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loyallogic · 5 years ago

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How these 9 companies are innovatively tackling the COVID crisis

This article is written by Suman Chatterjee Team LawSikho.

Peter Drucker once said, “Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”

And we are seeing why innovation is so crucial for any business and how it works, live in action, in today’s market scenario.

For many companies, the road that was once crystal clear is now covered with the COVID-19 fog, without any apparent expiry period.

Needless to say, it has forced companies to pivot their business strategy and rethink how they offer products and services more suitable for the current situation.

In today’s article, we are going to cover a few of such companies who have successfully used the COVID crisis to their advantage, or at least, has taken it in their stride and dealing with it as efficiently and effectively as they could.

#1. Lyft

A ridesharing service before COVID.

A grocery delivery service after COVID.

The San Francisco-based Lyft recently announced the launch of Essential Deliveries, a program aimed at servicing the “essential” needs of healthcare, government and non-profits organizations. Essentials can be anything that you need every day, from groceries and meals to cleaning and medical supplies.

When nobody comes out of their home, Lyft knows what it has to do: cater to them where they are instead.

#2. Turmswear

If you haven’t heard about Turmswear, I have to say that you are not really updated with the men’s fashion world. Turmswear has been making waves in the men’s fashion industry for some time.

With its unique “smart” fabric that is stain repellant and anti-odour, coupled with 4-way stretch and wicking properties, Turmswear has brought in a revolution when it comes to what we wear.

But post the COVID crisis, who is really so keen on buying men’s clothes anymore, right? Even the delivery services are stopped. So, Turmswear made the best of the situation at hand. It created masks that provide bacterial filtration efficiency as high as 91 per cent (compared to 95% BFE of an N95 mask) and is triple-layered. Anti-microbial, easy to breathe through and biodegradable, these masks are selling for merely nine rupees.

What’s the takeaway? When people aren’t keen to cover their body, help them cover their face instead.

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#3. The Rapids

This is an excerpt from their website:

“We know from experience, some challenges are best tackled with gusto and bags of energy, and some opportunities need quick, uninterrupted thinking to capitalise on them.”

That’s what they are doing during this crisis period.

The Rapids originally run 10-day long field trips to help business executives collaborate better, seize opportunities and ride the “rapids” more effectively and efficiently.

The problem now is that field trips don’t really go well with the social distancing concept. What’s the solution? Of course, remote field trips!

When the whole world is going virtual, why would The Rapids be slow to adapt to the change? When you ride a rapid, you don’t stop. You pivot instead.

#4. 1Rebel

When you run a fitness club and suddenly, your clients are ordered by the state to stop visiting gyms and fitness centres anymore, what do you do?

You shake the hands of the state and donate your gym space to the National Health Service to do with it as they like. Kapow! When you can’t oppose the change, go with it instead.

London-based 1Rebel’s co-founder and CEO, James Belfour, said, “We don’t know exactly how the NHS might use our studios, and obviously this is a situation that’s evolving by the day, so we felt the best route was to share details of what’s available with an open offer to the NHS to use whatever it would like.”

The seven gym studios, as they gauge, can provide enough space to shelter 300-400 hospital beds. There are also changing facilities, showers and areas for IT facilities.

#5. Netflix Party

Missing the Friday movie nights? Sharing popcorn with your friends and cutting jokes in between dialogues? Me too.

Unfortunately, I don’t know when this ordeal is going to be over. Neither does Dave Temkin, VP of Networks at Netflix, who said in a webinar: “One of the things I’ve told my team is that I don’t look at this as a race or even a power walk. We really don’t know how long we’re going to be in this mode for.”

So what did Netflix come up with? A way to “party” while behind your mobile screens.

Netflix launched Netflix Party, a Chrome extension that lets you get together without actually getting together. The extension synchronizes the video for all the viewers and lets them chat together.

Click Above

While this feature might look interesting for young viewers, this has been targeted for the older generation who feel rather isolated and alone. During this lockdown, even a bit of fun and frolic together matters a lot.

Netflix knew it, obviously.

(Well, on second thought, you can’t share the popcorn though.)

#6. ChargedUp

The largest phone charging network in Europe suddenly faced a crisis like never before. Nobody is there to charge their phones from portable power banks anymore. The charged-up coronavirus dealt the hardest blow it could, and ChargedUp went belly up, at least in terms of utility, in a matter of days.

However, ChargedUp was so charged up that it just won’t give up.

It made the coronavirus its friend and started giving out hand sanitizers instead. With the help of its charging partners, it turned its free-standing phone charging stations into hand sanitising dispensers,

Supermarkets; train stations; pharmacies; food outlets; essential shops and shopping centres; and hospitals.

ChargedUp decided to launch the CleanedUp project and can produce over 1000+ a month if needed and supply enough Alcohol and Non-Alcohol sanitiser to keep each station full.

CEO Hugo Tilmouth said, “With the majority of our usual network of pubs, clubs, cafes and shopping centres closing down due to the COVID-19 crisis, we wanted to find a way to use our skills, our resources and our network to help during what is a tough period for everyone. We have a strong creative team, so we put our heads together – virtually, not physically! – and CleanedUp was born. We really hope it can help both workers and customers stay safe now and in the future.”

