1、NOWNEXTCOVID-19: What to Do Now, What to Do Next Continuity in Crisis April 2020 How to run effective business services during theCOVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic presents a serious threat to people, businesses and economies across the world. Gartners recent Business Continuity Survey shows j

2、ust 12 percent of organizations are highly prepared for the impact of coronavirus.1Smart leaders must focus on how they can best protect their people, serve their customers and stabilize business continuity. 2Continuity in Crisis Copyright 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. During times of crisis,

3、 business operationsthe intelligence engine of an organizationare more important than ever. Business continuity and disaster recovery plans are being tested by rapidly evolving challenges, such as travel restrictions, and as large-scale remote working becomes a reality. Business process functions, i

4、ncluding finance, supply chain, procurement, human resources, marketing, sales and customer operations, and industry-specific services, such as health, insurance and banking, are being severely disrupted. For many multinationals, complex and business-critical services that are handled by global oper

5、ations must be reassessed and restructured. It is estimated that 75 to 80 percent of Fortune500 companies are using some form of shared services model. However, they need to safeguard and de-risk their operations if they are to continue to serve and grow their enterprises post-COVID-19. They must de

6、vise a response that is rapid and robust to maintain continuity in the face of uncertain times. For leaders seeking direction on how to act now and next, we offer recommendations to help their global business services be more resilient and weather the pandemic storm. According to senior executives p

7、olled, one-third (32.4%) rarely update their operating model. Source: Initial data from ongoing Intelligent Operations survey, Accenture and Oxford Economics, March 2020 3Continuity in Crisis Why take action now? Copyright 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. What are the challenges? For operations

8、teams, efficiency has long been a byword. Having a passion for and taking advantage of new technologies to tackle the challenges that go beyond “keeping the lights on”especially during a pandemicis a huge part of running operations responsibly and with resilience in extreme circumstances. Operations

9、 must enable data, intelligence and insights to be available in an instant, wherever and whenever they are needed. With agility, flexibility and responsiveness, businesses can act swiftly to steer a new course with confidence and adapt to evolving global challenges. Organizations are increasingly us

10、ing platforms that support analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, alongside greater automation, to drive digital experiences that help their operations to gain insights and become more intelligent. For example, Accenture is helping a medical technology company maximize the availab

11、ility of medical equipment, for use during the COVID-19 pandemic, by operating and optimizing its spare parts supply chain. The world is now operating in a post-digital era, with digital technologies a basic expectation of consumers and businesses alike. Sustained business continuity and success wil

12、l come to rely increasingly on more human-focused experiences, continually adapting the latest technologies to the world they have created. To help achieve this, leading companies are introducing human+machine models, where most routine tasks are automated and everyone is a knowledge worker with acc

13、ess to insights that mean they are more prepared to manage in difficult times. 76% of executives agree that organizations need to dramatically reengineer the experiences that bring technology and people together in a more human- centric manner. Workforce augmentation and paying attention to data and

14、 security protocols, technology infrastructure and support means organizations can perform on their best day. Take CloudMedx, a clinical AI platform that focuses on streamlining clinical encounters in the United States. It can help hospitals and payers to predict surge, length of stays, the use of b

15、eds and equipment and staffing needs. It also has an AI chatbot, AskSophie, to help patients self- assess for the risk of COVID-19. Armed with this knowledge, users of the AskSophie platform can be more informed about this and other diseases, and be a part of the decision-making process with their d

16、octors while avoiding public interaction as symptoms persist.2 According to a recent article, leaderships ability to respond to these emerging risks will be critical to their organizations success.3 So, how can executives in large, complex businesses most effectively respond to the COVID-19 threat?

17、Source: Accenture Technology Vision 20204 4Continuity in Crisis Copyright 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. Act now The spread of the COVID-19 virus has proven to be rapid and difficult to control, so the means to deal with it and actions taken must be equally agilebut focused. Any actions need t

18、o be in line with your organizations business continuity planning. Empathetic leadership and communications are two key areas that aid human resilience in difficult times: 1.Adopt a pragmatic, collaborative approach to help adapt to new ways of running the business and make things happen in a timely

19、, empathetic manner. Recognition where due can help to improve well-being and engagement across teamsboth locally and globallywhich contributes to maintaining business continuity. 2.Emphasize a strong and active communications strategy when dealing with a major crisis. Communications to employees, c

20、lients, suppliers and partners should be rolled out as part of a phased approach. Following the initial priority communications, we recommend ongoing, daily updates. “We have a client who asked us literally to go from zero people using Teams to their entire 61,000 workforce in five days.” Julie Swee

21、t, CEO, Accenture 5Continuity in Crisis Copyright 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. 6Continuity in Crisis Accenture recommends the following actions for organizations looking to address what to do now, next and for the longer term. Prioritize actions that help you pre-empt the impact of volatilit

22、y: Bring together highly skilled, distributed teams that can log in anytime, anywhere and deliver on customer commitments at scale. Build a broader ecosystem around the organizations workforce to enable collaboration across a broader set of prioritiesincluding healthcare and childcare. This will lea

23、d to improved morale and engagement levels resulting in better business outcomes. Prioritize actions that put your people first and exploit the capabilities that global business services offer: Enable people to work and connect with colleagues from diverse, safe, secure locations. Create safe and se

24、cure working environments through regular sanitization. De-densify workspaces by limiting the number of people working together, curbing large meetings and ensuring that protocols are followed in canteens, elevators and areas of common use. Limit all non-essential business travel and client visits.

