“Change has never been this fast.”
“It will never be this slow again.” Recently, across multiple industries, leaders are beginning to share how they have coped with the changes the pandemic demanded from their organizations and strategic teams. A typical pattern seems to be emerging. Leadership had to reimagine their operations from the ground up. Initially, they focused inwardly on keeping staff safe, then outwardly on staying connected to their customers. As a result, dramatic innovation once thought to be unachievable began occurring in every industry worldwide at a pace no one could have predicted. To quote Calum Chace, a contributor for Forbes, “Change has never been this fast. It will never be this slow again.”
For example, prior to COVID19, the healthcare industry discussed the validity of a telehealth model of care to complement the traditional mix of healthcare services for years. With the adoption of smartphones and access to sophisticated digital technology, patients (i.e., consumers) were beginning to demand better access to care, more transparency, and the real-time feedback they were accustomed to from other market sectors. However, insurance providers were slow to embrace reimbursement for telehealth services, and physicians were concerned it would decrease the level of care available and damage patient outcomes. COVID19 hit, and the healthcare industry had to pivot to virtual care overnight, adapting any existing platforms they had on hand. All at once, the last barriers to telehealth were removed.
San Banerjee-VP of Digital Experience at Texas Health Resources was recently interviewed on the subject. “Today, telehealth is critical to the healthcare mix, and it is here to stay; there is no going back to the old model. We are using it on inpatient and outpatient patient monitoring and as a tool to communicate with our employees. Once the virus is under control, healthcare systems will need to define their telehealth end-state better to determine what is sustainable and harness future potential moving forward.”
The cable and internet communications industry has used the same service model for decades. If a customer decided they wanted cable or internet installed in their home or had technical issues, a technician made a physical service call. The consumer was powerless and excluded from the process. Not anymore. With a nation under quarantine, the demand for residential cable and high-speed internet skyrocketed overnight. Hundreds of thousands of professionals started working from home, and millions of households under quarantine demanded more content. For Rogers Communications, Inc. in Canada, they pivoted within weeks to a virtual installation visit supported by a tablet filled with tutorials that a consumer could safely use during a visit. Technicians parked outside the home for additional virtual support.
Scott Vanderwel, SVP Digital Operations, and Process Improvement shared recently on a webinar that it was a lot to ask many of their consumers whose technical ability and understanding of these systems varied a great deal. But Rogers Communications asked them for help and input along the way, and many consumers were happy to partner with them. The new model has been extremely successful. As an added benefit, their customer base now better understands the systems and hardware n their home and can troubleshoot issues themselves, saving time and money on both sides of the consumer relationship.
Bottom line, Rogers Communications discovered there is no need for the old service model to be reinstituted. Similarly, millions of virtual doctor visits have now occurred online; consumers have found them more convenient and, in some cases, a better overall experience. Physicians are seeing positive outcomes with their patient populations, dismissing the perception telehealth would damaging their relationship.
Habit and perception have stood in the way of innovation, and organizations became stuck. It took the pandemic to create the tipping point for Change. Strategic discussions that were historically difficult to have with the C-Suite are now much more accessible. Change has happened at an incredible pace.
All this transformation buoys me. We might look back and say, how did we do that? What else could be possible? It gives me hope, something we all need right now.
