Entrepreneurship

Strategy in COVID-19: Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste

Nour Al-Hassan, CEO and Founder of Tarjama, shares her experience and insights on how business leaders can reshape their strategy to maintain and boost growth in times of crisis.

A crisis presents business leaders with the opportunity to look at their business through a completely new lens. As we’re busy and caught up with our day-to-day work, a crisis comes and interrupts the way we operate, forcing us to completely rethink how we do business. Companies need to spot the problems when they seem small, learn from them, and build preventive measures rapidly.

The economic impact of the novel coronavirus disease outbreak has been unprecedented. In less than 6 months, nearly 9 million people—who are spread out across more than 200 countries—have tested positive for COVID-19. The financial effect of such a highly contagious infection is even more far-reaching among companies who failed to anticipate or adapt to the necessary, mandatory social distancing guidelines implemented to lower the severity and scale of the pandemic.

The pandemic can be a true eye-opener, exposing challenges we previously were not aware of in the midst of our undisturbed operations. The main purpose of a business strategy is to guide companies towards sustainable sources of growth and profit. Analyzing your business from the fresh perspective that COVID-19 has brought is crucial to making use of this strategy and adapting your business to the new ‘normal’.

1. Get to Know your Organization Better in Crisis

With the past few months of global self-isolation, we’ve been stuck behind screens virtually talking to people across our organizations. With physical barriers often leading to misalignment, it is vital that you get invested in the details of your teams across all departments. Understanding the different processes and how they work together will help you identify flaws and blind spots. The science of surviving the COVID-19 pandemic is figuring out your business’ worst-case scenario. And in order to do that, you need to have an in-depth understanding of your company’s end-to-end supply chain. You need to have a willingness to expose weaknesses and flexibility to render traditional strengths irrelevant.

Which processes can be optimized? What technologies can you integrate into your workflow to empower your employees? What government funding opportunities can your business leverage? And how can your company satisfy ever-changing market demands and stakeholder expectations? Instead of closing operations, for example, many restaurants have opted for home deliveries in the face of mandatory nationwide lockdowns.

2.Embrace the Cultural and Behavioral Shifts that COVID-19 has Brought

Organizations have a valuable opportunity to capitalize on the significant behavioral and cultural shifts of the past few months. This period is a chance for business leaders to explore how they can make greater use of technology to augment (not replace) people. The goal is to use technology to increase productivity gains, improve the working lives of our employees, deliver better products and services to our customers, and help drive higher economic growth.

At Tarjama, we have intentionally moved towards a more tech-powered model during COVID-19 – where our core approach is to enhance our production processes with robust technologies and talented people to deliver faster, better, and more affordable results.

The move towards digitization and cloud computing has accelerated rapidly during the pandemic, with many businesses rethinking how to integrate greater virtualization into more aspects of the business. COVID-19 has transformed behaviors of both customers and employees across all industries, globally. Customers’ attitudes, behavior, and purchasing habits have changed drastically with the pandemic where we’ve witnessed more people embracing ecommerce and buying local products. Organizational agility and supply chain resilience is crucial to adopt in this ever-changing business ecosystem.

3.Fat-Cutting your Way to Business Optimization

Amid crisis, the challenge is to find a balance between flexibility and decision-making. You need to remain flexible, but also make certain choices and commit to them in the face of uncertainty. Now that you have developed deep insights about your employees and organization, the next step is to position your brand and keep operations up and running using the least amount of effort and financial resources.

You don’t need office cleaners and a lot of stationery if everyone is working remotely, you can redirect those investments to other critical ventures like Zoom or other workflow and operations tools. As you get to know your employees better, ask your accountants and finance experts about other sources of waste, and cut back accordingly.

COVID-19 economic impacts have laid bare the inefficiencies of some of the most popular working arrangements. If you get to know your employees more during this pandemic, you’ll discover that some of them enjoy working remotely. They don’t have to waste more than 40 hours every month participating in unproductive meetings. Or spend at least 50 hours a year in traffic jams. Especially when a highly productive, engaging remote work culture could do just fine. Find out what tools are popular among your employees and keep valuable virtual office tips and guidelines in mind when coming up with new collaboration conditions.

Bringing it all together;

From getting to know your organization, teams, and customers to fat-cutting, there are multiple strategies that your company can implement to increase positive outcomes despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Being agile and flexible enough in response to the changing demands that come with a crisis can help your business soar to a whole new era of success.

