Looking back and looking at the future

Looking back at 2020

2020 was a year full of challenges. Until March, everything seemed to be going well: the economy was booming, and COVID-19 seemed like a distant issue. But that changed quickly. After the ski season and Carnival, Europe was hit hard. Remote work became the norm, hospitals were overwhelmed, and many businesses had to partially or fully close. The summer brought some relief and cautious economic recovery, but rising infection rates in the fall and the December lockdown made it clear that remote work would be here to stay for a while.

Looking ahead to 2021

Fortunately, there are reasons for optimism. Economists expect the economy to recover rapidly thanks to vaccination campaigns and the end of lockdowns. To prepare well for this recovery period, there are steps you can already take to improve your business operations:

• Digital Transformation: Transition to the cloud, work with mobile devices, and leverage smart technology like the Internet of Things.
• Supply Chain Integration: Better connect suppliers and customers through webshops, e-commerce platforms, and logistics integrations.
• Operational Excellence: Streamline processes such as invoice processing, month-end closings, or enhancing user experiences with workflows and planning tools.
• Data Driven Enterprise: Extract insights from data with Business Intelligence and Analytics. This helps identify bottlenecks and improve processes.

More information or sparring?

There are many ways to improve your business processes step by step. Our specialists are ready to brainstorm with you, share their expertise, and determine which solutions can take your organization further.

To conclude

Despite the current status with regards to Covid, we think that 2021 offers us all great opportunities again, so that we can quickly forget about 2020. We wish all our customers, our suppliers and partners a very prosperous 2021, a very merry Christmas and hope to see and speak to you physically again soon.

Author: Ed Pieters
CEO at Cadran Consultancy