A new era of business has been ushered in, and companies will have to start changing their approach if they are to capitalise on the opportunities that are being created and thrive in the “new normal”, says multinational professional services firm Accenture Africa CEO Vukani Mngxati.

The hallmarks of the new reality taking shape are complexity, uncertainty and opportunities, as the Covid-19-related restrictions dramatically reshaped economies worldwide, changed consumer behaviour and shifted economic value.

“The rules have changed. Employee and customer behaviours have changed, but this creates new opportunities for businesses with the courage and foresight to change more than what immediate needs demand,” he says.

“What the Covid-19 pandemic has done, in effect, is to take a narrative which was probably going to be realised in five to ten years, and forced companies to realise it right now,” he tells Engineering News & Mining Weekly.

Accenture, which has experienced its own major shifts as it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in a year full of uncertainty, has evolved its strategies to adapt to changing business landscapes over the past five decades.

“The world witnessed Black Monday in the 1980s, the stock market bubble – dot.com bubble – in technology companies in the late 1990s, [and the] Great Recession in 2008, which many suggest today was ‘a dry run’ for the Covid-19 upheaval.”

All these changes have shaped global economies, and the way in which businesses operate in Africa.

For Accenture, an organisation that has always been about business transformation, this means a strong focus on digital transformation going forward.

A renewed focus for company strategies going forward will be investments in e-commerce, data, cloud and supply chain processes, as businesses are increasingly shifting from brick-and-mortar establishments to digital platforms.

“The change is forcing us, as companies and business leaders, to think very carefully about how we engage. The manner in which corporate firms are operating is changing significantly,” Mngxati comments.

He points to the prevalence of available data on – and to – consumers, the power of social media, and the abilities of rapidly evolving computing power, amid significantly changing consumer behaviour, which is increasingly requiring a shift in how businesses think about their strategies.

With the availability of data, the increased awareness of who consumers are and what their buying habits are is driving much activity in commercial behaviour, he says.

Consumer research conducted by Accenture shows the extent to which consumer habits have changed, with the habits formed during the various lockdowns likely to “permanently change values, attitudes and behaviour”.

“The dramatic rise in the adoption of e-commerce and omnichannel services, which has been evident since the start of our research, sees no sign of abating,” the company highlights, noting that the latest data suggests there will be an increase of 169% in e-commerce purchases from new or low-frequency users, post-outbreak.

Further, the vast majority of consumers who have increased their use of digital and omnichannel services, such as home delivery, kerbside pickup or shopping through social media platforms, expect to sustain these activities into the future.

Further research also points to these new consumer behaviours shifting more than $3-trillion in economic value worldwide, as the ripple effects reshape industries and their ecosystems.

The report, titled ‘The Big Value Shift’, found that more than $2-trillion of yearly value may shift away from industries such as restaurants, traditional retail and commercial real estate as consumers spend much of their leisure time at home, while up to $318-billion of yearly value will flow to different industries and ecosystems if the current declines in air travel persist into the longer term.

In addition, changes in spending may cause a net decline of up to $687-billion in yearly value across consumer-facing industries.

“Companies must be ready — with responsive business models, technology-enabled operating models that are agile, and a growth mindset rooted in data and advanced analytics — to uncover new value and better meet customer demands as this wave of change approaches their industry,” Accenture strategy global lead Kathleen O’Reilly said in the report.

Companies that are able to reinvent themselves, including their processes, customer experiences and employee and social contracts, in ways that further their purpose will stay ahead of the curve, Mngxati says.

Businesses are increasingly using cloud and platforms that support analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and greater automation to drive digital experiences that help their operations to gain insights and become more intelligent.

“We, as a firm, had to think much faster and differently how we focused on this agenda. Luckily for us, we have always been about digital transformation. “We just had to fast-track some of the implementation of programmes.”

Accenture continues to invest significantly – up to $3-billion – in cloud services to support the e-commerce market through skills development, partnerships and supporting the growth of major clients.

Another focus is AI-powered supply chains, using the power of intelligence to streamline smart supply chain solutions, as well as solutions to drive cost containment in a meaningful way for clients.

“We are investing a lot of money into our operations business. Those investment are paying off,” he points out.

Accenture has successfully grown its operations in South Africa, offering tailored global solutions to its clients.

“In this 50-year period, we have aimed to make a difference in South Africa by spearheading projects that drive business value and improve the lives of South Africans. We are driven by the core understanding that the more we invest in our continent, the more we drive business and add value beyond our bottom line,” Mngxati concludes.