How will your business navigate the post-pandemic world?
The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is undeniable for individuals, organizations, and all levels of government. Yet crises like the one we’ve been living through have much to teach us. For one thing, they reveal where we and our systems are strong. They also unmask weaknesses. Based on those learnings, businesses can adapt to work smarter and deliver goods and services in ways that better serve current as well as future needs of customers.
Another thing the pandemic has revealed is the inadequacy of the idea that the primary responsibility of business is to maximize profit. The mission of business must go deeper than market value as our communities and the larger world face great challenges in an increasingly unstable environment. Profit alone cannot get a company through relentless technology change, climate change, growing income inequality, and market disruption.
Yes, a company’s survival requires making a profit. But it will also require investing in things like education, processes, and tech improvements.
Answer these four questions to clarify where to strategically invest in your post-pandemic future.
What is working? What is not?
We’ve seen this past year that our health care system was woefully ill-prepared to equitably handle a pandemic of infectious disease on top of ongoing care. It’s a reminder for all of us to look at the health of our systems, whatever our industry. For instance, do yours work as well with a distributed workforce as they do with all your people on site? Customer demand for fast and easy virtual experiences has skyrocketed. Do your processes set you up to compete well for their satisfaction? It’s time to build up what works and remediate what isn’t.
Creatio CRM is well-designed to be a tool for ongoing tracking of what’s working and what isn’t. It’s also a transformative solution for managing processes and relationships across an organization. Its functionality will increase your ability to both personalize and automate, and most importantly, to deliver on customer experiences that will make you memorable and generate loyalty.
Do your products and services contribute to the success and development of others?
You’ve heard it said that we’re in this together. After the year we’ve been through, we’d have to be blind not to understand how interconnected we all are. When you look at your customers, both external and internal, how is your business improving their lives?
Fareed Zakaria, in his book, Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World, points out that, left to themselves, “markets always generate unequal returns.” He points to Peter Thiel, who has said that in Silicon Valley, for instance, “every company’s goal is to be a monopoly.” The result of this hyper-competitive drive is the opposite of collaboration and, carried to completion, makes it impossible for smaller businesses to survive.
Good leaders have a generous spirit that seeks to develop others. They understand that strengthening each part benefits the whole. Employees at all levels value working for those who give them educational and experiential ways to advance themselves. It’s important to treat them as valuable resources, not costs to be minimized. When investing in new technology or adopting new processes, invite their input and provide training to prepare them for success.
Does your governance and decision-making align with your values and vision?
A crisis often leads us to re-evaluate our values, and an uncertain future can alter our vision in a way that, curiously, makes it harder to see beyond today and simultaneously more necessary than ever to do so. The first thing you may need to do is refresh both vision and values. The next step is to get very intentional about measuring everything you do against them. Build them into your culture and use them to frame strategy sessions.
What do you value enough to say it’s not for sale?
This expands the last question to the ultimate level. Returning to Zakaria’s book, he says, “Market-centric thinking has invaded every area of human life, leaving little space for other values like fairness, equality, or intrinsic value.” Where will you not compromise? Where will you go the second and third mile? Where is your humanity and that of your constituents too important to sacrifice? Get clear on these answers, and other humans, some of whom are potential or current customers, will be drawn to your integrity.
As you answer these questions, where do you see the need for investment in education, processes, or tech improvements?
We at Success with CRM ask ourselves these questions, too. Our market value is intrinsically tied to providing a CRM partnership that improves your life and contributes to your business development.
We believe the CRM products we represent, including Creatio CRM, can accelerate the digital transformation of businesses to make them more agile and sustainable in a fast-changing world.
Let’s talk about how we can move forward together. Contact us with any questions or to share your needs. 
Also review: How Resilient Is Your Business article
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