7 points and one chance: The corona pandemic is forcing us to rethink
Published on: November 2, 2020 / Update from: March 18, 2022 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
7 points and a chance: The corona pandemic is forcing us to rethink – Dusan Petkovic|Shutterstock.com
One thing is now becoming very clear, which has worked to some extent up to now: While up to now people have made little or no sufficient effort to research their own data and information, but rather have repeatedly looked to competitors, this is no longer possible due to the extraordinary and new situation.
The previous copy templates no longer work. There is no original where one could in any way copy successfully implemented strategies and scenarios.
So copying others is not in itself a bad practice. This can be used to make up for omissions or correct undesirable developments. The most famous and well-known copying campaign is that of Facebook with Snapchat. Anyone who doesn't cooperate will be copied. The photo app Snapchat had previously rejected a takeover by Facebook.
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Competition is increasingly a question of proper control of time. It's not the big ones that eat the small ones, it's the fast ones that overtake the slow ones.
Only now everything is different - and at the same time an opportunity
Waiting and seeing what others do isn't a good idea either. At the moment, all previous framework conditions and rules are collapsing. It's nothing like it was before. It's also not clear whether things will ever be the same again. And if so, a lot of time will still pass. Waiting until then can have fatal consequences.
I am sure that we will overcome this crisis and wake up one morning seeing the world with different eyes. And a new time will dawn because nothing will be the same as it once was. We are already experiencing an incredible number of changes.
Cashless payments are now also possible in Germany thanks to NFC/RFID technology. The corona crisis changed payment behavior.
Things were different in 2019. According to a study, one in five people would not buy in a supermarket if they could only pay by card. Almost half of all those surveyed generally prefer to pay with cash rather than with a card. Only just under a third of all respondents “rather prefer” or “definitely prefer” paying by card. The remaining respondents did not want to commit to one of the two payment options.
In August 2019, 1,036 restaurant visitors in Germany were surveyed: On which occasions do you prefer to pay cashless in restaurants, cafés or bars?
When do you prefer to pay cashless in restaurants, cafés or bars? – Image: Xpert.Digital
Published by orderbird; MasterCard: Taking advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalization
48.4 percent of the guests surveyed said they would pay by card in restaurants, cafés or bars if they did not have cash with them. Even larger bills can be paid cashless. Only 18.6 percent of customers pay exclusively cashless in the catering sector. 8.6 percent of participants said they had never paid with a card in a bar, café or restaurant.
At a technical discussion, Ralf-Christoph Arnoldt, payment transaction expert at the Federal Association of German Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanks (BVR), announced that cashless transactions in Germany increased by 48 percent in May 2020 compared to the previous year .
That's only an example. These changes affect all areas and industries. All previous and common scenarios are being put to the test today.
Greenhouse gas-neutral Germany by 2050
At the same time, the economic changes caused by the corona pandemic are compounded by environmental policy plans that will completely overturn our mobility and supply bases in the next 20 to 30 years.
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On November 28, 2018, the EU Commission presented its long-term strategic “vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy for the 2050 time horizon”.
The strategy shows how Europe can lead the way towards climate neutrality by investing in realistic technological solutions, empowering citizens and aligning policies in key areas such as industrial policy, finance or research, while ensuring that the transition is carried out in a socially just manner.
The strategy is one thing, the implementation is another.
Here are my 7 points that can help with strategy and implementation:
1. Time
At first glance there is a paradox. We don't have the time. Groundbreaking decisions must be made now. And yet now is the right time to take all strategies and concepts into your own hands again. Budget planning has already been made, but in most cases it has not yet been released. However, most of the planning is still based on experiences and values from the time before the corona pandemic. Nobody knows what will happen next. Will trade fairs be able to take place next year as planned? What will the influx be like? What is plan B?
2. Reflection (thinking and rethinking)
In any case, things cannot continue as before. In any case, several scenarios need to be considered at the moment. A modular scheme is essential.
3. The hour for new things and innovation
Even if we Germans are said to be not particularly flexible and to calculate everything eight times before we make a decision, we are quick to improvise when our nice plan falls apart. Then we'll do it right. What is a test for others becomes law for us. The corona pandemic can work to our advantage because helplessness is not actually part of our language.
4. Networking
Another advantage of our mental DNA is that we ask and exchange ideas with others. It doesn't stop at superficialities. When we communicate, something has to come out of it. We go into depth, want to know everything and connect it with our experiences. Our directness, which sometimes gets us into trouble in diplomatic situations, is now an advantage. No frills or small talk, it has to be direct and clear now. We have to get to the point of making decisions now. Despite all this, politeness is still a virtue!
5. Planning periods
Common practice in companies is annual planning. However, the prerequisite is foreseeability and planning security. That is absolutely not the case at the moment. I therefore recommend a temporary switch to semi-annual, if not quarterly planning.
At the same time, the expansion of digitalization should be pushed forward unchecked and accelerated. Because this is undoubtedly the (global) market and the communication structure of the future.
6. Get official support
There are various reasons why existing structures cannot quickly adapt to new circumstances, especially when it happens so suddenly, as with the corona pandemic.
For individual projects, appropriate concepts should therefore be developed and implemented in projects outside of the structure, which can then be integrated into the company structure at the appropriate time. The existing structures can continue to concentrate on their core competencies.
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7. And, while we're at it...
I see another and very interesting opportunity in this corona pandemic: We Germans love security and planning. For decades we have become cocooned and comfortable in this scenario. Now that has changed. We now have to take our feet and face the situation. We can do that. If we now notice that we can achieve a lot more with our “thorough” actionism in the face of global competition, even if we are perhaps not as flexible as the others, then our actions are relevant and we are creating a new form, that can become a new successful strategy for globalization: thoroughness and flexibility for innovation and development.
Thoroughness includes a secure database and trust in partners who can also flexibly adapt to new circumstances in the supply chain.
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Now: Modernization and digitalization of supply chains – Image: @shutterstock|SergeyBitos
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What will be crucial for the future will be how we secure the infrastructure of our key industries!
Three areas are of particular importance here:
- Digital Intelligence (Digital Transformation, Internet Access, Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things)
- Autonomous power supply (CO2 neutrality, planning security, safety for the environment)
- Intralogistics/logistics (full automation, mobility of goods and people)
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- Autonomization of energy supply
- urbanization
- Digital transformation
- Automation of processes
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