25、Align with local health and safety guidelines. Take action to meet the needs of your key stakeholders: Identify priorities: Critical processes, including functions such as employee payroll, healthcare and supply chain (to keep goods moving and services ongoing). Highly important processes and other

26、services such as payments and necessary services in healthcare, insurance and banking. Important/other processessuch as order management and reporting. Establish a command centerfor a virtual workforce to measure quality, productivity, compliance, insights and intelligence, people engagement and wor

27、kforce well-being. Recommended Actions PREVENT: What to do now Take immediate steps to ensure the safety and well-being of employees. PREPARE: What to do next Identify priority processes and establish a command centerto manage a virtual workforce. PREDICT:What to do for the long term Be proactive an

28、d establish a comprehensive, customer-oriented plan that is sustainable. Copyright 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. What have we learned? 7Continuity in Crisis Accenture has learned that it is possible to not only secure and reshape critical functions such as employee payroll and healthcare with

29、in three to six weeks, but also establish a cohesive set of leading practices that can be scaled across all dispersed locationsboth now and as the crisis unfolds. Global businesses are under immense strain and pressure due to the current crisis with few industries remaining unaffected. Our recommend

30、ed approach includes: Develop empathetic relationships. Put people first by establishing strong partnerships across the organization, built on transparency and trust. This can help to govern, monitor and track progress to achieve resilient, intelligent operations during an unprecedented crisis. Enab

31、le secure office environment leading practices and policies. Help teams to work from home and amplify secure office environment leading practices policiesit is important to accept that not all work can be done remotely. Adjust expectations accordingly, both within your teams and with your stakeholde

32、rs. Be pragmatic about technology. Set up a command center to oversee all employee requirements and better manage a virtual workforce. Be nimble and innovative with the latest technologies. Consider solutions that ensure distributed teams can connect and collaborate effectively. For example, a simpl

33、e self-reporting app, where employees can give feedback on their login times, transactions processed and business updates. Stay connected. Consider running video sessions between multiple colleaguessupervisors, subject matter experts and team membersto maintain the quality and compliance around how

34、to deliver services. It can also support the safety and well-being of people more effectively in challenging times. Copyright 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. Where is it working today? 8Continuity in Crisis Heres how its working in AccentureHeres how its working for our clients Within Accenture

35、, an operations team of 7,000 people runs our own global business servicesusing a human+machine model that helps us to deliver seamless operations. Accenture has helped the following organizations to manage in the current crisis: A bank has moved a complex, judgment-based process to a 100 percent wo

36、rking from home model, enabled by technology and within the necessary data security and regulatory demands. A North American retailers local stores are meeting accelerating demand for produce and products due to COVID-19 and by applying AI-enabled demand and supply planning services, increasing ship

37、ment visibility and collaboration with local vendors. A multinational consumer electronics retailer has set up a COVID-19 hotline to support employees and partnered with payroll and benefit teams to implement various compensation solutions such as minimum-guaranteed pay, benefits and personal time o

38、ut programs. A large airline has increased cash reserves by identifying non-essential activities and non-critical commodity contracts that can be placed on hold. Accenture has extensive experience that is positioning our organization well to handle the current crisis: Our way of working “in the New”

39、, now more than 60 percent of our business, strong relationships with leading companies and unique business model has prepared us for uncertainty. We have operated our business as a virtual team without a headquarters, and with our top leaders spread across the globe, for more than three decades. We

40、 have tried and tested protocols in place that have helped us to move rapidly. We have made many changes across the majority of our 50 locations around the world including China, India, Italy, Philippines, Poland, United Kingdom and United States. We provide the tools to support a collaborative work

41、force; for example, we are the largest user of Microsoft Teams in the world. Our Teams audio usage has almost doubled from our typical 16 million minutes per day to almost 30 million minutes per day. Copyright 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. Although every business has its own way of working, t

42、here are clear priorities in terms of focusing on both people and business functions, to drive intelligent operations and organizational and human resilience. And while the impact of COVID-19 is global, there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to managing through the crisis. A cohesive response orga

43、nization can help to establish clear priorities, with dedicated core teams responsible for keeping global operations running smoothly. These include: Lead response team to manage the overall status of the incident response, working closely with a command center, involving both central and local task

44、forces, to track relevant progress including key performance indicators and any issues needing further work. Work from home enablement team to drive all customer-specific requirements, government approvals and our peoples technology enablement and support. Local team to ensure uninterrupted, complia

45、nt client services in a distributed delivery office environment, managing diverse issues such as office seating, resource supply and demand, and workforce well-being. Robust communication team for both internal and external audiences, including leadership communications and crisis management respons

46、e. Customer engagement team for proactive client stakeholder management including status reports such as the current delivery situation and managing any escalations. Workforce well-being team to maintain high levels of engagement and morale while people work remotely, helping them to feel more conne

47、cted and improving mental health and well-being. Command centerteam for managing virtual workforce productivity, quality, compliance insights and intelligence. Creating focused teams can mean decisions can be taken quickly and actions can be swift. Which teams are needed? Accenture has helped one go

48、vernment body to build a call centerfor a state government overnight, which was further enhanced using virtual assistants to provide COVID-19 information. 9Continuity in Crisis Copyright 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved. Five steps to operational resilience In a period of unprecedented global cri

49、sis, leaders recognize the need to remain focused, be collaborative and act with compassion. Now, more than ever, organizations must focus attention on those areas that can thrive in a post-COVID-19 world. Here are five ways to help your organization achieve intelligent, resilient operations: Establish a resilient culture In a highly volatile world, being dedicated, calm and compassionate in all situations should be actively encouraged. Organizations should continue to execute work in a collaborative mannerwith critical knowledge wo