How Tarjama Thrived Through 2020: Insights from our CEO

2020 has been a challenging and unpredictable year for all of us, not only as businesses but as individual human beings. In December 2019 when the outbreak of the Coronavirus hit Wuhan in China, the magnitude and severity of its impacts on our day-to-day lives as well as on our companies was unpredictable. Even now, as it continues to rage throughout the globe, it forces us as leaders of industry to constantly reevaluate our priorities in the management of our businesses. At Tarjama, we took 2020 as a chance for reinvention and growth. Amidst the darkness of the pandemic, our business continued to shine, racking up coveted accolades and recognition in our field, recruiting new talent into our fold while also remaining profitable. This isn’t to say that it wasn’t difficult, quite the contrary. Now as 2021 kicks off, it is worthwhile to share how we managed to overcome the long and tedious battle that was 2020. In the face of adversity, we didn’t just survive- we thrived. We approached the pandemic with open minds, viewing it not only as a challenge but as an inflection point in our journey towards unparalleled levels of success. Here are some of the key lessons we learned here at Tarjama: 1. Be open to challenging everything If there’s one thing that we’re taking away from this year is that nothing is set in stone. The pandemic has shown us that situations change, and plans can come tumbling down in the blink of an eye. Although we already knew that running a successful business requires agility, COVID-19 truly put that notion to the test. When it broke out and the implications of its spread dawned on us, we had to go back to the drawing board and re-strategize to find our footing in the “new normal”. The future of the workplace is moving towards agile working. We’re witnessing a lot of companies challenging the conventional way business operates. For example, Careem recently adopted a permanent work-from-home model for its entire workforce to accommodate to the future of work. At Tarjama, we were also quick to respond – adapting our entire workforce across several locations to working remotely. For our management team, this meant that we had to hold several meetings a week to align, assess, and re-adjust accordingly. The mark of a successful business is its ability to adapt to its changing environment. 2. The time to invest in technology is now. A successful business must be centered around smart and meaningful work. Companies that are investing in technology and automation are able to allow their employees to spend their time on more meaningful work. Surely automation will take some jobs away, but it will also create new jobs that never existed before. A report by the World Economic Forum published in October 2020 expects that automation will eliminate 85 million jobs by 2025, but will also create 97 million new jobs, meaning an overall growth of 12 million jobs. At Tarjama, we took the decision to heavily invest in further developing our technology portfolio in 2020 (Machine Translation, T-Portal, CleverSo TMS, and more). How we saw it is that automation and machines are here to help us produce results that are faster with higher quality and fewer errors. If you hadn’t already invested in digital tools for your business, the pandemic may have forced you to do so on short notice. Consider that a step in the right direction because remote work and automation are the future of business. As you and your employees get used to working digitally, you will enjoy faster turnaround time for tasks, increased output, and lowered costs in the long run. 3. Stay close to your team and products. One of the most challenging aspects of being a CEO of a company is juggling the needs of clients, investors and employees simultaneously, while also supervising the development of new products and services. The key here is to stay close to your team and pay attention to their feedback and concerns while adapting accordingly. Without our team’s input and dedication, we wouldn’t have experienced as much growth throughout the past few years. In response to COVID-19, we have been encouraging open vertical communication that allows us to stay on top of the issues that affect them in their line of duty. We also advocate for open discussion on mental health and wellness in the workplace to foster a conducive and progressive work environment. Our supervisors also worked closely with their teams to ensure that our product delivery remained topnotch throughout the year. As a growing business, we take a hands-on approach to honing and perfecting the products we offer to our consumers. 4. Empower your team to reskill. The future of the workforce is around reskilling. According to a report by McKinsey, 30-40% of workers in developed countries will need to significantly upgrade their skillset and/or change occupations due to everchanging technology and competitiveness by 2030. The “Employee of the Future” will need to be equipped with high emotional intelligence, creative skills, cognitive abilities – in addition to technical skills. For instance, at Tarjama, our Machine Translation technology allows us to produce instant initial translations for our clients, while we leave the creative elements to our human translators who are given the chance to spend time on more skillful, creative work. Utilizing technology has opened doors for our translators and linguists to learn new languages and acquire new skills such as copywriting and design. 5. Quantify your risks. Running a business is already difficult enough without the fear of a life-threatening pandemic looming over your head. It is a delicate balancing act that requires a deep knowledge of the industry and informed decision making. Now that COVID-19 significantly upped the ante when it comes to investment decisions, it became imperative to assess all risks – no matter how seemingly minor. Prioritizing the development of our cloud-based technologies helped us transition smoothly. Our linguists continued working using TMS, which

