Almost daily, we’re reminded that we’re living in unprecedented times. As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the globe, shelter at home orders, mandated social distancing, and economic instability is accelerating business closures.
Although we may not have past experience to draw from, much of the impact of the pandemic – on our organizations, customers, vendors, and communities – can be predicted, risk management firm LogicManager CEO and founder says.
Now is the time for careful, measured action to manage your business risks amidst the COVID-19 pandemic with an enterprise risk management approach. Through a calculated infrastructure, which requires both intentional technique and software infrastructure, your business leaders can establish a plan of action and create a mechanism to communicate and implement that plan. Risk management requires all hands on deck to prepare and reduce negative impact.
Here, we look at 4 major risks many organizations are facing because of the pandemic.
- Social distancing disruption. Today, states are in various degrees of shut down, opening soon, and reopening. The vaccine doesn’t have a timeline. It would appear some level of social distancing requirement is likely to be in place for the foreseeable future – perhaps to the end of the year or longer.
For businesses, this means to travel can be disrupted or halted, events canceled, and operations will remain remote.
Your organization needs a strategy to generate revenue and remain operational. Implementing a powerful customer relationship management software can help your organization harness precious customer relationships and assess trends over time. - Degraded employee productivity. Your business should plan for more employees to be out sick, or taking time to care for sick family members. Many employees will also be splitting caregiving responsibilities with work responsibilities as in-home help, school, and daycares remain prohibited or closed.
At an organizational level, implementing a people analytics solution can empower managers to not only plan for absenteeism but also to look across the organization and find ways to use talent as efficiently as possible. Managers can also identify employees who may be at higher risk and ensure they are well supported.
Your organization can also eliminate technology barriers by ensuring employees are equipped with effective and efficient business applications and tools that can streamline work. One key requirement? Mobile apps are a must to help employees who have suddenly found themselves juggling multiple responsibilities. - Economic recession and investment retraction. As consumption and investment tighten, the U.S. is in the midst of an economic recession – this time led by the service sector, another unprecedented occurrence. At this point, experts suggest the level of consumer fear will be the big driver of where the U.S. economy bounces back quickly – or not, according to As corporations restrict investment, unemployment rises.
Ensuring your business has a career transition software solution in place to stay in touch with corporate alumni can help curb the trauma of a layoff and improve the likelihood of hiring talent back when things improve. - Supply chain instability. Most businesses rely on a web of vendors for their business, and purchasing delays are likely. Businesses need to stay closer than ever to their supply chain and suppliers and establish back up options to help manage costly delays. Supply chain applications can help not only automate work but provide real-time information to supply chain managers, enabling them to react and adapt more effectively.
Risk Management Steps
Every organization will adapt initiatives specific to their business needs; however, here are five steps to consider to help mitigate the pandemic’s impact on your business:
- What is your readiness? You need to evaluate your business continuity program against industry standards and isolate gaps.
- What are the new risks specific to the pandemic? An existing risk management plan may need to be revised for this situation.
- Which areas of the organization must be prioritized to maintain operations? Again, because this is a unique situation, new areas of the organization may be impacted. For example, issues laptops to all employees may not have been a priority until social distancing measures went into effect – now that is a critical step for many businesses.
- What policies need to be revised and communicated? The work from home policy is a prime example. Where previously organizations varied on this policy, essentially any organization with staff who can work from home is now doing so full time.
- What is the incident management process? Specific to individual risks, the business needs to establish a process to remedy and reduce risk. For example, if your annual conference generates 20% of your sales, how are you going to replace that? Or, if your VPN becomes unusable, how are you going to give employees access to the tools they need?
Employing software to ease risk management
Business leaders have enough work to do without having to fight with disparate datasets or cumbersome data. By employing effective software solutions, you can empower your business leaders to act more swiftly.
Whether you’re looking to implement an established solution, like the Oracle E-Business Suite, or launch a custom software development initiative for a bespoke solution, it’s critical to identify which business processes need better automation. Processes to example include:
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Finance
- Human Resource Management
- Logistics
- Supply Chain
- Order management
- Transportation management
- Warehouse management
How is your organization adapting in the face of this crisis? The situation is sober, but your business may be able to find a silver lining by transforming your organization to meet customer needs in the new normal by employing a risk-based approach to change. TechGenies is here to help you navigate the technology transformation you need to stay competitive in an evolving landscape. Contact us at info@techgenies.com to tell us more about what you need in a technology solution.
