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"Plan as far as you can and be flexible to change every 3 days"

Locksmith to locksmith, from one improvisation to another, 2020 has been and continues to be a challenging year for the Israeli economy.

Four managers openly talk about the difficulties of adaptation: "The pace of change is too fast to predict"

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David Rosenthal

Sunday, October 18, 2020, 12:17 AM

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In the video: Netanyahu in a statement in favor of easing restrictions (Photo: Government Press Office, edited by: Itai Amram)

More than seven months have passed since the corona burst into our lives in full force.

Curious about the "mysterious Chinese virus", the epidemic spread around the world and reached us as well.

No one predicted how serious the consequences would be.

In retrospect, large companies have succeeded in the first and second closures and will probably succeed in the third as well, but everyone is aware that no one knows what a day will bring and that the challenges are many.

"Like the whole business world, no one here is prepared for the reality that has been forced upon us," says Elroi Turgeman, CEO of Opticana.

Reality just slaps you in the face.

The first act we did was a braking move.

In the first days we 'sat on our hands' (the client's term from a pilot crisis during a battle) and we built different and varied plans in each area.

The goal was to minimize damage and develop creative thinking, how to deal with the current crisis (first wave).

We consulted with partners and colleagues abroad, and I can say that after two weeks we came out with a significant reorganization plan that was actually the basis for the most meaningful sentence that accompanies me in all this crisis - plan as far as you can and be flexible to change every three days.

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Everything is changing, both in the retail sector and in other areas (Photo: Reuven Castro)

What is flexibility, really?

After all, every industry has its requirements and difficulties.

Turgeman tells candidly about the bumps.

"The ability in retail to go down the hierarchy chain to the point of sale, the seller, influence it and explain that the world has changed and must act differently - this is the great managerial challenge. Plans and decisions can be made very quickly, ', So the great wisdom is to know the nodes in the hierarchy chain and know how to release the bottleneck quickly. Already in the first closure we worked to give a different and appropriate response to the reality imposed on us. We deployed a geographical deployment of street branches ( We set up an optometric SOS center within 24 hours, which included optometrists, opticians, audiologists (from the hearing department) who gave a human telephone answer to hundreds of inquiries a day. "Two) I was happy to hear that the team reached the mother whose glasses were broken during the birth."

"As a body that also holds import activities, we received early indications of the future coming from our ties in China," says Amir Noy, CEO of Best Mobile, "so in the first closure in mid-March we realized we were entering a big and significant event, we knew it would be something different. .

Upon entering the closure, we had to stop operating the chain's branches.

The staff and I gathered to build a quick strategic plan for the moment of exit, one that would be adapted to life in the shadow of the corona, to new consumer consciousness and behavior, to other needs and more. "

For Noy, at least, and everyone involved in the digital world, Corona also benefited: , Some in terms of business efficiency and some in digital terms.

Usage habits have accelerated to such an extent that one morning Israel became an Online Nation - suddenly we are all online consumers.

Therefore, in a situation where the weight shifts from the physical purchase to the network, adjustments were required both in the logistical area and in the areas of understanding the consumer and adjusting the products and service offered for him.

We continue to increase product diversity, develop our technological systems, take on new business collaborations and continue to learn and draw conclusions in the logistics field in order to improve the customer service experience. "

Answering the phone to hundreds of people a day.

Turgeman (Photo: Shuka Cohen)

One area in which the deployment was different is the world of insurance and finance.

"We have experienced a sharp increase in customer and agent inquiries across all the various communication channels," says Oded Aviv, service manager and customer experience in insurance company training. "We have a leading finance department with a flagship product at Best Invest (a savings policy where you can manage money between a variety of tracks Among the leading investment houses in Israel) and therefore we were immediately prepared to improve and upgrade the digital tools. "

Aviv says that in the case of his company, the corona actually created a healthy problem - excess business.

"The sense of uncertainty that came with the outbreak of the crisis created a lot of burdens on the various service centers in the company. We quickly realized that this was a situation that would not leave us soon. We acted quickly to expand our contact hours and extended operating hours. In this outline and for stock market customers - this, when successful care in each of these groups requires a different set of tools. We extended the hours of operation in the various centers. "Adults in times of stress, and we have upgraded the abilities and knowledge system of all the representatives in order to deal with the issue of the stock exchange while developing conservation and calming capabilities."

But even that was not easy.

"The congestion in the regular channels has created congestion and bottlenecks in everything related to customer service and working with agents," Aviv recalled. "Simply put, we made it possible to respond through the Facebook page with the clear aim of making it easier for policyholders and agents to be able to respond and perform operations from anywhere at any time, as well as a variety of smart automated tools built from a basic need to handle operations teams."

Upgrading and improving digital tools.

Oded Aviv

Principals often tend to convey that "everything is under control", praise and glorify, the word "anxiety" is basically out of bounds, but Yariv Ben-Nun, CEO of eTeacher, the world's largest online school, is not ashamed to recreate the feelings at the beginning of the process: "Our sales team Based on sales in sales centers, in different places in the world.

Each sales method is based on teams working together in one space and producing positive sales energy.

We tried in the past to allow salespeople to work from home, but for the most part it did not work.

So when we realized we would have to stop working from the hotspots, we got into anxieties and estimated that sales outputs would drop by 20%.

We moved 130 sales people to work from home and another 120 support and service people and we were expecting a catastrophe.

To improve communication and replace work in one space, we implemented Microsoft's TEAMS, and other technologies that allowed us to work collaboratively and fully transparently. "The

results surprised him:" We discovered that the same sales and team spirit can also be generated through TEAMS and other tools.

We see, of course, that there are quite a few employees who find it difficult to be alone at home, and there is a social need that the company does not know how to address in this format.

Without a few employees there is no suitable work environment and the work is much less comfortable.

We do not have much to do about it and we all have to adapt to the new reality.

"Of course we have networking events, personal conversations, roundtable meetings, a monthly meeting with me as CEO and updates in front of me, which I do every month and I would not do in the past. These things connect the employee to the company, but will not necessarily replace company life."

Ben-Nun understands that further adaptation will be required in the future: "All substitutes cannot meet all social needs, and some social needs will have to be out of work. The employee now has much more free time, he saves about two hours a day of travel. "In the end, we will all have to make a lifestyle change."

"We were expecting a catastrophe. Yariv Ben - Nun

Assuming we go for an unclear format of work even in 2021, what is the expectation in terms of success for next year?

Turgeman understands that any planning that is too far away will not help.

"The program we implemented in the first place has, of course, undergone countless changes and updates. The realization that nothing is in our control has forced us to show managerial flexibility and quick thinking in other channels of sales and service. I was glad we were defined as an essential business. First and foremost, a significant vital business in public health. "Our customers. It is possible to plan, but the reality will certainly be different, so if we succeed in being more flexible, faster. The managerial view is not necessarily about planning, but about building the organizational DNA that is appropriate for such challenges."

"There is no doubt that the new challenge landscape is one that is constantly changing," adds Aviv, "and in such a situation we are required to develop a different way of thinking and be attentive to the field and quick to respond than before. "And the agents and think together about solutions that will provide a quick and professional response. We are working to expand the knowledge of the representatives to handle several types of inquiries on the one hand, and on the other hand to simplify the process itself."

The pace of change is too fast.

decoration

"If there is one thing I learned during this period," Noy concludes, "it is that the pace of change is too fast to predict, situations and guidelines change at a rapid pace and we are required to make quick changes in action. At the same time, we arrive smart, experienced for any new situation. , 2021, for all its challenges, will be a year of success for the network. "

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