COVID 19 spirit of resourcefulness

In these days of isolation and social distancing, we all need some positive thoughts and actions.  In a series of blogs over the next few weeks Insider Pro will suggest ideas for new ways of working and planning for the future. 

Language is ever evolving – it’s only a few years since things “went viral” on the internet.  Now things have gone viral in a very different sense and we need to adapt and be creative about how we deal with the challenges. 

Being agile, flexible and open-minded is so critical but resilience, confidence and positive thinking will help drive the necessary changes.

Not easy in uncertain times. 

And imagine if we did not have the technology to help us – no way of connecting with people, no way to learn, to entertain or support others.  So, let’s put the resources we do have to good use and spread the positive news. 

Let’s help each other and let’s make it contagious. 

Just in the last week, some examples we have been dealing with in our world or have heard about through our many connections with suppliers and clients, include:

• A Bristol hospital was running out of a specific connector pipe for their ventilators. There was a huge response from Precision Engineering companies, from organisations including schools and universities with 3D printers, from plumbers, vets and even from the garden aquarium sector!  Airbus also offered their help.  See Metal Hardware's post on Facebook 27th March 2020
• A company in Sussex has been 3D printing the components for visors and then using volunteers to assemble and deliver to London NHS trusts. They ramped up to a significant volume on only a few days - see #projectopenair
• In Shrewsbury, Drapers Hall restaurant has set up a new not for profit online ready meal service to support the local community, especially key workers and vulnerable groups.
• On a larger scale, Deliveroo has teamed up with M&S essentials and BP to deliver to the door.
• Sanitiser was developed by in-house chemists quickly at Pai skincare in West London, manufactured for the first time and distributed to local organisations.
• BrewDog and many gin distilleries such as Verdant Spirits in Dundee, have also quickly diversified to make sanitiser. According to the Guardian newspaper, HMRC has been prioritising applications from manufacturers to enable them to produce denatured alcohol, a type of spirit not for human consumption and exempt from excise duty. 
• In France, even LVMH perfume and cosmetic factories (whose production lines are more used to the smell of perfumes by Dior) are making sanitiser. Just 72 hours after the French government called for firms to help produce medical supplies for their health workers, bottles were rolling off the production lines, with a plan to donate 12 tonnes of sanitiser to French hospitals. 

We are seeing extraordinary activity in extraordinary times and there should be a sense of optimism. 

The UK has a huge number of resourceful, innovative and entrepreneurial minds and they are rising to the challenges that the new world will bring.

At Insider Pro, we are working with CEOs and CFOs to review their options, to help them prepare for a new future and remain relevant. 

All businesses want to achieve their potential, to succeed at whatever they want to do but it might require change and change is hard. 

Using a broader, diverse team to do the thinking, accessing a wider range of skills and experience makes sense at this time. 

We are all in it together.