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Agility: the Key to Flourishing in a post-COVID Landscape
Jan 11, 2021
Allan Saffy, Managing Executive,
Decision Inc. South Africa
2020 will be remembered for a long time to come. Here in South Africa, the global pandemic has highlighted just how fragile our business ecosystem is. And for our economy to recover, it’s important that every company – regardless of sector – re-establishes stability and profitability.
What is clear is that recovery and stability won’t all occur at the same pace. Turbulent times have always provided some businesses with the opportunity to make great strides over the competition. 2020 has been no different. Those companies that have been delivering meaningful business outputs, have placed themselves in position to thrive next year – regardless of what happens with the pandemic; second-wave or not.
The Importance of Agility
How have they done this? The answer is agility. In today’s fast-paced world, business agility is a key differentiator. Being agile enables organisations to respond to unpredictable market conditions quickly and confidently.
What about your business? Do you feel it is an agile one? How do you measure this?
One part of the answer is to look at speed in which your business can make decisions. How fast can you access the key metrics needed to make a strategic change? In a post-Covid world, data really is the new oil. Having that data buried deep somewhere in your organisation isn’t helpful. It needs to be wisely extracted and readably available at your fingertips.
In other words, you need to have real-time insights into the decision-making levers within your business. Accessing and understanding data while extracting meaningful insights has become a critical enabler to being agile.
The only way to achieve is to accelerate your digital transformation. If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s digital transformation is no longer a question of ‘if’ but of ‘when’. The quicker you carry out your digital transformation, the more agile you can become.
How do we know?
Those organisations that have fully embraced digital transformation, are able to predict with better accuracy the future impact of the operational decisions they make. They are able to operate with more agility and are better equipped to respond to what is likely to happen next.
How can we be so sure?
Here at Decision Inc. (SA), this approach has enabled us to have a continuous strategic planning horizon at BOTH the short term (three to twelve months) AND long-term (five-year) level. So, while our long-term objectives remain intact, the short-term is focused on how best to get there in a changing environment. It has allowed us to adjust to what is happening around us and retain a mindset to adapt as rapidly as possible.
Digital enablement through data analysis has become the glue tying all the scenario-modelling, planning, and strategic interventions together. Through this we are able to gain value from our data and deliver solutions reflective of the evolving business landscape.
How should you respond?
Your business can do this too. You need to embrace this new approach so that you can easily adapt to a more inventive business environment. In short, it’s not about how big your business is that matters. It’s all about how agile you are. And regardless of size, it’s agile companies that will flourish in a post-Covid landscape.
Decision Inc. Covid-19 Employee Safety App
View our Covid-19 App that provides you with a clear reporting framework with live dashboards of your staff screening and enables managers to monitor the workforce’s health over time through the Reporting Portals. Make it safer for employees to return to work, providing controls and measures to minimise business disruption.
Key to Flourishing in a post-COVID Landscape
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