Hats off to you, Hugo.

#7. Spiffy

If I can’t wash your car, I will wash everything else instead.

That’s what Spiffy thought when faced with the COVID crisis.

Founded in 2014, Spiffy married Uber’s on-demand concept with a particular service that almost every car owner needs: car detailing and washing. Once a wash is booked through its website or app, the team of trained specialists visits the spot, place the car on their proprietary mat and get the job done.

“Amazing, but what if I don’t use car these days? I am locked inside my home.”

No worries, Spiffy recently rolled out a service to sanitize properties and facilities, the need of the hour.

What an idea, sir ji!

When the whole world is looking forward to getting sanitized, Spiffy finds to use its facilities to provide the same.

#8. Lubbdubb

Mandi Bateman and her co-founder David Schreck started LubbDubb, a Bay Area-based booking platform for fitness instructors, in 2017. It lets yoga, dance or Bootcamp instructors connect with potential clients and take classes outside the usual studio system. The aim was to build a platform whereby lesser-known service instructors would be able to enhance their popularity and increase their market reach.

But what if it was not possible for anyone to go out of their house to attend any class anymore?

Lubbdubb was flexible enough to launch online classes taught via Zoom. “I was like, ‘OK, we’ve got to get these instructors paid–that’s the mission here,” Bateman says. Result? Out of 130 instructors, 68 have begun teaching online. Now, everyone is happy.

Only because Bateman and her co-founder did not stop what they were doing. They simply changed the way they did it.

#9. LawSikho

You already know what we used to do, and you also know what we are doing now.

We knew that our aim is to empower lawyers, legal professionals and law students build a successful law career in their preferred industry or niche.

And we are sticking to our motto today also.

We are running daily webinars.

We are building upon our content repository.

We are regularly connecting with top industry experts and academicians.

We are creating WhatsApp communities for instant reach.

We are even trying to reach beyond geographical boundaries.

We are using this time to step back, strategize and fill out the gaps finally.

COVID-19 did not stop us at LawSikho. It made us progress faster and more efficiently instead.

So, you saw how nine businesses around the world are tackling the COVID crisis innovatively and moving forward, not backward.

What about you?

If you are a lawyer, what are you doing about your legal practice?

If you are a legal professional, what are you doing for enhancement of your career prospects?

If you are a law student, how are you readying yourself for the time to come?

Waiting to hear back from you.

To your success.

P. S. LawSikho is running hour-long webinars every day. Want to learn how to improve your learning skills? Prepare an LLM application to a foreign university? Career opportunities in new, upcoming areas of law? Don’t miss these high-quality webinars with industry and academic experts.

Comment below stating “I want to watch webinars!” and we will personally send you the link to the webinar group on WhatsApp. From then onwards, you will receive instant webinar notifications on your mobile phone only.

LawSikho has created a telegram group for exchanging legal knowledge, referrals and various opportunities. You can click on this link and join:

https://t.me/joinchat/J_0YrBa4IBSHdpuTfQO_sA

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vsplusonline · 5 years ago

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Countering Covid-19: Centre and states marshal their resources for a quick and effective response

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/countering-covid-19-centre-and-states-marshal-their-resources-for-a-quick-and-effective-response/

Countering Covid-19: Centre and states marshal their resources for a quick and effective response

How well an administration reacts to a health emergency may not entirely be clear from the website of its health department. But in Kerala’s case, it is an accurate reflection of the state’s deft handling of the novel coronavirus disease, or Covid-19.

The homepage of Kerala’s health portal is rich with information related to coronavirus, including daily district-wise data on how many people are under observation. There is a detailed list of risk factors for fliers — including where they sat and where an infected person did — and information on the discharge criteria for those who have come from various countries. The state has set up as many as 18 teams — including for surveillance and for ambulance management — in the state coronavirus control room.

Kerala is a welcome anomaly in an otherwise inadequate public-healthcare system in India. The state earned plaudits for the manner in which it tackled the Nipah virus outbreak in 2018. So Kerala’s response to Covid-19 is hardly surprising. The first three Covid-19 cases in India were reported in Kerala in January-February, but they were all cured. There have been no more cases in the state.

As concerns over the spread of Covid-19 grow stronger across the country, even other states and the Centre are throwing their weight behind containing it. There have been 34 confirmed cases, including 16 Italian tourists, in India so far but no deaths. On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of the situation and the steps taken by the government.

The Union government on February 3 set up a group of ministers (GoM) to monitor the situation. Led by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, the GoM — which also consists of the external affairs and civil aviation ministers, and junior ministers of health, home and shipping — has met five times till now. Besides the ministries, agencies such as the National Centre for Disease Control and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority are also part of the government’s efforts.

A wall at a government hospital in Kolkata displays COVID-19 helpline number. State governments have deployed resources from multiple departments to disseminate information regarding the virus.

