State of Play has published new research on how COVID-19 is impacting the resources industry and, among other things, it found that 100 per cent of the 109 global respondents surveyed have now taken measures to protect themselves from the pandemic.
What is remarkable is the speed with which sentiment changes and the virus’ ramifications for the rest of the industry.
The crisis is real – it is having a tangible and growing impact on the industry with 50 per cent of the industry reporting a strong effect on their business, compared to just 15 per cent the week before. Sadly, the number of respondents reporting being out of business has also increased to 4 per cent, up from 1 per cent last week.
Business and operating models
Not surprisingly, the data outlines that the impact of COVID-19 is mostly felt in an overall loss of revenue (73 per cent).
Cashflow is the primary concern for many businesses, especially services businesses and suppliers.
However, the impact to business models is also telling. As tangible restrictions on travel, movement and interactions are enforced, existing business and operating models are under strain. Whether this will encourage longer-term shifts in services models even as cashflow concerns abate will be a crucial element of the post-pandemic services landscape.
To a great extent, the increased level of disruption in week 2 of State of Play’s survey is driven by the increased structural measures taken by the resources industry in response to the crisis. The data outlines that structural long-term shifts have been increasingly adopted, such as travel restrictions (90 per cent), full remote work (63 per cent) and cancelling external meetings (73 per cent).
A week ago, manyy worksites were looking at partial remote work, which has now fallen from 43 per cent to 20 per cent, as businesses increasingly shift to total remote work where possible.
The relative reduction of initial response mechanisms such as crisis team mobilisation (36 per cent to 23 per cent) and communication of site policy (63 per cent to 53 per cent) demonstrates the pace with which businesses are responding with more structural rather than procedural actions in response to the crisis.
Industry transformation
Due to the impact to business models highlighted above, it should not come as a surprise that virtual service models are ranked as the most likely structural shift after the dust settles on the COVID-19 pandemic. Already a shift enabled by the increasing sophistication of digital technology, the current crisis is likely to catalyse innovation in this area.
State of Play is now launching its week 3 survey, with some different questions and some that remain constant to track change over time. It is also calling for new respondents and as well as people who have completed the survey previously.
*Above images credit: State of Play.