Today, Next CEO, Lord Wolfson said ‘people don’t buy a new outfit to stay at home’. In previous times that would be true, but today we are in very strange times. In strange times we see strange solutions that will come to the fore and those strange solutions will become the new industry standards.

Why isn’t Lord Wolfson saying ‘let’s make the UK the most glamorous nation to work from home’. The old saying of ‘if you look good, you feel good’ has never been more relevant. All the fashionistas and influencers are still posting daily on Instagram and this surely is a missed opportunity for Next. Don’t say we are going to fail, say how can we be a Mutable Business™ and react to the change. I regard Monaco as the most glamorous nation in the world, why not challenge that during our working from home revolution and create the #Nextglamorousnation

To ensure long term survival, now is the time for organisations such as Next to remove fixed costs from their business. Going towards the Utopia of having a business model that can never lose money. A model where the organisation’s cost base is directly linked to its sales revenue. A variable cost model directly linked to revenue is one part of the magic sauce that businesses of the future need.

Another major ingredient is the people. Next, no doubt has a Technology and Digital Architecture Model, but without a Resource Architecture Model alongside it, the effectiveness is nullified.

What would a Resource Architecture model do for Next? It would allow them to reduce people costs when revenue reduces. However, those same people would be deployed elsewhere.

Earnings per share companies and Social Enterprise need to work hand in hand in this new world, and Digital Anthropology exists only to provide employment and security to people, while reinvesting the profits generated into local communities. People will need fresh employment solutions to replace the outdated recruitment models that currently exist, and multi-portfolio working for social enterprises that exist solely for the people and their communities will become the norm.

If you are a business and you will be making people redundant, please reach out to Digital Anthropology. We can provide solutions for you to transfer those people to us and rent back what you need, when you need it, thereby moving that cost to a variable linked to revenue.