Many people are trying to look on the bright side of the COVID-19 restrictions and are using this time to reinvent themselves, whether by taking up new hobbies, cooking more, or embarking on a new exercise regime. This extra time at home can offer a chance to make improvements that have long been on our to-do list. Hearing about some of the personal transformations underway got me thinking about the parallel with large organizations.
For companies, now is a great time to reinvent themselves as well. Take time during this disruption to reevaluate how your organization aligns and collaborates across business functions. You might find opportunities to enhance operations, reduce costs and improve resilience.
Restoration through data integration
Companies were already collecting more risk data (operational, production, EHS, HR, asset health, facility and security) than ever before – to the point that critical insights were getting lost. The response for COVID-19 calls for even more data collection around maintaining business continuity and safely returning to a new way of working. But siloed data makes it a challenge to understand the full extent of COVID-19 impacts or plot a path toward improvement.
Not to mention, the pre-COVID-19 pressures and risks haven’t gone away. Aging infrastructure and assets still need to be addressed; additional regulations are creating a more complex compliance environment; and investors and the public continue to increasingly focus on sustainability.
Many clients I’ve spoken with feel overwhelmed. They’re recognizing the need for consolidation of assurance-providing resources to help the teams returning to the office do more with less, but want insight on putting their best foot forward.
Risk integration insights
Prior to the emergence of COVID-19, Arcadis experts were working to reinvent how we support our clients in standardizing processes, eliminating redundancies and integrating resources and data across business silos. The rapid pivot the market has faced in the last few months lends itself to the methodology Arcadis experts developed, called the Assurance Integrator. Data are presented in an easily accessible format giving leadership a clear understanding of risk across functions that can be used to inform decision making. Using performance data from across your entire organization, teams can effectively maintain critical business functions and support executive decision-making.
Our recent research paper on assuring operational excellence through integration explores how our Assurance Integrator can improve collaboration, increase abilities to identify risk, analyze multicriteria consequences and likelihood of materializing, and reduce the cost of managing risk.
Master the art of reinvention
Organizations need a business continuity framework that can be adapted to fit needs irrespective of where it is in the crisis cycle – whether it be the planning, assessment, escalation phases or preparing to restore.
Your response to COVID-19 is an opportunity to reinvent your organization’s collaboration and alignment among functions, and implement an assurance program that enhances operations, builds confidence and trust, and improves resilience.