits in productivity, quality, and end-customer connectivity.\u00a0\u00a0And the rewards could be huge – as much as $3.7 trillion in value worldwide by 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBusinesses around the world have rapidly adapted to the pandemic,\u201d said the article in conclusion. \u00a0\u201cThere has been little hand-wringing and much more leaning in to the task at hand.\u00a0\u00a0For those who think and hope things will basically go back to the way they were: stop.\u00a0\u00a0They won\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0It is better to accept the reality that the future isn\u2019t what it used to be and start to think about how to make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHope and optimism can take a hammering when times are hard.\u00a0 To accelerate the road to recovery, leaders need to instill a spirit both of purpose and of optimism and to make the case that even an uncertain future can, with effort, be a better one.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What will the post-pandemic new normal be? More specifically, how will the pandemic impact the world of business? How can enterprises leverage the crisis to accelerate their journey toward what most everyone agrees will be an even faster changing future? As businesses step into the post-coronavirus future, they need to find a balance between what worked before and what needs to happen to succeed in the next normal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":612,"featured_media":8719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[384,385,383,386],"ppma_author":[3320],"class_list":["post-8718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-future-of-work","tag-new-normal","tag-pandemic-impact","tag-post-pandemic-enterprise","tag-world-of-business"],"authors":[{"term_id":3320,"user_id":612,"is_guest":0,"slug":"irving-wladawsky-berger","display_name":"Irving Wladawsky-Berger","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Wladawsky-Berger","first_name":"Irving","job_title":"","description":"Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a Guest Columnist at WSJ CIO Journal, is Research Affiliate at MIT Sloan School of Management, Adjunct Professor at Imperial College, London, and Chairman Advisory Board at r4 Technologies."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8718"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34571,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8718\/revisions\/34571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8718"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=8718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}