January 21, 2021

How to Drive Sales Pitches That Close Deals Post-Pandemic

With the global economy facing the threat of unprecedented recession due to COVID-19, businesses across all industries are currently affected, and your business is no exception. Now may not feel like the opportune moment to get your business idea or sales campaign off the ground. But if COVID-19 has taught us one thing, it is that being proactive, relentless, and self-sufficient in business is more important now than ever. How well you adapt your sales process will determine your business’s sustainable growth and profit during such a volatile time. Our four-step plan to pitching will ensure that you are pitching the right services to the correct customers. And that you are putting your time and effort into securing deals that will close, building a lasting relationship between you and your customer/investor base. Businesses are inundated with sales calls and communication every day and there are many ways that a pitch can go wrong in 2020. But with some basic research and practice, you can make sure you stand out from the crowd when pitching to your client. By following the steps below, you will ensure your pitch is well-researched, thoroughly practiced, timely, and perfectly executed to close the deal of your dreams. 1. Pitch in the right places. Investors, clients, and customers may be tightening their purse strings and cutting budgets in response to the financial implications of COVID-19. Therefore, it is important to ensure that you’re prioritizing pitching to targeted audiences for whom your product or services will really make a difference. 90% of closing a deal comes from knowing where to start and the most important aspect of any sales pitch is pitching it to the right people, at the right time. Ever tried selling an umbrella in a desert? Of course not! We know that would be a waste of your time and resources, and the same goes for pitching post-COVID-19. Do your research and find out what clients/investors are spending their money on and where they are making cuts – if any. Doing your research before pitching may seem like a lot of work but it could save you time in the long run by ensuring you are reaching the people who need to hear your message. Researching can take many forms, some accessible options can include viewing your client’s social media to see what resources they are already using, establishing how you can offer something new to the table. To delve further, you can research useful statistics for the company’s spending in the past, if you’re dealing with a publicly traded company. Get your hands on their annual financial audits and analyze how much their budget has been spent on the product/service you want to sell; thereby ensuring that you’re coming in prepared with a reason as to why they need your product/services. 2. Practice makes perfect. Like most skills in life, the more we practice the more we see results from our efforts. While it may feel silly speaking to yourself in the mirror, writing out your pitch and practicing it not only makes you more comfortable with your delivery but it also allows you to focus more on your client’s reactions, than on your own nerves. With the way the world is changing after COVID-19, video pitching and conference calls will be even more present than before so nailing your pitching technique can be all it takes to secure a deal. By practicing your pitch and paying attention to the details, you can refine what you have to say, making sure you get straight to the point of what you have to offer. In the post-COVID age, pitching is about reacting to your client’s reactions. Making sure you have a good internet connection for virtual pitching not only shows your professionalism but allows you to focus on reading how your client responds at different points throughout your pitch. Practice using virtual software from different locations in your building to make sure you establish the best spot for a connection. The last thing you need is your feed going down mid-pitch. When all the small things come together, a great pitch can happen. 3. Change up your pitching style to reflect the time. Now that various social distancing measures are in place around the world and the idea of a confined ‘elevator pitch’ is a thing of the past, it’s a great time to utilize innovative and diverse technology to reach clients and customers in new, dynamic ways. As much of the world remains in lockdown, pitching has been forced to take a new form. With the traditional face-to-face sales pitch more likely taking place over video or email we must adjust to meet the needs of lock- downed and quarantined clients across the globe. Never underestimate the power of building connections with your client via email and other direct messaging methods. The easier it is for your client to access your information the more likely they are to take the time to listen to what you have to say. Digital pitching allows you to send your deck or presentation to your client before your pitch, so make sure it’s packed with relevant information and that when you pitch, you’re not just repeating what your presentation said. Digital pitching means clients may take more time to study your presentation than before, so focus as much effort as you can to craft a presentation tailored to their specific needs that will ignite interest before you even begin to talk. As mentioned before, practice makes perfect and pitching over video calls will require a different technique than you may have previously used in sales. This means it’s worth recording yourself pitching to ensure that you are making the most of facial expressions and eye contact, meaning you can secure engagement through visual prompts and gestures. 4. Close with confidence. Closing may seem like the most nerve-racking, scary, and even overwhelming part of any sales pitch, but in a post-COVID-19 world, this does not have to

