In this time of huge uncertainty and with the status changing daily with every edition of the Prime Minister’s address, we wanted to highlight a few trends we’re now seeing and also, how we at Mando Group are coping with the restrictions our society is facing.
As with countless other businesses in our sector, in the period of only the last week, we’ve gone from a majority working within our Liverpool HQ, to everyone working from home, setting up new routines around childcare, pets and caring for relatives. Having provided the hardware and equipment for everyone to comfortably set up their own home workspace, it was very strange indeed to see dozens of monitors under arms of staff exiting this week, and office chairs being wheeled across the car park.
Whilst the working locations of our team have shifted, the ways in which we’re supporting our clients has not.
We’re incredibly lucky in our sector that the systems and processes are already set up to enable remote working and distributed teams. We have been implementing our Business Continuity Plan, with many drills taking place over the last seven days to ensure everything is working at peak performance levels.
We’re fully set up to continue all of our client meetings, via video or voice conferencing rather than in-person, and have even achieved a whole-company 55-location training session via Microsoft teams and Slack, with a remote trainer and individual work groups – a new way of working indeed.
We’re keeping up to date with all relevant government guidelines and our leadership team are meeting every day following the Prime Minister’s address, to discuss impacts going forward.
With the economic uncertainty, questions turn to a business’ ability to sustain itself. With our sector focus around regulated industries, like utilities and financial services, we serve industries that need to continue to operate and serve their customers. And those who find that communicating effectively and streamlining the flow of information is ever more critical at a time like this. This gives us confidence in our position - to be able to ride out the storm and emerge as a more creative, nimble and stronger digital partner.
In the last week, we’ve found that the ways in which our clients are requiring support has also changed over the last few days. There has been a demand to better support huge growth in numbers of vulnerable customers, call centres have been overwhelmed, whilst also experiencing vastly reduced staff numbers, and the desire for other communications channels has never been greater. We’re continually looking for creative solutions and new ways to ensure they can better support their own customers now more than ever.
A newly-released Econsultancy and Marketing Week survey has mirrored our direct experiences - suggesting that COVID-19 is actually creating a need to accelerate digital transformation as consumers seek out more information and support:
“…among 500 marketers working at major brands in the UK and North America, a full 91% (UK) and 87% (North America) predict an increase in the use of online services by consumers in the midst of the outbreak.”
The study goes on to say that:
“…the consensus is increasingly shifting towards the idea that there will be a lasting impact from this abrupt digitalisation, as consumers become used to availing themselves of digital services and form new habits.”
The effects of this global crisis are only just starting to make themselves known here in the UK. Whilst short-term survival is of paramount importance for many brands, many companies are feeling the pressure to expedite digital transformation plans – upscaling infrastructure and introducing more communications methods – in order to give themselves the best possible chance of thriving in the medium to long term.
If you need help to improve any aspect of your digital customer experience, now more than ever, get in touch and we can set up a video/conference call to get the conversation started. Alternatively send an email to hello@mandogroup.com.
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