The late Steve Jobs once said: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”, with an intent to encourage new ideas and an entrepreneurship spirit as a way of thinking but ultimately leading. In this unprecedented time: leaders and followers within all industries have taken the only possible approach to a pandemic and that is a reactionary approach. The unplanned devastating effects and continuing market distress has disrupted many service based industries due to the fundamental building block of the business becoming absent: The demand of the customer. 

A pandemic business environment may make it seem impossible to be a leader or innovative in your respective industry but Steve Jobs' success and leadership was also known by his customer centric approach as expressed through his quote  “Get closer than even to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves”.

Even the most technologically advanced, customer centric and established service driven businesses have had to pivot their business strategies. Business plans are now based on adaptation and resilience in an effort to establish growth despite the effects of the pandemic.  

The key questions to ask yourself as a business leader are: 

• What is this pandemic trying to show me about my business and business model 
• What can I learn from it and how do we become adaptable and flexible as a company 
• What can I do Better as a business partner to continue servicing our partners during these unprecedented times. 

Adapting Using a Data Mindset

With great data comes greater responsibility. As a business partner, the opportunity to help collect and consolidate data designates you as part of the business’ support network. It is important to have data streams that provide updated and accurate information to quickly identify low levels of quality of service, increasing operational deficiencies and concerning metrics that can have a negative effect on the businesses’ continuity. In an invested and effective partnership,  it is the time to help partners excel to their best results by being proactive using their daily KPI metrics and helping them reach their highest potential and expected level of  performance.

Existing data channels should develop a process, an action plan and a new perspective in  addressing business challenges for a partnership. A database that only stores data and fails to use data in a data centric approach to make inferences, decisions while communicating operational and business deviations is creating a disservice for the business. Leveraging your existing technology and data can visually tell a story behind the health of the business and ultimately help you differentiate from your counterparts. The use of data can keep barriers to entry high during this volatile environment. It is an underestimated competitive advantage.

Intangible and Priceless Resources

Data Visualization tools can gravitate attention to specific aspects of the business but can also  provide insights by visualizing complex relationships ,where one variable does not have a direct causation for an outcome. Visualizing these relationships can help support industry knowledge, company tribal knowledge or it can educate by detecting changes in the industry through a market analysis. With a visualization approach patterns can be identified, insights can be developed and data supported strategies can quickly adapt and change. Allowing for a faster recovery and a leader approach in the industry. Data can and has supported first mover strategies. Directly relating back to an entrepreneur's strategic approach to business.  

Lastly, findings become common knowledge in the company and can be communicated to the internal team to establish company buy in and reinforce an overall data centric strategic approach. This while establishing loyalty amongst partnership levels due to an unwavering uniformed level of expectation to provide a superior service to company partnerships.

Data as a competitive Advantage

Data can not only be used to grow organic partnerships and develop new partnerships but it can help re-engage customers that may need services as they seek a data centric partner. As a business it is important to understand that not all partnerships  are created equal, they have unique needs based on access to staffing, they may have different core competencies and may not have the dedicated budget to continue to invest into its infrastructure. As a potential partner it's important to consider providing combination service/product strategies, provide scalability in offerings and offer cost bowl evaluations. This will allow potential partners access to decision making tools and opportunities to evaluate their current services that may have higher costs, a less customized approach and continue providing a subpar experience . As a business striving to proactively support existing partnerships through this pandemic it is important to ask yourself these questions:

• How can you retain your customers loyalty?
• How has your sales lifecycle changed and how can you adapt?
• What barriers to entry are found in your entry and how can you continue to raise them?
• How can you not be as easily imitated? What differentiates you from others in your industry? 
• How can you appeal to your partners through a humanistic approach? How do you align with their values ,needs and how do they align with yours? 

The right data driven partnership can restore trust in this time of uncertainty through consistency, growth and by providing the adaptability tools your program needs to succeed.