Some companies have managed to construct optimistic outcomes from the disaster. MicroOne/Shutterstock

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted totally different responses from firm CEOs in search of to make sure their companies survive. Holding their staff protected has been the primary precedence, however past that, their activity has concerned understanding the state of affairs, launching countermeasures, and making an attempt to evolve methods of working to make sure their companies can proceed.

We spoke to the chief executives of three main corporations in three very totally different industries. Of their responses to the disaster we discovered that Winston Churchill’s adage of “by no means let a disaster go to waste” was as related as ever, with companies discovering positives in the course of the pandemic.

Speed up technique

Transport big AP Møller-Maersk launched into a historic transformation in 2016 to develop into an built-in transport and logistics firm – combining its transport line, port operations and freight forwarding companies right into a single entity. Nonetheless, progress had been restricted.

The pandemic introduced unprecedented challenges to Maersk’s clients who, confronted with falling demand, needed to handle their international provide networks as successfully as attainable. They wished higher data throughout the provision chain and the power to alter outcomes whereas items had been in transit.

These calls for affirmed Maersk’s technique to shift from being a port-to-port container transport firm to an built-in, end-to-end logistics firm, making use of digital applied sciences to offer the connectivity and visibility that clients required.

Maersk’s clients turned to its blockchain-enabled provide chain platform TradeLens, the place the variety of transactions nearly tripled from 70,000 per week in January 2020 to 194,000 per week in June. Transactions via Maersk.com elevated by 20%-25% between January and October 2020. Maersk’s CEO Soren Skou informed us: “The investments we made within the final 5 years in digital capabilities got here in very helpful throughout COVID-19.”

The pandemic accelerated Maersk’s technological transformation efforts, which led to new digital services and products whereas modernising its buyer interface, back-end infrastructure and belongings reminiscent of ships and terminals. Maersk additionally constructed experience via acquisitions, buying warehousing and distribution firm Efficiency Group, and customs administration agency KGH Customs.

Skou was capable of apply what he’d discovered from the monetary disaster of 2008-09, when Maersk and its opponents fought for market share and ended up driving down freight charges. This time, Skou centered on profitability: reducing capability by 20%, however filling the remaining vessels even because the pandemic prompted transport volumes to drop. The plunging worth of oil additionally helped Maersk’s monetary efficiency, and its earnings truly elevated within the first three quarters of 2020, regardless of near-paralysis of the worldwide financial system.

For a lot of companies, the consequences of the pandemic have been harsh – even terminal.

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Scale-up innovation

Giant corporations are sometimes seen as sluggish and trailing in innovation in comparison with smaller, extra nimble opponents. Normal working procedures imply they deal with creating “excellent” options, testing in pilot markets and proving the enterprise case over a few years, earlier than lastly rolling out – by which era they’ve most likely missed the boat.

Mars Petcare, a world chief in pet meals and pet well being providers, discovered that COVID-19 necessitated scaling up innovation. Previous to the disaster, the corporate had been engaged on a telehealth service for pet house owners, providing video consulatations with vets at 20 veterinary hospitals, the place it proved to be a priceless triage software for prioritising circumstances.

Because the pandemic took maintain, pet house owners began working from dwelling, inevitably spending extra time with their pets which generated extra queries about minor well being points. An preliminary video name with a vet was a super answer.

Working with Microsoft, the corporate scaled its telehealth service from 20 to round 2,000 veterinary hospitals – in a single month. Poul Weihrauch, international president of Mars Petcare, informed us:

This will likely not assist our earnings within the brief time period, however it would make the shoppers happier and pets more healthy right now and in the long run. A standard perception is that large corporations are sluggish, however this reveals that large corporations can scale innovation in a short time. This time, it was finished by necessity… however clearly the purpose is that it ought to be the norm.

These efforts, spurred by excessive demand throughout COVID-19, tied in properly with Mars Petcare’s technique to dramatically speed up its evolution from pet meals producer to supplier of pet care providers.

Have interaction with staff and clients

When the pandemic struck, safety grew to become an “important service”. Safety firm Securitas realised it wanted to rapidly ramp up its digital options. This validated the corporate’s technique launched in 2018 to evolve from offering conventional bodily guarding to digital safety options reminiscent of facial recognition expertise and distant video monitoring.

CEO Magnus Ahlqvist wished to handle clients’ uncertainty, outlining how Securitas was coping with the disaster. He and his administration group labored with main shoppers, with an analogous sponsorship system for every of the international locations by which Securitas operates. Ahlqvist informed us:

“I’ve spent extra time with shoppers than I might usually… Being seen and current for shoppers in a tricky second will repay in the long run.”

The Swedish firm’s 340,000 frontline guards needed to rise to an unprecedented problem, for which the corporate pushed laborious to equip them with higher digital instruments.

Having already launched into strategic transformations, these corporations had been properly outfitted to show an unparalleled menace into a possibility. Setting instance from the highest, the chief executives had been capable of put the disaster to work by accelerating technique, scaling innovation and deepening buyer engagement, producing the vitality required for the organisation to thrive, regardless of the hurdles thrown up by COVID-19.

The authors don’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or group that might profit from this text, and have disclosed no related affiliations past their educational appointment.