It’s coming to an end. Curves are flattening, people are getting restless, and businesses are reopening—with any luck, the past two months will be put behind us. But there’s still work to do—new procedures need to be implemented, new work schedules need to take place, new legal challenges; this ‘new normal’ will require businesses to reevaluate how they work so that they can embrace the recovery and forge ahead as the economy reopens.
But with so much to do, there’s not a lot of time to make these changes. Swift recovery requires strategy, decisiveness, and most importantly, action. So what do you need to do to prepare?
Seven Actions You Need to Take Now to Get on the Road to Economic Recovery
Throughout the outbreak, NetSuite was hard at work trying to answer this exact question. Over the past two months, the company conducted extensive interviews with hundreds of organizations, small and large, across all industries to find out who’s making moves and how they will act when we enter the new normal.
Just announced, 7 Actions Businesses Need to Take Now is meant to be your playbook for success, discussing the key steps you need to take so that you are primed for recovery.
Complete a Business Model Assessment
The first question you need to ask is where you stand. What’s changed? What’s going to stay the same? How will you need to change? The first step businesses need to take, according to NetSuite is to complete a comprehensive business model assessment, with particular focus on the elements that have withstood the shock and which ones have been adversely affected.
Look into Your Finances
Cash has likely been tight over the past few months, and cash flow will be even more critical as you get back to full capacity. The next step recommended by NetSuite is to analyze your financial position and run a variety of scenarios to see how you may be affected. NetSuite recommends you Run multiple scenarios assuming:
- revenue shortfall that you experienced in the March and April timeframe stays constant through the year,
- the revenue shortfall persists into the first half of 2021,
- and revenue declines accelerate through the end of the year
Look at the Legal and Health Aspect
The biological crisis means the way every business operates will undergo some change. This will have a major impact on every constituent of your business. And it will require a diligent look at all health, safety and legal issues that arise from coming back to work, opening up for customers and engaging with your suppliers and partners.
Run New Forecasts Based on New Information
Forecasting is hard enough in normal times. But in challenging ones, it’s a nightmare. That said, this is your next step—taking a new look at what’s next for your business, with scenarios including cash flow, burn rate and liquidity under multiple scenarios: if revenue declines 20% for the rest of the year; or 30%; or 50%. Model the impact if revenue does not recover swiftly and stays at depressed levels well into 2021.
Reestablish Customer Relationships
While it may be difficult, it’s paramount that every organization focuses on retaining and servicing existing customers, whether you are selling a product or a service. This also may be your best source of revenue, since you already have an established relationship.
Look at New Pricing and Payments Strategies
New landscape, new business Look? With so much disruption to business, taking a fresh look at your product or service packaging, pricing and payment terms is a useful exercise. Are you better off bundling more into your offering or simplifying unbundling? Can you offer promotion pricing or discounting to certain segments to spur demand? Does offering payment term flexibility or use of credit make sense? All options should be on the table as a catalyst to spur sales.
Reorganize and Realign As Needed
Finally, before you get back up and running, take a look if anything needs to be changed, and make changes as necessary. Once you have gone through your checklist of actions, the last and extremely important step is to get your organization aligned and focused.
Everyone needs to understand the plan for reopening and know how to act when your business does get back up and running. Whether it’s daily ‘huddles’, new marketing communications, or new internal communications, now is the time to build up your new organization.
A New Way to Work: Get to Know MIBAR and NetSuite
The journey back to normal won’t be completely smooth, but with the right planning and steps, it can be less treacherous than it is for others. The right system can help you get up and running and the right partner can help you establish yourself in the new normal.
At MIBAR, we’re here to help. We’ve worked with businesses just like yours to implement NetSuite, helping a wide range of companies to grow their business with a future-proof, true cloud ERP solution. Get to know more about how we work and get in contact with us for more details.
