COVID-19 has challenged the business environment to struggle and many mid-market companies are now fully focused on building greater resilience in their operations. Each company has its own long-term and short-term strategies aimed at success in each business segment. However, true resilience goes beyond short-term survival. In times of extreme economic challenges, it is important not just to overcome the crisis, but to take a break to re-adjust your business to the obstacles that stand in the way of achieving your goals.

Insight into external drivers can transform a company in a better direction

Building resilience requires thorough and continuous monitoring of the business environment and then tuning the business to optimize performance in these conditions. Companies whose business has been threatened by the pandemic need to look at their external drivers: how their customers behave, changes in market dynamics and the landscape of competition, where they can access resources, and anticipate and prepare for regulatory change.

With this insight, companies can then adapt or transform their internal drivers such as: employees and their talents and skills, technology and innovation, operational agility, and the risk and management processes that will underpin their strategy and program. All of these areas work in the way to improve the performance of any business.

Focus on survival, resilience and recovery

The global pandemic combined with self-isolation and further economic uncertainty has changed the way people consume products and services. Businesses become irrelevant to their customers if they do not understand the changes in behavior and priorities brought about by the pandemic. Understanding the new world of customers has never been more challenging. Mid-market companies need to use this time to assess whether they have the right tools for business intelligence and engagement to understand and meet the changing needs of their customers.

While many companies are focused on survival and resilience, recovery cannot be built on a bad reputation. Respect for employees, suppliers, as well as good sustainability and environmental policy, at this time as well as in the future, will be the key choice of customers.

Businesses need to understand where their products and services fit into a new market and emerging competitors can quickly usurp existing ones when their offering is better adapted to changing market demands. Grant Thornton's goal in Central and Eastern Europe is primarily to strengthen the business advisory segment. In the field of consulting services, we want to become the first choice of clients in these countries. Contact our experts for any business problem!