Two areas have been identified as the pivot by which firms with a vision to stay in business post-COVID-19 must begin paying critical attention to.
For such organizations, instituting plans for survival while investing in the right skills set to meet the emerging trends in the digital space is the panacea to revamp their operations.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Clear Space Labs, Ehi Binitie gave these solutions when he spoke on the topic, ‘Digital: The Future of Business’ on the Citi Business Festival on-air series on Thursday.
He believes that the nature of business operations after the pandemic will be dependent on how business owners surmount the challenges and take advantage of the ‘new normal’.
Here are his two top-focus-areas for businesses to meet the future of their business digitally.
1. Survival: There’s been shocks, constrictions of cash, and tellability of clients to make payments and meet their obligations. So at that point, everybody is thinking of the useful ways to salvage the organization at this point in time. So a certain amount of discipline, prudence and tough decision making in the short term is important. In the short term, it’s important to manage cash properly, take a closer look at finding better ways of how to sell and take advantage of the internet tools to enable people stay in touch with their customers even though levels of mobility have decreased.
2. New skills training: So there is fundamentally skill set training which needs to evolve. Organizations need to spend time to invest in the right people to improve these skills set – the nature of work, the policy of working from home, the ability to measure culture and organizational discipline and excellence in an environment where people are in different locations. There are disciplines which have been mastered by many of the world’s leading digital companies and the challenge is for everybody else to catch up with that because where it used to be a preserve of a small few; everybody else has to work like this. So the lessons learnt from much bigger organizations and the tools they use are new tools that we all have to learn and equip ourselves with. So there is a lot of learning for everybody from leadership to everyone. How do you motivate and keep teams and team culture for people who are in different geographical location? How do you ensure that they have good wellness and work-life balance? There is a lot of new learning for everybody at this point and I think that is really where it has to start from- the new skills we all need to pick up and empower our workforce.
The 2020 edition of the Citi Business Festival is with a line-up of radio and TV programs.
It is featuring virtual business forums and will be live on Citi TV.
The month-long festival of business events and on-air activities provides inspiration, business ideas, and information for persons who are starting, building or growing their businesses.
This year’s edition of the Citi Business Festival is sponsored by Absa Bank, GIPC, Citi 97.3FM and powered by the most comprehensive business news website; citibusinessnews.com.
