Plan for resilience in the short, medium and long term, says Palo Alto Networks

Accept that some things are going to change and are going to change permanently. This was a key takeaway from a virtual event titled Resilient Leadership in Challenging Times, organised as part of the Trans-Tasman Business Circle Series.

“It's very easy to be very, very negative,” commented the Right Honourable Sir John Key, Director, Palo Alto Networks, as well as former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and former Leader of he New Zealand National Party of the COVID-19 situation that is affecting countries around the world.

“You're wondering if you are going to come out at the end of this.” He was optimistic, pointing out that the level of science and technology is better than it used to be during the Spanish flu pandemic and that there is an endgame – the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.

“The question is 'how do you make sure you survive over that period of that time'?”

Resilience planning

There should be short, medium and long-term scenario planning for resilience, he said, putting the timeframes at around four weeks, six months and 18 months respectively.

“Every business has to make decisions about what's unprofitable,” he said. “We're never going to operate like this forever, this is not sustainable.”

Corporate reputations are now at stake, he said, especially with the ubiquity of social media. “You can come out of this looking great or you can come of this looking rough,” he noted.

Doing what's right

An immediate response for businesses is in managing employee welfare, he said, sharing that Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, said in media to be one of the highest-paid US executives, has given his salary away during this crisis period.

“This is a great opportunity for us in operations to demonstrate that we do care about the people who turn up every day. We need to do the right thing by them,” he noted.

Looking after employees is key, Arora added. “In uncertain times people do their worst work.. they get anxious, they get distracted,” he said. “We can be the pillar, the anchor for them. It's the right thing to do.”

Companies like BP, where Sir John is a board member, have been giving free fuel to emergency services in many countries, Sir John added.

“That kind of thing gets noticed by a lot of people,” he said.

Remote working is trending

Arora said secure remote working is becoming the norm, with Palo Alto Networks setting up enabling infrastructure in 48 hours for customers. “We're all going to learn this new way of working, which is remote working.”

Sir John agreed, saying that more traditional companies which may be “resistant to using technology to the full extent” are discovering that online calls can be hugely productive. Such companies would have flown people to a specific destination for face-to-face meetings in the past.

“For some of these really traditional companies, we're not going to see a wholesale change, (but there is a lot that they) could be doing through Zoom calls...it's more efficient,” he said.

“We expect people won't be coming into the office five days a week any more,” Arora said. “Travel will cut down...I don't think I'm going to go on a plane long distance or long haul for the next nine months.”

That said, the current enforced work-from-home policies have made people more appreciative of workplaces. “People are realising that working from home isn't as exciting as working from offices,” he said.

Advice for businesses

In the short term, Arora suggested that businesses make sure employees have a secure way of being able to access applications and data. “Make sure you get a solution that is easy to deploy and maintain,” he said.

“Don't try to jerry-rig your way into this. Hackers have been hacking remote access for a long time.”

Features to look for include a reputable vendor, high reliability, and responsiveness, he advised.

In the longer term, businesses have to rearchitect themselves. They are used to high-bandwidth networks at the office, but homes lack the same high-speed connections.

“In the medium term, rethink your architecture. Go with a simple solution that solves the problem for you,” he suggested.

Decision-makers need to know that security is key, and should not be added after the fact. “The knowledge of executives goes up exponentially when you get breached,” he observed. “Please don't wait for that, that's not a good way to find the answer.

“Cybersecurity always feels like a cost, like insurance, unless you have an accident - then you are happy that you have insurance and you're protected. And I will say this, you will have an accident.

"Cybersecurity has gone from a hobby to a profession. We will all get hacked, I have been hacked multiple times personally despite being careful...just make sure you have the right insurance in place, just be proactive about it, because finding out the wrong way is expensive.”

After the lockdown

Sir John noted that economic growth will definitely be affected in the “very short term” as much has come to a stop, but was upbeat about the future. The key to his optimism is that the current pandemic has an endgame, a vaccine, he said.

“When we come out of the lockdown phase, do we get the confidence to invest? We have to accept that it'll take time for that confidence to return,” he said. “The goods news is that the banks are in much better shape than they have been.

“Job security, income security will be a big issue...two, three, four years down the road it'll come back...The reality is that the countries that go into this.. have more capacity to come out of this stronger.”

“Concentrate on how you actually cut the costs,” he advised, noting that all businesses have some degree of inefficiency.

“When you see the opportunities, don't be afraid of taking them.”

*A black swan event is one for which the outcomes are unpredictable.