“Re-inventing the Wheel”
How many times have we heard that phrase? Typically, in the context of “there is no need to re-invent the wheel” or occasionally the opposite.
Well now, in extraordinary times, there is an imperative to do just that, with all businesses facing the need to change.
What does the ubiquitous phrase mean? The answer is it covers a multitude of business alterations, from an overhaul of strategy to more subtle refinements. Positive examples abound, such as Direct Line effectively re-configuring the entire Insurance supply chain - a trigger point for today’s world where we find “meerkats” exhorting us to compare everything online. You can be absolutely certain that there are many more examples of less successful re-inventions. How many of us recall that BT famously exited the mobile market when they spun-off Cellnet, only to re-enter many years later at a significant cost?
For some businesses, the challenges may be too onerous in the short to medium term, as we have seen with the collapse of certain retail empires and inevitably, one or two low cost airlines. It is simply not possible with certain business models to fundamentally reconfigure in such a short space of time. Primark will be fascinating to watch with their USP of only selling via shops and sourcing policies that may be viewed distinctly differently in a post-COVID 19 world.
However, optimistically, for very many businesses, a re-invention of the wheel may prove to be possible and even beneficial. As an example, will it be necessary for an SME recruitment company employing 20 personnel to see them all based in their expensive London office when, in reality, the online world is pretty good for most routine communication?
For some, “re-inventing the wheel” will be absolutely necessary as a means of protecting and developing their business for, at the least, a year of continued uncertainty and customer restrictions. It is, in our view, necessary for the longer term, as undoubtedly, the post-Covid landscape will be hugely different.
Making a virtue of necessity, we embrace the challenge. We look forward to working with our customers to identify and develop individual and pertinent responses to the new reality.