August 5, 2020

Killer Copywriting Hacks to Kickstart a Winning Blog

Inbound marketing is a new age marketing method used to attract potential customers to products and services through targeted online content that is catered specifically to their needs and interests. Unlike outbound marketing – such as TV, radio, or print ads – in bound marketing promotes products through creating awareness and adding value, which makes blogging one of the main forms of inbound marketing. Regarded as part of a business’s content marketing strategy, a blog is part of the website where articles of relevance to the business are published. Depending on the marketing content strategy, blogs can be entertaining, informative, engaging, or a combination of them. In the age of digital marketing, strong online presence is pivotal for business success. To that end, blogging is necessary to instill a positive brand image and spread brand awareness. What Makes Blogging Such a Strong Marketing Tool? 1. Stand out as a field expert Consistent blogging reflects your commitment to your community. But frequency without proper content planning isn’t enough. It is imperative that you study your competitors as well as your prospects and build a content plan that is aligned to the market interests and needs. The more insightful the content you publish, the more it reflects your field expertise. If prospects find answers to their questions on your website, they are more likely turn to your product or service to meet their needs. This goes a long way in helping you gain the trust of your customers. 2. Attract more traffic A well written blog post is not only informative, it helps your website rank higher on search engines. Your brand visibility increases as the number of unique and recurring visitors increases. It also increases through the proper use of SEO keywords. Having the right traffic on your website is an excellent chance to subtly promote your products and services. At the end of your blog post, you should include a call to action that entices them to go from readers to customers. 3. Generate demand Before launching a product, your blog can serve as a platform through which you build anticipation for your new release. You can give details of what the product does and why your customers should invest in it. Apple, for example, has built its business model around this approach. Before the release of any of their new products, promotional events are held to announce the upcoming release and educate the audience on its new and upgraded features. 4. Add value to your community Blogging improves your customers’ user experience by addressing their concerns head on. Including a tab for FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on your blog enables your users to get easy access to difficulties that may arise during their experience. Ensuring a smoother experience for more customers can easily attract more prospects to your business. What are the Different Types of Blogs? What are the Best Strategies that Guarantee a Successful Blog? What are the Factors that Determine the Right Strategy for You? How to Choose Between In-house and Outsourced Writers? Building and executing a successful content plan is a lot of work and commitment and requires a dedicated team. But not all companies have the capacity to hire a full-fledged full-time content team. In this case, you may have to outsource the needed talents as you go. Here are four options for you to consider when assigning writing projects: Starting a blog is easy but starting a competitive and successful blog requires hard work and determination. Attracting and maintaining an audience for your blog will need you to be original, informative and consistent in publishing fresh content. If the process is too complex, let us help you. Contact our team of expert industry-specific linguists and shrug off any concerns about building and maintaining your blog.