“Even though the WHO (World Health Organization) has not declared Covid-19 a pandemic, it has asked countries to remain prepared. India initiated the required preparedness and action at the field level on January 17, much before the advice from the WHO,” says Vardhan.

Exports of critical items such as personal protective equipment and N95 masks have been restricted to ensure their availability in India.

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba has held 15 review meetings with various ministries since January 27. On March 6, the health ministry and the WHO organised a training session that was attended by 280 health officials from all states and from the hospitals of the railways, defence and paramilitary forces. Video conferences are also being held with states every other day, both to train officials and to take stock of the situation.

Health Secretary Preeti Sudan has deputed more than 10 joint secretaries to assess the preparedness of states and Union territories. But state officials do not want meetings to be counter-productive. “During a crisis like this, you cannot allow meetings to take up a lot of your time. That is why we combine meetings and interact mostly on WhatsApp groups and conference calls on the move,” says K Kolandaswamy, director of public health in Tamil Nadu.

The Covid-19 outbreak began in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province in December and has since spread to 88 countries and territories. There have been over 98,000 confirmed cases — 82% of that in China alone — and 3,380 deaths, with over 3,000 just in China, according to the WHO. Believed to have been transmitted from bats through other animals to humans, the virus spreads when a person comes in contact with small droplets from an infected person’s nose or mouth and then touches her own eyes, nose or mouth.

That is why polio-awareness workers in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, have been wearing masks and maintaining a distance of 1.5 metres while making enquiries at homes throughout Agra, a favourite among local and foreign tourists. The exercise is being carried out to reach all those who possibly had contact with an infected person. More than 50,000 houses have already been surveyed, says Mukesh Vats, Agra’s chief medical officer. “We decided to deploy polio abhiyan workers as they are aware of their localities.” A man who tested positive for Covid-19 had travelled to Agra to meet his relatives. They have all been quarantined.

In Rajasthan, a rapid action team has been set up to trace those who came in contact with Italian tourists in Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Udaipur and Bikaner, according to state health minister Raghu Sharma. Italy has become Europe’s coronavirus hotspot. Besides the health department, other arms of the government are being drafted into the fight against Covid-19. Sachin Pilot, deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, says, “All departments in the state, including local bodies, are taking precautions to stop its spread. For example, my own department — the rural development — has been engaged in making villagers aware of the dos and don’ts of the disease.”

Medical staff wear protective masks at an isolation ward at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Medical Sciences in Ahmedabad.

However, relying just on government hospitals would not be enough if the number of infected people was to multiply. And that is why states such as Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are turning to private or trust-owned hospitals to meet the shortfall in capacity. Telangana has announced that it has the option of using as isolation wards the 40,000 two-bedroom houses it plans to hand over to poor families, in addition to the 3,000 beds it has set aside in five public hospitals.

India has quickly increased the number of labs that can test samples for Covid-19, from 15 a few days ago to 51 now, with Pune’s National Institute of Virology being the nodal lab. As of March 6, over 4,000 samples had been tested in India, according to the health ministry. India has also ramped up monitoring at all airports, and almost 8 lakh fliers have been screened. On March 4, the government announced that passengers from all nations would be checked for the virus. But questions have been raised about the credentials of the health team at the Guwahati airport as the health officer, Parthajyoti Gogoi, is not a doctor.

Guwahati provides a crucial link to the Northeast and it also has some international flights. It emerged on March 6 that Bhutan’s first Covid-19 case — a 76-year-old US tourist — had a week-long cruise on the Brahmaputra before he travelled to Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital.

Not just fliers but people who enter the country through land borders are also being checked for Covid-19. Uttar Pradesh alone has six border points with Nepal. As of March 5, more than 11.5 lakh people had been screened at border checkposts. About 4,000 meetings of village councils have been held to sensitise those living along the borders. Neighbouring states are also in constant touch with each other, given the frequent movement of people between them, says Kolandaswamy. Tamil Nadu shares a border with Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. Sarita RL, Kerala’s director of health services, did not respond to requests for comment.

The railways has also been roped in to augment the government’s efforts to disseminate tips on precaution. With 6,600 active stations across India, the railways is the largest public announcement network in India, explains VK Yadav, chairman of the Railway Board. Isolation wards are being created at each of the 84 railway hospitals.

While state governments might have suppressed information during a public-health crisis in the past, they cannot afford to do so now. The absence of verified communication gives space for rumours circulated on social media to grow.

Fortunately, politics has not come in the way of states working with the Centre or with each other on tackling the coronavirus infection. But that is small comfort in a country with just eight doctors per 10,000 people, compared with 18 in China. India has only nine beds per 10,000 people, while China has 38. ¡§Be prepared for the worst. While only a fraction would get sick if it spreads in a community, the absolute number of persons who need care would be large,¡¨ says Rajeev Sadanandan, a former Kerala bureaucrat who played a key role in handling the Nipah crisis.

India might not have the capacity to handle an outbreak of the scale China has seen. So its best bet is to prevent such an outcome.

With inputs from Shantanu Nandan Sharma, CR Sukumar & Teena Thacker [email protected]

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