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The coronavirus lockdown appears to have pushed the already sluggish global economy into recession, leaving many businesses scrambling for survival. However, as with any crisis, Venturetec Managing Partner Trey Zagante told Consultancy.org that he believes it could also provide an opportunity for companies to innovate and win customers from their competitors.
The Covid-19 pandemic has plunged consultants into a period of major industry change. This work has traditionally required extensive travel and face-to-face client support, but this has proved impossible in a global downsizing. Fortunately, consultants are well versed in working with rapid transformation, and according to Venturetec managing partner Trey Zagante, his firm has used this legacy to quickly adapt to the “new normal.”
In an interview with Consultancy.org, he explained that Venturetec — a consulting firm specializing in business innovation, strategic design and venture capital building — was able to use its lower order volume to focus on improving its operations ahead of the recovery. As a result of the increased capacity due to lower levels of client engagement, the firm accelerated its own product development and innovation efforts that it had in the backlog – something that the firm’s clients could learn from.
Zagante explained that after leaders deal with the immediate health and financial security of their people and their business—and their clients and supply chain—now is the time for organizations to step back and understand what the current state is, what innovation-related investments they have made and assess their past performance and project returns.
“No one knows what the world would look like after Covid-19,” said Zagante. “With all these unknowns, organizations should think about what role innovation plays in their organization and whether they have a coherent innovation strategy and plan. The smart thing to do is think about it and review whether their current plan is the right strategy for the future and update it if necessary.”
Zagante highlighted some of the key internal opportunities for corporations and large organizations, pointing to the adoption of agile ways of working across the organization; adopting technology and enabling tools – something he suggested the Covid-19 situation was a “huge proof of concept”; and redesigning the organization and existing operating model. Externally, while customers have been forced to adopt new technologies, there has been a boom in opportunities to interact with customers through new platforms.
Challenges
When asked what the biggest challenges related to innovation in this new environment faced by corporations and other large organizations, Zagante noted one particular one that is already very familiar. Despite the “enormous proof of concept” for new digital ways of working coming out of the current crisis, he suggested there are still many organizations where innovation is “considered ‘nice'” and it is these organizations that are “stalling”. innovation once there is a downturn.”
At the same time, a number of other factors are at play. According to the consultant, it largely depends on the industry and the market position that the company occupies.
“Every different industry has different standards and is affected differently,” he added. “Organizations that are more digitally ready and have digital capabilities can adapt much faster. Those still on legacy systems without the right level of digital support are struggling and have had to refocus their efforts to be digitally ready [rather than innovation].”
But beyond firms that must learn to walk before they can run, firms could use the current lull in activity to chart a course to become “future-ready.” This includes acquiring the skills that innovation leaders and practitioners will need in a post-Covid-19 world; skills such as evidence-based decision-making or the ability to draw up a clear innovation roadmap to plan for the future.
Zagante argued, “A crisis like this has really allowed leaders to focus on a more prudent and rigorous strategy of resource allocation. Using real evidence to base our decisions on is absolutely key in any resource-constrained environment… Being able to clearly define what the innovation goals are [is also important].”
“Organizations should constantly look for new opportunities to create new value.”
– Trey Zagante, Managing Partner at Venturetec
“I’ve seen a lot of waste and innovation theater in the last 10 years that I’ve been in this space, this situation really forces leaders to focus on results, focus on creating real value and delivering benefit. to the organization – and the way to do that is to have a coherent innovation strategy and approach.”
In terms of being truly future-ready, Zagante, meanwhile, listed a number of key attributes for creating such an organization. He stated that they must be adaptable; agile, people-oriented; and innovative.
He concluded: “One lesson in evolution; it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change… Organizations that adopt agile ways of working across the organization are therefore able to weather this crisis.”
“For example, it is important to think about how we can better take care of our employees and enable our employees to do what they need to do… Constantly look for and be able to use new opportunities to create new value – new processes and better ways of working, new products, services, customer experience and so on.”
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