INSIGHTs & INTUITION

In what ways has the coronavirus made you rethink business strategies? What policies and programs have you adopted, or are considering to adopt, in order for your business to remain viable in light of current challenges?

We have put heavy emphasis on innovation for years. The recent COVID-19 situation requires us to continue to innovate our processes and challenges us to solve problems in a new way. Our decision to close our physical offices and serve clients remotely forces us to refine processes and improve project management. We expect to have new ideas for how we serve our clients once we’re through this.

Our firm has embraced a flexible work place and culture. We are confident we are well prepared to serve clients from anywhere. Our footprint at Eide Bailly covers 14 states and because our people often specialize in various industries and specialty services, there is a lot of teamwork and collaboration between geographic offices. This requires the use of collaborative tools like Teams, Zoom, and Skype. The current interruption may lead to an increase in the utilization of these tools that may benefit us in the long term.

Our ability to work from anywhere is something our workforce perceives as a benefit and it allows us to be more responsive to clients. We understand the importance of building relationships with clients, and that is best done in face-to-face meetings, but in the situations where that is not possible, we are confident we can serve our clients and work collaboratively as a team.

COVID-19 has impacted almost every area of our operations at the North Dakota Department of Commerce. We have teamed up with other state agencies and community partners to collaborate and disseminate valuable resources for businesses and communities. We have also re-assigned staff throughout the department to best serve the state’s business needs.

The travel and tourism industry has been the first and most impacted industry. With travel restrictions, restaurants and public gathering spaces closed and hundreds of events and conferences canceled, the impact will be huge.

We are working with our tourism network throughout the state, hosting weekly calls, posting daily website updates and positioning North Dakota to be the destination of choice once it is safe to travel. We are continuing to counsel travelers and sending out materials. We are also reviewing our marketing and media plans weekly, adjusting creative messaging, channels and timing to assure that once the health threat is behind us, visitors will know that North Dakota’s wide-open spaces are the perfect place for a safe and affordable vacation. One of the new themes we introduced this year, “follow your curiosity, not the crowds,” should be even more impactful in light of this pandemic.