A time of pivotal change

Small businesses, hit hard by the economic impact of the coronavirus, have had to pivot to survive. In this, the first of a series of four articles, Glenn Ballard, CEO of Brighton based New World Tech talks to SBT. 

Over the last two years, NWT has seen business imperatives evolve at breakneck speed, heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is no longer possible to craft long-term strategies, assign responsibility and performance targets and execute a three- to five-year plan. Today, companies need to be able to respond to highly-volatile customer demand and adapt to severe disruption and change at dizzying pace.

NWT provides a portfolio of Digital Consultancy Services that enable businesses to outmanoeuvre uncertainty and gain above market growth and sustainable competitive advantage. They achieve this by helping clients implement an intelligent digital transformation journey that balances speed and value and embraces the key digital imperatives that are shaping our world: pivotal change in response to the coronavirus pandemic, improved agility, an aligned IT and business strategy, delivering a world-class user experience and ensuring the business is cost-effective.

In this article, Glenn discusses the impact of COVID-19 on his company, his family and friends and what he is doing to help small, often financially fragile businesses and entrepreneurial ventures in the Sussex area.  Glenn states:

“It has been nine months since the world as we knew it changed; nine months since we were freely able to hug our families, double-kiss our friends, take spontaneous trips out of the country, and eat out or go for a drink whenever and however we wanted.  Around us the widespread closing of stores and businesses due to the coronavirus is unprecedented with many businesses closed. For some of these businesses, the closures may be permanent.

COVID-19 disruptions have not affected all small businesses equally. Some businesses are deemed essential and are able to remain open, while for others unprecedented lockdown measures, enacted to contain the spread of the virus, have forced them to shut up shop.

In the face of a truly catastrophic financial environment, some businesses have made adjustments to the way they conduct themselves – or have shifted their approaches entirely. And they have done these things under the stress of laying off employees, shutting down offices or having to give up on their dream entirely. 

I founded NWT in 2016, and over the last four years have built a loyal customer base of small to medium sized businesses as well as enterprise clients of which I am extremely proud. I have seen the impact of the pandemic on my customers and also within my own family and circle of friends first hand.

When COVID-19 hit it took us all by surprise, I do not think any of us understood just how big it was going to be. Now it is blatantly obvious that there was no going back to ‘normal’ after the current surge of cases had been handled. We need to be prepared possibly for another nine months of Covid-19 restrictions, involving repeated waves of the virus.

My own business is in the technology sector, and while technology can greatly aid small businesses of all kinds, for example by enabling remote working, not all changes right now depend entirely on technology.

Unlike larger firms, small businesses, cafes, bars, dental practices, gyms, day care centres and hairdressers do not have the financial resources to overcome a few rough days or weeks, let alone months. In an effort to stay alive and stay relevant, I believe that small businesses need to look at innovative pivots that enable them to reinvent themselves and push into new markets.

Empty hotels for example, could open up rooms to employees working from home who have run out of space (and patience). Hotels could offer remote workers private access to a hotel room turned office suite, complete with fast internet and a quite atmosphere, for a daily or weekly rate.

Restaurants could offer customers access to fresh produce, precooked dishes with sides or additions that could be prepared at home using ingredients supplies by the restaurant.

With customers barred from entering a large number of small businesses, brands have pivoted to offer online consultations, curb side pickup for online and phone orders, home deliveries and online instant ordering. Online events focused on cooking, mediation, art therapy, magic, song writing and many other activities with users joining for a modest fee help connect businesses to new customers who can order products online.

Gyms and fitness companies can live stream exercise classes and release at-home workout plans, 30-day Healthy at Home fitness challenges.

Estate agents are selling houses via video, recruitment agencies are recruiting via video and casual dating platforms are offering video dating. 

Undergoing a massive transformation and pivoting to a new direction could be the only way many companies stay alive. So, in the early months of 2020, when our world was turned upside down, we created a community of small business leaders and trailblazers to tackle the problems and challenges we faced as a collective, head on.

Using our experience working with our enterprise clients, we have been able to help small and medium sized companies secure and future proof their benefits it by leveraging the benefits and innovation available in the cloud.

In December we will be holding a free Webinar to discuss how small businesses in the Sussex area are dealing with the crisis and preparing for recovery. It will be an opportunity to network with other local businesses and discuss some of the pivotal changes they have implemented not just to survive, but to thrive in a period of unprecedented change. I hope you will find the time to join and look forward to meeting you then. Stay safe!”

To register for the Webinar or for more information, please visit our website on www.newworldtech.io