June 4, 2020

Businesses’ Survival Kit in Light of COVID-19 Outbreak

In December 2019, a novel virus, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), took the world by storm, permeating China and spreading across the globe. By March 22, the World Health Organization had reported 294,110 confirmed cases and 12,944 death across 186 countries1. Under the global state of emergency prompted by the outbreak, in addition to complete lockdown in some of the affected areas, the economic fragility of many co-dependent industries that rely on the free market supply and demand was exposed. However, in each crisis there’s always a silver lining that guides our way through the obscurity of darkness. Amid today’s crisis which forces many people into quarantine, stripping down their activities to the bare minimum, this thread of economic hope is the technological strides that allow many systems and industries to fully function remotely. While no one knows for sure what the world, the economic situation, or social life will be like on the other side of this pandemic, two primary goals dominate businesses’ priorities: keeping employees safe and safeguarding the business from fatal collapse. But how bad has the global economy been hit by the outbreak? The Economic Repercussions of the Novel Coronavirus In a highly global and interconnected economy, crises can result in a domino effect that touches every industry on the grid. While the severity of damage differs from one crisis to the other, and from one industry to the other, here’s how the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted industries so far: Tourism In the absence of a vaccine or treatment, curbing the spread of COVID-19 became a personal responsibility that manifests in self quarantine, social distancing, and forgoing any unnecessary travel. As the pandemic spread further, precautions turned into official decrees that restrict travel, close off borders, and shut down airports for at least two weeks starting mid-March. Although there aren’t any clear figures that capture the magnitude of loss with the travel and tourism industry, it is anticipated that the industry, which accounts for 10% of the global GDP, will witness a 25% shrink in 2020. Other expected repercussions include downsizing the global tourism employment by 12% to 14%, which means that up to 50 million could lose their jobs in travel and tourism sector2. Oil and Gas The need for fuel has reduced with the limitations on air travel and encouraged quarantine, resulting in a severe crash in crude oil prices that went down by 21%3. As the prices plummeted so did the shares prices, leading to the largest market surplus the oil industry has ever seen. Stock Markets As country by country discovered its first case of the disease, the initial response was the panic selling of stocks which caused a crash in the stock market worldwide. Panic-trading has, since the outbreak, caused the market-wide circuit-breakers -which put trading on hold for 15 minutes in hopes of the market calming down- were triggered four time in March alone4. As disruptive as this frenzy has been for many companies and industries, many have been encouraged to invest while the shares are “on-sale”5 while more heads are turning towards investing in biotech companies – especially those who are known to be developing COVID-19 vaccines6. E-commerce Online shopping reduces person-to-person interaction and hence is in line with the urge for social distancing. This might come in handy for everyday locally produced groceries but goods that require overseas shipment from major factories have stopped overnight. The macroeconomic industry has suffered instantly due to an immediate cut off in production activities, movement of goods, and ultimately, the overall supply chain. Healthy Stakeholders are Key to Strong Businesses It’s crucial for businesses to start crunching all the numbers, calculating how far their current resources will take them and what contingency plan they’ll deploy if worse comes to worst. And one primary resource without which no business can make do are the talents whose effort and intellect are at the heart of any entity’s success and growth. In order to minimize the chances of contracting the novel coronavirus, companies have applied several alterations to their internal as well as external dynamics. Internal Measures: When governments and authorities urged citizens to commit to social distancing, businesses complied by drastically reducing the number of physical meetings, conferences, and forums, as well as cancelling business trips. As the situation worsened, companies and businesses that have the capacity to operate remotely started asking their staff to work from home, minimizing their need for commute or mingling with any crowds within or without the working space. In the case where businesses couldn’t instantly allow all or any of their staff to work from home, health precautions were enforced in the form of providing face masks, gloves, and hand sanitizers. Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus by droplets released from an infected person’s mouth or nose which could eventually land on any surface like a workstation, doorknob, water faucet, or any of the zillion objects which we come in contact with daily, a thorough disinfection routine is critical for employees who can’t work from home. In either case, whether staff have fully, partially, or not at all started working remotely, keeping employees informed and aware plays a huge part in the collective action we take against the novel coronavirus outbreak. Through hanging posters or circulating memos, companies are now constantly promoting proper hygiene routine and information such as WHO approved hand washing techniques. Businesses that still require employees to work on ground also ensure that all employees are regularly screened for any COVID-19 symptoms. External Measures: In times of crisis, the role businesses play in weathering the storm surpasses their responsibility towards their staff and extends to their community as well. In light the of COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are changing the way they address their audiences through marketing communication to prioritize precaution and safety over personal benefit. With the capacity to reach a wide and diverse audience, businesses play a huge role in spreading and instilling awareness about the disease and how to slow down

March 30, 2020

Strategy in COVID-19: Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste

1. Get to Know your Organization Better in Crisis

2.Embrace the Cultural and Behavioral Shifts that COVID-19 has Brought

3.Fat-Cutting your Way to Business Optimization

Similar articles

How Tarjama Thrived Through 2020: Insights from our CEO

How to Drive Sales Pitches That Close Deals Post-Pandemic

Killer Copywriting Hacks to Kickstart a Winning Blog

Businesses’ Survival Kit in Light of COVID-19 Outbreak

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Strategy in COVID-19: Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste

1. Get to Know your Organization Better in Crisis

2.Embrace the Cultural and Behavioral Shifts that COVID-19 has Brought

3.Fat-Cutting your Way to Business Optimization

Similar articles

About us

Our Technology

Contact us

Help center

Company

Capabilities

Products

We offer innovative language solutions to connect global markets.

We offer innovative language  
solutions to connect global markets.