This year is getting off to a rough start. COVID-19 is spreading quickly and fears are growing. Organizations are being forced to evaluate their processes, spend, and strategic plans. Events are being cancelled, stocks are nosediving, and sales are collapsing. Teams of all sizes are going to have to make big changes, quickly.
But, as history has proven, great things are born out of adversity! So while this is a difficult season for many, the folks at Functionly are turning this into an opportunity to build better systems and processes, and reevaluate 2020 plans.
Using business functions as a lens, we have compiled some of the best advice and tools coming out of the SaaS community, as well as other industries, to evaluate organizational spend, maximize an existing workforce, create agile processes, and manage organizational crisis.
Given all the anxiety and uncertainty that a global pandemic can create, this might be a time to evaluate the risk appetite and organizational limitations that may arise with potential pressures on revenue – this could include client churn, delay in accounts receivable or capital becoming more challenging to raise.
TIP: Evaluate Spending
Manage and evaluate your cash flows. Examine whether your capital spending plans are sensible in a more uncertain environment. It might be better to hold-off on expenses or delay for a quarter, until you are more certain of economic reactions. Moving fast and being agile is great, but your organization needs to make sure your strategy is not impacted unintentionally by overreacting or over-correcting.
Blissfully - Gives you automated visibility into your SaaS apps, usage, and spend, along with powerful workflows to manage change.
Fathom - Comprehensive financial intelligence, performance reporting, dashboards and consolidations.
Wise-Sync - Can help you capture many efficiencies across your business, giving you an up-to-date, real-time indication of your financial situation.
Xero - Accounting software that helps small businesses.
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Given all of the above is likely to place stress on finances, this might be a time to critically evaluate whether you can do more with less.
In times of crisis, leadership focus will shift significantly from normal day-to-day operations. How you did something yesterday may not be relevant today, especially if you are forced to create a remote team overnight. In order to ensure processes are agile during a crisis, organizations will need to evaluate their operational, or functional maturity. The process of highlighting operational weak spots and cross-functional friction can surface opportunities for improvement that will ensure business is not negatively impacted.
When assessing functional maturity, focus on processes that your team owns or participates in heavily, as they will have the most impact.
ProfitWell - Outcome-centered products that reduce churn, optimize pricing, and grow your subscription business end-to-end.
Stripe - A software platform for running an internet business.
Custify - Reduce Customer churn and grow revenue.
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TIP: New operating climates, such as those being experienced with the coronavirus pandemic, present an opportunity for organizations to review how their business functions and the effectiveness of their current operating model. This type of assessment allows you to identify near term opportunities to manage resources, while positioning yourself to be ready for future market shifts. Reducing your staff may be a decision you’ll need to make. However, organizations that have done reductions without understanding and reviewing how work is done, could find themselves in a worse situation than before.
Here are some questions to ask in order to help you determine your options;
Functionly - A work design platform that provides the tools and visibility you need to lead transformational change. Analyse functional gaps, assign responsibilities, export real-time Job Descriptions and more.
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