{"id":33819,"date":"2020-05-19T08:40:18","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T08:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceofthetime.net\/?p=2483"},"modified":"2021-08-10T14:11:35","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T12:11:35","slug":"when-will-this-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceofthetime.com\/dlc\/2020\/05\/19\/when-will-this-end\/","title":{"rendered":"When Will This\u00a0End?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Andrea Lobo Niembro<\/a> & Ivan Babic<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A business essay on the coronavirus pandemics and timings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As innovation consultants, this is probably one of the most common questions our clients have in mind. When will this end? When may I go back to normal? Should I wait or should I reinvent? What can I do to save my business during the quarantine? Sounds familiar?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve researched, pondered and thought a lot during the last weeks around that question, and we\u2019ve came with some tips we hope you find useful for your business. This is all happening as we speak, so we don\u2019t pretend to have all the answers. Take this as the basic hypotheses we\u2019re using and validating with our clients. You have been warned.<\/p>\n

Probably in 3 to 5 years from\u00a0now<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Let\u2019s stick to science for a moment. Given the characteristics of this coronavirus, we have all been put into quarantine. More here less there, we are stuck at home. This has slowed down the world economy to such levels that everyone -companies of all sizes and people all around the globe- are struggling with cashflow. We all have been, at some point of our lives, exposed to social traumas before. Earthquakes, tsunamis, terrorist attacks, the list is long. And from that previous experiences, we\u2019ve learned that this should probably be a short-term period of trauma. And then life goes on.<\/p>\n

Coronavirus is different. Nor politicians nor businesses have the last word. As we said before, it\u2019s a challenge for scientists. We need to achieve the so called \u2018herd immunity\u2019, that is, around 85% of the human tribe needs to be immunized. There\u2019re only two ways to achieve that:<\/p>\n

– A. 85% of the population gets infected and therefore immunized (assuming this virus is like smallpox or dengue, and doesn\u2019t repeat in the same patient for life).<\/p>\n

– B. 85% of the population is vaccinated. Bear in mind, that means around 6.5 billion people. And presuming the virus will not mutate as fast as influenza.<\/p>\n

As you can see, there\u2019s an implied third option: the herd immunity may never be achieved. So, you need to act now.<\/p>\n

Five Facts about Herd\u00a0Immunity<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Be more\u00a0tactic<\/h4>\n

Now that you have assimilated the idea of this not ending in the mid-term, let\u2019s talk tactics. Most of all are in survival mode (unless you\u2019re Jeff Bezos). We need to deal with cashflow immediately and we don\u2019t have the last word on when will this situation change. Drop control, manage your anxiety, and get creative in a \u2018tabula rasa\u2019 scenario.<\/p>\n

Your customers have changed. Their habits too. They\u2019re quarantined. No matter what you used to sell to them, you need to be as empathetic as you can. They have a different set of needs. You must create new value.<\/p>\n

Value is a subjective unit of measurement we all assign to things, based on the satisfaction of our own needs. If your customers\u2019 needs have changed, you must rearrange your value proposition to serve those new necessities. Start from a human-centered perspective and rethink your business in terms of their new set of variables for making their purchase decisions.<\/p>\n

A sea-food restaurant in Guatemala discovered that people didn\u2019t trust that kind of food for delivery, due to hygiene concerns (possibility of coronavirus contagion). So, they started to offer pizzas. Simple, yet\u00a0elegant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Serving your customers during a quarantine is not easy. Not all business can do home-office. And those of us voluntarily locked up in our homes, rely on an army of people going out every day to grow our tomatoes, drive them to our cities, prepare our pizzas and deliver them to our houses. Hoping the pandemics won\u2019t touch our families. But it has. And it will.<\/p>\n

Think of a pendulum: two alternating scenarios<\/strong><\/h4>\n

As none of us has the last word on when will this end, we expect the quarantine \/ pandemics to follow a sequence like this:<\/p>\n