The new normals in a world where Covid-19 unfortunately is becoming a part of our life will bring about many changes in the way businesses will be conducted, and more importantly the way we live our life.
In a world post-lockdown where the rules of the game are set to change, every business no matter the industry has to re-look at their business and innovate at every step.
The nation-wide lockdown is slowly being lifted across orange and green zones and life is slowly crawling back to a new-normalcy. Businesses and brands are now are making their way back into the business; planning their communication plans for a new world post the covid-19 lockdown.
In this story of Medianews4u’s super successful brand series, Back to Business, we spoke to Mehernosh Pithawalla, Vice President, Godrej Security Solutions.
Read on…
How are you coping with the impact of Covid-19 on Godrej Security Solutions? How effectively have you used the lockdown period?
As an organization, the lockdown has given us time to transform our business and outlook towards the security market. The lockdown has also enabled Godrej Security Solutions to assess the need of the hour, the technology that will be needed going forward and how we can make a conducive environment for our customers to learn more about the growing importance of security – physical and health.
We have analyzed the growth opportunities by spotting native needs of sectors that have not adopted security solutions and systems yet. Additionally, as the nation will start to open business and trade, there are many sectors where there will be new needs of health security solutions and systems to monitor health and wellness of the workforce. This has helped us to expand into a new segment of Health Security.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the health security concerns have grown for both public and commercial spaces and the health security market is still a developing stage. The market is experiencing new breakthroughs everyday basis the needs of the customers and industry and is expected to grow further in the post COVID world.
The quest for a solution to a particular crisis helps invent new business opportunities and sometimes leads to a revision of existing business models … What sort of innovation has or will the Covid-19 pandemic bring to your Godrej Security Solutions?
The COVID pandemic has helped Godrej Security Solutions to dive deeper into the health security segment. While India had a surveillance system implemented at all public spaces, the pandemic highlighted a gap within the surveillance segment on how we can adopt new technologies that can help across industries. The pandemic has taught us the importance of a robust public surveillance system that would help us determine over-crowding and social distancing even with less police personnel.
GSS has been able to venture into the health security segment as it understood the unstated need of the market and the tools that will be required to be adopted by many industries post the lockdown. For business to revive and run smoothly, they will have to keep human intervention to a minimum. One innovation that we have introduced is turnstile with sanitizer dispenser and automated thermal scanning. We are also incorporating facial recognition and gesture controls in a lot of our devices to reduce touching of surfaces. A lot of these products will be in the market shortly.
While some parts of the country have become Covid-19 free, cities like Mumbai and Delhi are still in a lockdown situation. How are you planning to resume business across cities that are not in the Red?
Since cities like Mumbai and Delhi are still in a lockdown situation due to the rising cases – here we have shifted our services online for our customers. Queries related to products, installments as well as services now can be booked online through our website and the team will get in touch for the specific service required. We are also using videos and calls to troubleshoot and helping customers move to a ‘Do it Yourself’ habit of getting electronics and gadgets fixed. All this is being done remotely. Sales have also resumed online through e-commerce portals.
For institutional customers, they can contact us directly for a demonstration and sales of product. We have a dedicated team who can cater to their request. We are equipped to handle customers’ part of multi brand outlets. As far as the retail outlets are concerned, we are slowly and gradually opening our stores in the areas which have been designated as green zones as per the government guidelines. The stores have started to welcome customers with safety and hygiene checks in place. Also, we have started delivering our products through the brand’s e-commerce store to most areas keeping all government norms in mind and area sensitivity.
What will be your communication strategy post the opening of the lockdown? What will be the objective of the communication/marketing strategy?
As a brand, Godrej Security Solutions is very empathetic towards the current situation and going forward our focus will be to make more and more customers in both B2B and B2C space acquainted about the different security solutions that are now available in the market as per their necessities.
Our communication strategy has always been that our customers should feel #AbsolutelySafe while using our products at homes, offices and even at their commercial establishments. We will continue to use consumer insights to come up with innovations that customers can rely on for all their security needs. In the post COVID world, our aim will be to offer solutions that are relevant with the current times to help ensure safety, security and peace of mind.
How did you keep the morale of the employees during this lockdown period? On a personal note, what kept you positive?
With employees operating from their houses, it gives them the flexibility to manage home and work together. To make most of the lockdown period, our corporate team has proactively helped us with an exhaustive list of e-learning coursers, which we can take up and upskill ourselves. From interesting master classes of the well-known industry stalwarts, to short term courses to work efficiently, these courses have different learning opportunities for all during this lockdown. There are e-learning courses for everyone from the junior to the senior management. This is an interesting initiative to engage employees and help them to upskill and make use of their time more efficiently. Additionally, at the Godrej Group level, our internal network – Godrej Connect has been suggesting tips to stay productive while working. Employee health is also taken care of by regular emailers that provide tips on the right postures while working from home, productivity tips etc. are some of the really interesting tips that is helping us to stay physically fit and mentally sharp.
Personally, I believe that Learning should be an ongoing process and the lockdown has given us time to acquire a lot of skills. During this Lockdown, I have work on a few skills myself like Digital skills, managing people and work remotely.
5 Tips I want to share on Working from Home are as follows:
- Keep your motivation high
- Maintain a to do list
- Have regular breaks
- Listen to music
- Ensure a good internet connection
5 things he is doing differently to increase productivity, work-life balance and fitness:
- collaborating and motivating
- Wake up each day and prepare a to-do list. Plan and interact with the teams on Microsoft teams.
- Set a protocol for teams meetings.
- Have set two place at home for working. Ensured good wi-fi connectivity.
- Take regular breaks. Started WAT (Walk atHome) ritual.
- Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon Prime provide the required juice for entertainment
