Innovation, agility, speed to market: The top 3 gamechangers

Just 17% cited shareholder returns as defining success in the future. Their new benchmarks were innovation (49%), agility (47%) and speed to market (40%). But what do these look like in practice? Here are some examples from companies that lived and breathed these values during the pandemic:

1. Innovation

Social distancing quickly became part of the fight against COVID-19, posing problems for many environments where people work in close proximity. Humatics, a spin-off from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed and manufactured sensors that enabled powerful robots to work alongside humans without crossing paths and causing accidents.¹

When lockdowns paralysed the food and restaurant industry in Colombia, farm-food supplier Frubana saw an opportunity to expand its services. It launched Club Frubana, a hub of tools and resources to digitise menus and websites, and source supplies, so that its clients could pivot to online deliveries and services.²

2. Agility

Novant Health partnered with Zipline, a drone delivery company that honed its skills delivering blood supplies in Rwanda and Ghana. With approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Zipline started drone deliveries of medical supplies and protective equipment to hospitals in North Carolina.³

Early in the pandemic, Shanghai skincare brand Forest Cabin Cosmetics had to close half of its 337 stores. It responded swiftly, moving more of the business online and tapping into its partners’ digital ecosystems. Through their social media contacts on WeChat and DingTalk, the company’s beauty consultants became influencers; Forest Cabin also livestreamed events via Alibaba’s Taobao platform.⁴

3. Speed to market

Just a week after schools in Indonesia shut their doors to more than 50 million students, ed-tech company Ruangguru launched a free, livestreamed online school. With 18 channels, plenty of interactivity and teachers who experienced at on-screen teaching, it climbed to the top of the app charts.⁵

When a shortage of glass vials threatened the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine programme, SiO2 Materials Science, which uses plasma technology to create a microscopic layer of medical-grade glass inside plastic vials, was able to scale up its production. The company went from 10 million vials a year, to an astonishing 10 million vials a month.⁶

While many companies deprioritised innovation during the pandemic, some, like the examples above, swiftly identified new opportunities or adapted to shifting customer needs. Our survey revealed that higher growth businesses were more likely to invest in innovation, new product development and new markets, underlining the importance a proactive, rather than defensive approach in a time of crisis.