The importance of innovation during a pandemic

According to McKinsey, organisations that have focused on innovation during the recovery of a crisis came back 30% stronger than companies who did not. Concentrating on the long term and planning for growth rather than survival will help gain a competitive advantage during the recovery.

The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted nearly every industry; and as the government begins to ease restrictions, companies are exploring ways to recover their losses. During the onset of COVID-19 organisations innovated rapidly with a short-term focus on continuing operations and employee safety. In the recovery phase, companies will require a considerable amount of strategic innovation (growth and change) rather than reactive innovation, to explore future opportunities centered around core business models.

It is key for organisations to innovate with a purpose to increase their likelihood of success for the long term. Companies should focus on growth and gaining an advantage over their competitors. The below framework will help with explore growth strategies.

Assess changing demands and needs of consumers

The recent pandemic has fundamentally changed the way most businesses operate, particularly because of the rapid adoption of digitisation. Companies need to understand the demands and needs of consumers by analysing the new patterns of spending. Once change has been identified, analyse what it means and its impact on your industry and business.

Consider ways to respond

Now that you understand the change in consumer spending patterns, explore ways in which your organisation is equipped to respond. This requires planning for the future, think about the pain points the changing consumer behaviour reveals and task your innovative experts with creating some new products or services to address these customer pain points.

Change your business model

Organisations need to accept that the way that their business operated prior to COVID-19 is history. It is important to identify ways in which your former business model has been permanently changed and then look at ways you can transform these models into new ones to make way for future growth.

Each industry and each company have their own unique challenges and opportunities to explore, so innovation will look different for everyone. One critical enabler to strategic innovation post COVID-19 is technology. Once you identify opportunities to pivot your business model, consider what technologies can help you get there - e-commerce, artificial intelligence, virtual realities, touchless technologies etc.

When considering your innovation strategy, remember to adapt to changing consumer wants, explore new opportunities, and allocate resources towards innovation.

Need to map your way forward through Covid19 and innovate from the inside out? Let us help.

Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations. Focused on delivering both commercial and financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au