If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s this: The best-laid plans can be derailed in an instant. Though it’s unlikely we will face any kind of crisis like the COVID-19 outbreak in the foreseeable future, the last six months need to be a learning experience for all leaders. But as the economy slowly moves to reopen, it pays to not only understand what’s next, but to remain focused on what got you where you are today.
The key to preparing your retail business for the holidays is to start doing so right after the holidays end. Well, it’s likely that you did that—but plans change when a global pandemic hits. Supply chains changed. Your business probably had to shut down for at least a month. And now that you’re ramping back up, you’re doing so with fewer customers allowed in your business.
If you’re getting sick of the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdowns, you’re not alone. After four-plus months of this, money may still be tight, but restrictions are starting to ease. As a distributor, this is great news.
ERP evaluation and decision. It sounds like an awful experience, right? Politicized decisions, long cycles that involve another company sticking their nose into your data, and months of training for a moderate improvement? It doesn’t have to be. Today’s ERP can be intuitive, intelligent, and informative—if you know what you’re looking for.
As every pundit would say, “these are unprecedented times” and “we live in a new normal.” While both are reasonably true statements, the business world has been experiencing a series of new normals for decades. Ecommerce? Not really a thing until the late 90s. Cell phones? Most of them had keyboards a decade ago. The cloud? Was still being denounced as a fringe technology as little as five years ago.
Once upon a time, A/V was simple. Wire it up, plug it in, and turn it on. While the analog days made for easy set-up, they also created hassles and headaches. Does your client have a problem? Guess what, you’re driving out to fix it or on the phone helping them troubleshoot. Not only did this take out of your day, it wasn’t client-focused. If something went down, they had to wait for you to come fix it.
The COVID-19 outbreak may be on the downswing and lockdowns may be coming to an end, but there’s a good chance that the way we shop has changed forever. Now that one-hour curbside pickup has been instilled into the consumer’s mind, there’s a good chance that customers won’t develop herd immunity to the idea that this is a better shopping experience.
Omnichannel commerce, defined as a holistic approach to multichannel payments, is nothing new; it just became a bit more necessary in the spring of 2020. Considered to be the next wave of ecommerce, this practice blends traditional retail practices with ecommerce to deliver customer service when, where, and how the customer wants to experience it.
Many businesses carry inventory. Whether it’s a distributor working to move the inventory from supplier to customer, a manufacturer who needs to convert raw materials to finalized goods, or a retailer who needs to carry enough products to satisfy a customer demand, field service businesses need to know what they have available and know when to reorder.
Times have changed. Whether you’re reading this in the midst of the pandemic or after everything has gone back to normal, you know that the way businesses operate has evolved, and success relies on your ability to be adaptable. But the times have been changing for a while now—and not just because of the Coronavirus outbreak. Over the past decade, everything from manufacturing processes to the way goods are purchased has changed, and it pays to stay ahead.