Covid 19 has change the business environment immeasurably over the last few months and with the resulting economic contractions and slow recovery is driving many companies to restructuring or shift business models.

What should you be considering if you are looking at changing your business model?

• Build the capacity to change
• Be clear what the true value is, build and track that value
• Be innovative, engage people early and drive new thinking

Overall Remember this is a journey you are taking not just a one hit wonder

1 Build the capability to change

Probably one thing we know for certain is we don’t know what the future holds. Whilst there are many theories about what 2021 will look like, demand, work patterns, etc, the reality is we don’t know. Therefore, the organisation must have a strong capacity to change and your business model must have the flexibility to adapt. Consider:

• Leaders, do they all understand and have the experience to lead a change and support their teams?
• How do you pick up on changing trends in and outside your organisation? What metrics, key studies, key people etc provide you with that? How does that factor into your decision making?
• How much change can individuals make? How does your organisation react to bottom up driven change? How autonomous are you individuals so if they want to improve things can they?

Having a model that you build step wise that can change as the environment changes is a key part of adapting in the current environment.

One key decision to make now is how much and how quickly do you need to do now and what does the journey look like.

2 Be clear what the true value in your model is, build and track that value

Typically, companies, spend ages building a business case document to justify the investment and then once the investment is agreed this sits on the shelf. Really the effort is the wrong way around. Companies should have a clear idea of where the key areas of value are as they start design, however it doesn’t stop there.

During design the analysis should be identifying and refining the areas of value to the business so that this can prioritise the design and areas of activity.

During implementation further opportunities will arise and these need to be identified and maximised through sharing of best practise or further design.

As the model moved into business as usual individuals are now able to work in a different way. New opportunities can be identified and the business model tweaked or if needed further projects commissioned to realised this value.

Consider disruptive companies like Uber and air B&B that required the mass availability of smart phone technology, internet and cloud computing without those advances their business model would not operate. This is why you need to keep adapting and changing to be a success.

3 Engage people and be innovative in your thinking

In all business people are key as without them they won’t operate and now is the time to be innovative in your thinking and see the opportunities in the changing business environment.

• People need to be engaged right through the lifecycle from initiation, design, implementation and business as usual. People are your core resource and making sure you bring ideas from all across the business and external (customers, specialists in the area and outside your industry) will bring real value through diverse thinking.
• By engaging people in your organisation early you build commitment to the design which will make the implementation much easier (and lower cost), in addition you avoid costly mistakes as you have people who are actually work with your customer, deliver your service, make your product so can see what will work and what won’t.
• Consider how to get innovative thinking from external sources like external consultants, best practice, thought leaders….
• Remember it not just grey hair you need, if you are are looking at new technology it’s the younger generation that are the experts here

Given the current challenges, think big and look outside your business for ideas and inspiration. Those companies that build models that are flexible enough to adapt to changing opportunities and can “pivot” quickly are the ones that will thrive in the changing environment

So, remember these 3 things

• Build the capacity to change
• Be clear what the true value is, build and track that value
• Be innovative, engage people early and drive new thinking

And finally, this is a journey you are taking.

Gone are the days of a one stop big change and then everything stayed the same, we are now in a world that is constantly changing and so there will be multiple small changes over a period of time, are you ready to start that journey?