Even for well-positioned business innovators, with the best of hands at their disposal, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived to destructive effect. In payments, financial services and other industries, new channels have arrived quickly, opening new opportunities for a different kind of social interaction.
Those well-constructed hands - beautifully arranged sets of cards - were taken by the wind, and thrown unceremoniously into the air. But we cannot dwell on consternation. As the wise old adage goes: In the midst of chaos there is also opportunity.
More than 90% of executives in one McKinsey survey agreed that time was of the essence. When 200 executives of major organizations were quizzed on the effects of COVID-19, nine in 10 said they expect the fallout from the pandemic to fundamentally change the way they do business over the next five years.
While transactions have become more digital, the corporate culture of payment companies and banks has also changed. Both corporations and nimble outfits have been forced to search for new ways to innovate. Whether looking to modify and streamline processes, or in the fight for survival, it is clear that business as usual is long gone. But conversely, the pandemic has facilitated innovation. This drastic shuffling of the deck has adjusted social norms in the business world, giving even the least likely innovators a healthy zeal to find inventive avenues to growth.
In business, the way we socialize and network has changed. Innovation has accelerated with even some of the most influential people becoming accessible. The barrier to access has been lowered substantially, now that booking flights and meeting rooms has become impossible. Now it is easier to get in front of the right people online, and spread innovative ideas. Zoom has been the software story of the pandemic, with daily users ballooning to more than 200 million in March from a previous maximum total of 10 million.
The length of our conversations has been reduced. Ten-minute conversations, rather than long, drawn-out face-to-face meetings, have become the norm. That pragmatism which is now guiding social interactions allows innovators to hold larger social networks, and to schedule a slew of speculative 10-minute meetings.
That new way of communicating has also brought some of our less social friends out of the woodwork. Zoom has provided a bounded platform for communication, creating a comfortable space for those less naturally inclined towards social interaction. More exchanges, more collaboration, ultimately mean more opportunity for innovation.
Our experience at Hangar has shown our 40 active corporate clients to be spending significantly more on innovation since the onset of the COVID-19. Around 50% of those clients are committing a higher spend to idea generation, visualization and experimentation. Generally, it is not in their blood to innovate, and yet we find that traditional FTSE 100 global corporations are the ones innovating the most.
Of course, shareholder expectations never change, so companies are considering all options for growth. One top-tier bank has always valued face-to-face interaction above all else. Due to the pandemic however, face-to-face and brick and mortar are not how clients can be best served. Our client has been unhesitant, and has invested heavily in self-serve banking solutions.
A more innovative business world is good news for consumers, businesses themselves, and society at large. The change in attitudes, aided by a shift in social culture in business, is seeing the biggest players reevaluating the way they interact with and serve customers. In chaos there is opportunity, and all the positive innovation that can emerge from such a tragic circumstance must be welcomed and reveled in.
