At one point or another, most of us have had the sinking feeling of suddenly falling behind because of that big, important project that we simply never got around to.
For many organizations, that realization came in a big way during the pandemic. Though they’d been able to keep pace with their peers while the economy was relatively stable, the past year’s onslaught of changes has left them in a reactive position and caused them to fall further behind.
There are companies out there, though, who specialize in helping such organizations get back on track and ensure that they’re better-positioned to deal with whatever lies ahead.
In recent weeks, VSA has had the opportunity to aid several such companies. Here are two great examples of what we’ve been up to:
Connecting Disparate Teams
Large manufacturers and logistics companies monitor everything—from the rate of production to the productivity of employees to their ability to fulfill large orders on time. Attaining this birds-eye view of the business traditionally required managers and supervisors to have access to a centralized database and, in some cases, the actual equipment on the shop floor.
The pandemic, however, scattered these companies’ leadership teams into home offices, even as production continued. Now, not only are many of them producing less—they’re not even aware of how much less they’re producing.
In the winter, VSA began working with a new client who believed they could solve this issue. This client’s solution integrates all of a company’s sensors, monitors, and analytics tools onto a single dashboard that is accessible remotely. In other words, they connect their clients to the Internet of Things—an intensive undertaking that many had been sluggish to pursue before the pandemic.
Almost as soon as we began this program, VSA discovered that many of the manufacturers we reached were interested in speaking with our client. The pandemic had exacerbated their existing connectivity issues, and they were eager to sprint back towards business as usual. Months later, the program is still going strong.
Addressing Student Learning Loss
Many US elementary schools have struggled for decades to achieve targeted benchmarks for student achievement. One of the most important of these is literacy, which most states define as a percentage of students who are reading fluently by third grade.
As any parent could probably guess, the mass shift to online classes has resulted in many schools falling further behind. Lower-income kids in particular, who already faced significant challenges, often don’t have access to reliable internet or an adequate study environment at home. Both rural and urban school districts who serve these students are fighting an increasingly uphill battle, especially when they weren’t proactive about getting ahead of the curve to begin with.
VSA recently partnered with a client who offers a solution for such districts: a science-based approach that both addresses the root cause of the literacy problem and empowers teachers to help students more effectively both in-person and in online classrooms.
As this program gets off the ground, VSA is finding the lessons of the pandemic have truly lit a fire under many school administrators and superintendents—and their students stand to benefit most of all.
A year ago, it was all too easy to be complacent with business as usual. Even institutions who weren’t necessarily thriving were willing to put larger, more capital-intensive products on the back burner.
Oh, how times have changed.
Fortunately, business, civic, and organizational leaders are responding to the crisis by doubling down on much needed projects—and lead generation campaigns can play an important role in helping them recover ground quickly.
If your company is playing catch-up, VSA or one of our clients may be able to help you. If you want to help others play catch-up, we can definitely help you.
Just give us a call.
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