What Was and Is and Is to Come, and Beyond
Just as Merlin presented us with the challenge of finding qualified talent in his article titled Embrace Challenges and Take Action to Prevent Problems, the pandemic has presented us with a challenge as well — to segue from a growth economy to a value-based economy demonstrated by the prioritization of long-term value and needs over short-term growth. Taking this a step further, I believe that even before COVID, electronic security and life safety businesses were being asked to think about the past, the now, what comes next and beyond to solidify and future-proof themselves within the economy and what that looked like in terms of value, needs and growth.
In our current state, it is important to work together to meet challenges, mend what is broken and grasp new opportunities. To identify challenges, brokenness and opportunities to transition into offering long-term value and meeting customers’ needs within our industry, we need to understand and adapt to, wherever necessary, the following four phases:
Phase One: The “Was”
A pandemic was declared around March 2020 which violently disrupted life as we knew it, which in some cases brought “good news,” but in others, “bad news.” The choice is ours on how we responded and continue to respond. Learn how SIAC responded to the “good” as well as the “bad” when it came to a well-known industry statistic on page 44.
Phase Two: The “Is”
The current environment we live in brings with it an air of survival – physically as well as financially. With an illness (COVID) lurking about without a cure, safeguarding human life is of upmost importance. This month’s feature focuses on overall wellness merging with the security (page 31) of keeping people, places and things safe, as with our ESA member project (page 20). Page 23 demonstrates how ESA members can firmly establish/re-establish their businesses by using a revolving line of credit to increase financial stability.
Phase Three: The “Is to Come”
The resiliency of our industry continues to increase, encouraging us to look forward to continuing positive, upward momentum by re-engaging the workforce; fixing broken supply chains; achieving a lower, more agile cost base; reducing operational risks; and ensuring complete customer satisfaction. Following is some essential information to help achieve these forward-looking objectives.
The use of assessments (page 8) will help determine the perfect hire; training (page 12) offers the emergence of new job skills and learning and acting to fix the two most common sales growth problems will ensure employees always have work, therefore helping to ensure cash flow as you watch your bottom-line expenses (page 42). In addition, further prosperity and growth is sparked by the development of brand loyalty and exceptional customer experiences (page 38). And, investing in cybersecurity insurance (page 16) offers a cost-effective way to keep digital risk under control, which will help to achieve smooth business operations.
Phase Four: The “Beyond”
As we move into our long-term future, expect new technologies to be developed by innovative people and companies in the electronic and life safety industry, which will prompt a change in consumer/end user behavior. We can also expect societal norms to change. For example, civil liability reform – a piece of 2021 legislation that if passed will protect businesses from potential COVID-related litigation for situations and circumstances that they cannot control.
As you turn the pages of the March/April edition of ESA’s Security Nation, my hope is that the stories within inspire you to focus on what was and is and is to come … and to start thinking about and preparing now for the beyond.
