How does an organization plan to address the ever-changing and growing Business to Consumer (B2C) demands?

Throughout the Pandemic, the businesses consulted to stabilize, mobilize, and return to work. However, during the post-recovery, the organizations are working to find newer market opportunities and become stronger by building resilience to navigate future shocks. To address the challenges posed by the Pandemic, organizations of all sizes and scales globally had to respond in agile and decisive ways. As we enter the post-pandemic era where the world has been completely disrupted, it is time for businesses to pursue, and seize the market opportunities emerging in the recovery. Organizations that take steps now to build strategic resilience for tomorrow will capitalize effectively on the growth opportunities in post recovery and continue to win in their marketplace as greater stability and certainty return.

What does it take to win in the ever-transforming world? The challenges of tomorrow need a new perspective today. Taking on Tomorrow will address the critical and burning forces facing businesses. One of the biggest challenges every company faces is losing resources, especially the top talent. The great resignation has taken the industry by storm. Organizations have lost their staff, and attrition has reached an all-time high ever in our history. Companies have increased the salaries for freshers as they start scouting and hiring for the right talent. And this is where the technological transformation will lead the way forward. Digitization will become the priority of every organization to minimize its workforce and automate as much of its business functions.

One of the organizations that have been successful and won the Pandemic is ‘Dominos’ – It figured out its ‘cloud kitchens’ even before they were excellent. So let us understand the similarities between Dominos’ and cloud kitchens:

  • Stores have small or no dining space and are optimized for delivery alone.
  • Location for real estate is focused on the best routes and not the best footfalls.
  • Food product travels well and can feed a lot of people cheaply.

Dominos were the first to offer both mobile ordering and a Pizza Tracker on their website, a concept that the delivery start-ups have copied ever since. Dominos is the ‘platonic’ ideal of future cloud kitchens. The organization’s foresight to optimize their delivery and place stores in low-cost and route-optimized retail locations while building a digital brand and app that is working for them and paying off. Besides, Dominos’ stores are optimized for delivery, takeout, and not in-store eating.

In contrast, competitors like PizzaHut have followed more traditional models with a dine-in focused model. Mom and pop pizza shops do not have the delivery infrastructure or technology to stay ahead. Additionally, Domino’s invested in technology and built an independent, digital-first brand before anyone else. Do you picture Domino’s pizza tracker when you think, “I want to order pizza online,” do you imagine Domino’s pizza tracker? I do.

It’s not as tied to a particular store as it is to the Domino’s brand and online portal (controlled by Domino’s corporate employees). However, Pizza Hut suffered a massive deal of decline in business as they weren’t prepared to adopt the new business model. They now finally have a turnaround recipe – with some help from Dominos’. Inspired by its larger rival and aided by the Pandemic, Pizza Hut is shedding its image as a dine-in-first brand and shrinking its stores. However, Dominos’ delivery and tech shops are still out of their reach for Pizza Hut.

One of the biggest challenges any organization faces today is the ‘human resources.’ The industry has undergone a massive transformation, due to which the companies have lost good talent. It is not about skills anymore, but it is about people with the right attitude and leadership qualities. For the past three decades, we used to order cakes for birthdays from one of the well-known five-star hotels. I had never been disappointed until last year. This year when I ordered the cake, we were aghast to find the drop in the quality and the taste; besides, it got spoilt in less than a day. Upon enquiry, we learnt that the head chef and his entire team had quit. The present staff were all newcomers who weren’t trained well enough to handle the kitchen and the customers.

These are a few examples which I have shared from the hospitality industry. But, of course, the same is the experience in other industries too. The lack of a skilled workforce is becoming a considerable challenge. On LinkedIn, everyone is trying to post updates that show the world is back to normal, whereas there is nothing ‘normal’ in the ‘New Normal.’ Nobody was prepared to face the reality of what had hit them. The repercussions of the Pandemic are now begun to unfold. With the war and inflation soaring through the sky, the collateral damage is faced by only a segment of the global population: the poor and middle-class.

To summarise, in my opinion, tackling the significant issues of today and envisioning the future, the Governments and businesses globally tried to deliver in the unprecedented times and, in many cases, worsened problems that existed pre-pandemic. As a global thought leader, I consult with organizations to provide insights, advise how to take the right action, drive growth from potential new opportunities, transform and leapfrog to lead a twenty-first-century future-ready organization.