Building strategic resilience to survive beyond the ‘New Normal’

By Prasath Mahalingam

As we near the two-year mark of the ravenous coronavirus pandemic, it is positive to see that many businesses worldwide have stepped up to the challenge, adjusting their businesses both to safeguard their employees and to continue serving their customers. Even locally, many organisations believe that they have responded efficiently to the pandemic. Yet, some companies showed true grit during these testing times, proving to be more resilient than others, by swiftly adapting their strategies to address both the challenges and the opportunities created by the pandemic. What was the secret behind their success?

As someone involved in building new opportunities to thrive, I see three elements that stand out. Firstly, successful companies quickly accepted the weaknesses in their business’s strategic resilience when the pandemic exposed them. Strategic resilience is the degree to which an organisation’s business model and competitive position show resistance to change. Secondly, they used business-model innovation as the strategic lever to address the crisis. During the last one and a half years, we saw many firms—including local companies—responding effectively to business challenges through unique innovations. And lastly, organisations reworking their business continuity plans, instead developing ‘scenarios’ that give more space for innovation, as they expect them to persist beyond the crisis.

Assessing your strategic resilience

The pandemic has put businesses through demanding resilience checks. For many, it was a rude awakening. While the pandemic weakened the competitive position of some companies, many firms have been able to gain a competitive edge. How? Successful companies have been heavily relying on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, machine learning and cloud. A McKinsey survey 1confirms that technology adoption rates are years ahead of where they were when previous surveys on digital accelerations were conducted. A client of 99x recently engaged us on a Big Data project to analyse over 13 billion records to identify trends that could lead to new business opportunities and increase value to clients.

For organisations that gained ground during the crisis, business model innovation has become the key differentiator. Companies that adopted and tested their novel business models have focused on several areas. One is new digital experiences and services. These were leveraged in response to changes in customer behaviors and needs. Last June, 99x launched DevGrade, a first-of-its-kind solution geared towards hiring technical talent. The fully automated assessment platform allows recruiters to hire the best by virtually evaluating them in simulated real project environments.

Another area has been new partnerships, both within and outside the industry. For example, we have seen insurance companies partnering up with telcos to develop telemedicine apps and pharmaceutical companies collaborating with medical institutions to accelerate vaccine development. Change of sales models is another factor as many companies have had to alter the way they market and sell their offerings. Imagine how the business model of restaurants and logistics companies changed during the last several months with the rapid growth of contactless delivery. The faster development of products has also been a crucial factor to respond to pandemic-related issues rapidly.

Nevertheless, many of these innovations are here to stay in most cases. Many businesses believe their business-model transformations will persevere in the long term—and see more on the way. For example, many IT companies in Sri Lanka are considering a hybrid work model or setting up satellite offices that provides employees flexibility. This in turn will boost productivity both within the organisation and for its customers. All of these reaffirm a time-tested motto: There is also great opportunity in times of great disruption.

Structuring your strategic resilience

The pace of change keeps accelerating. Being brave to make a bold move faster in these uncertain times will help you stand out from others who are uncertain about making a strategic decision to disrupt. To keep up with the rapid pace, the strategic planning process of a business and the team has to be agile to face the high volatility of the business landscape. To do this, organisations need to fix bold objectives. Crises such as the ongoing pandemic pave the way for organisations to explore new business opportunities.

If there ever was a time to reimagine business strategy and fix bold objectives, it is now. Many firms managed to react with unprecedented speed to challenges presented by COVID-19, and they did it in just days and weeks. This is the time to mirror the future role you want your organisation to play for its stakeholders, including customers and employees. Such vibrant organizations,, possessing a disruptive business model have even been able to attract investment for their next phases of growth during these challenging times.

Additionally, the days of developing forecasts for your organisation have now passed. The new normal is all about developing scenarios. Scenarios help a business realise the range of possibilities it might face. This allows the evaluation of planned strategic moves against any crisis and can confirm that the strategy can thrive in a range of future outcomes. This is why business leaders must develop scenarios together with finance and strategy business units to integrate all pertinent viewpoints.

In conclusion

It is impressive how most businesses, including local companies, have infused innovation into their business strategies to respond to the pandemic. However, with COVID continuing, uncertainty and change isn’t going to disappear overnight. To ensure your company is strategically resilient for whatever the future brings, start by instituting dynamic planning procedures that will empower your teams to unlock crucial moves necessary to come out on top, while being flexible enough to change direction if needed.

(The writer is the Chief Business Development Officer at 99x and drives strategic business deals across various domains with key prospects, customers, innovation partners and industry influencers. With over 18 years of experience, he has worked across many disciplines including business analysis, delivery management, people development and marketing, and has been a catalyst in driving change across the organization.)