How business leaders can step up to the plate in 2021

2021 is set to be another year of momentous change. Experts from Serviceware and partner companies Coeus Consulting and Centigo share their views on some of the key business priorities for leaders in months to come. 

For Dirk Martin, Chief Executive Officer at software solutions company Serviceware, the biggest priority for business leaders in the year ahead will be centred around enterprise digital services and the associated financials. “2020, with its exceptional challenges, has motivated many businesses to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives, while many other felt the need to pause their investments in this area.” 

“Finding the right level of digital transformation by improving service levels while reducing costs will be critical to enable enterprises to grow in challenging times,” he comments. Last year, cashflow acted as a crucial roadblock, standing in the way of businesses maintaining stability, profit forecasts and growth. “The future of your company will depend on your obsession for outstanding customer service and your adaptability to create profit and success in 2021,” Martin adds. 

Another huge external influencing factor in halting business innovation will be the buzzword everyone has been discussing for years – Brexit. The UK’s withdrawal from the EU will undoubtedly have huge ramifications for businesses across all sectors this year. “New logistics challenges, pricing and tariff challenges will all lead to propensity to reduce customer satisfaction in terms of delivery and value,” comments Ronnie Wilson, Group Executive Vice President at Serviceware.

Going on to discuss the sectors that will be hardest-hit, he adds, “Manufacturing will need to create and design new strategies to overcome these challenges and new IT applications and related processes. Finance and banking need to provide new financial applications to provide companies with more detailed analysis of their spend, which in turn should allow them to better support all businesses with financial support.”

Watching out for icebergs

While furloughing and redundancies have hit staff across the UK – and in fact world – hard, no-one has envied business leaders, either. The C-suite has been torn between shoring up business operations and keeping its most important assets – its employees – happy.

Financial headaches have kept CFOs up late and working through the night. Some CEOs have had to choose between their business and their workers. And although things are looking better for 2021, this year will still demand tough choices, steady nerves and smart decisions. 

“Focusing on demand and being flexible to adjust your strategic aims, during constant periods of uncertainty, should be a key priority for business leaders. You need to be able to adapt to market conditions quicker and make sure you take your people with you,” asserts Rob Walker, a Director at Coeus Consulting. “Cost reduction, market development, innovation, leadership and the application of digital will be crucial,” comments Kevin Bell, Partner at Centigo. 

And preparing for the storm also means keeping an eye out for icebergs at the same time. There will still be several barriers to growth next year, and planning for these road bumps with minimised resources is going to be another headache for the C-suite. “Put simply, organisations will need to do more with less – deliver more from cost budgets, sustain and improve current service levels, all the while investing in new future digital initiatives from the same or smaller cost budget allocation,” says Serviceware’s Wilson.

Unlocking value with technical innovations

Now, more than ever, rock-solid IT infrastructures and technological innovations that unlock value are crucial for businesses. Cloud usage increased massively in 2020, due to the flexibility, scalability and speed of deployment needed to pivot business operations. Meanwhile, cloud also benefits sustainability. But how important will it be for 2021 – and what must business leaders watch out for?

Research firm Forrester predicts that, “…the pandemic has a happy ending for the 30% of customer-obsessed firms that will harvest the opportunities that surfaced in the pandemic, taking advantage of their cloud-first and platform strategies.” In fact, its research suggests “…those organisations could grow their firms up to 3.5x faster than the average of their peers.” 

“This trend will get more and more important as it is the strategic road of the software vendor. Financial concerns touch on almost every challenge of migration. There’s the immediate cost to make the migration itself in addition to the long-term financial risks of low or slow adoption and training after the migration has occurred,” comments Claudia Blümle, a Sales Director at Serviceware. 

While it remains unclear entirely what this year will bring for business, one thing that is for certain is that cost control will remain an important factor moving forward. Transparent data and visibility across all areas within the enterprise, whether that be IT or operational, will be the foundation of accurate and effective decision-making over the coming months. 

Those businesses who arm themselves with quality data will be able to pave the way for future competitiveness and growth – in 2021 and beyond.