Since last week, all Aexus employees have started working from home to help contain the pandemic. More than ever before, the current situation makes me realize that the world has truly become a global village and we’re all in this together.
At Aexus, we are helping tech and software companies to become successful in Europe. We provide complete commercial support, consisting of market entry consulting, inbound / digital marketing services and both direct and indirect sales. This means we spend a lot of time in calls, meetings and video sessions. Fortunately, we can make use of a wide array of collaboration and (video) communciation / conferencing tools, so we can continue these activities without interruption.
The new situation has provided us with some interesting new insights as well.
First of all, we are amazed by the flexibility of our suppliers, partners and clients. We are sensing a broad consensus to get through this together, which makes people very accessible. Without hesitation, meetings are changed into online sessions and dates for new brainstorming or knowledge transfer sessions are quickly confirmed.
Also, since events are canceled and internal meetings are skipped, we are finding that the people we are working with (typically executives in large enterprises) can give their undivided attention to new innovative ideas / concepts, including the solutions / technologies that were developed by some of our partners.
Another side-effect is that the amount of time that is saved on travelling will not only have a positive effect on CO2 emissions, but allows us to spend time on more strategic work with / for our partners as well. We are considering new marketing strategies, examining alterative business models and – because we have more time at hand – the actual time we spend doing reach-outs and speaking to people is increasing.
Let’s not forget that this situation is temporary. In a while from now, things will be back to normal. But I am sure we will continue to benefit from the lessons learned in these unprecedented times.