The State of Growth Survey 2021: Business Leaders Are Optimistic and Eye Expansion Plans

NetSuite’s State of Growth report shows that many businesses managed to find success last year; an astounding 78% of organisations met or exceeded growth targets, down just four points from last year’s Unlocking Growth report.

Individuals, businesses and the rest of society are starting to look towards the future. Our survey of 2,000 business executives shows that future growth will be dependent on a range of factors, including how they overcome continuing challenges and threats, how they deal with new workplace and workforce evolution and how they improve their relationship with data.

The good news: A majority feel they could adjust appropriately to market changes, and more than half are confident in their company’s abilities to react accordingly. Central to the confidence of high-performing businesses is the ability to make good decisions, backed by data and armed with the right business intelligence tools, working environment and planning.

Growth Challenges

Respondents from across Europe and the Middle East were asked to rate a series of threats to their business, with 0 equating to no threat and 10 to extremely high threat.

Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 remains the number one external challenge to our participants. Just under a quarter rated COVID-19 between 8 and 10, with businesses expecting ongoing disruption even as vaccination programmes continue.

Other areas which scored between 8 and 10 include new competitors disrupting markets (20%) and government regulations and tax reform (21%).

Internal threats include underspending on R&D, uncertainty around cash flow and not having the necessary business data, which is particularly concerning as more organisations now see themselves as data-driven, highlighting the need for adequate business data.

Is ‘Remote’ Working?

While vaccines slowly pave the way for a return to the office, there are mixed views on where employees should spend the majority of their time.

There has been a small shift towards more remote working in the future. Fifty percent of employees expect to work remotely more than half the time post-pandemic, compared to 41% that already did so prior to the pandemic.

More than half of the respondents feel that remote working has had no real impact on their organisation, but those who cited issues said they missed face-to-face collaboration, not having the opportunity to solve problems through quick conversations and generally missing being around others.

This is particularly the case for older employees who miss the office more than younger colleagues. In terms of what they miss the most about being in the office/workplace with their colleagues, the over 55s missed office socials (30%), ‘watercooler’ chats (35%) and face to face collaboration (43%) more than their 18–34-year-old colleagues (25%, 22% and 31%, respectively).

However, collaboration does not seem to be holding businesses back - just 15% perceive it to be a high to extremely high internal threat, with 20% classing it as having low to no threat. More than half of respondents feel that remote working has not impacted their company’s ability to collaborate, problem solve or be creative, whether positively or negatively.

Data, Data, Data (P.S. Data)

A third of the business leaders we surveyed said their decision making has become more data driven over the past year, so the importance of using data appropriately is clearly felt when it comes to planning next steps.

The information employees get is useful – 80% said it is either always or sometimes meaningful – but while data is clearly seen as extremely important, it’s also becoming overwhelming; nearly three quarters of employees feel overwhelmed, at least sometimes, by the amount of data they receive.

The fact that they are feeling overwhelmed with the amount of data they are receiving highlights that businesses need to address how it is distributed, managed and received. There are some fundamental changes that can be made to overcome these challenges. Knowing where you’re going is key to understand how to get there.

Organisations need to understand what metrics are key to fuelling growth and understand what pushes those metrics in a positive way.

This information must be accessible, so organisations need to present the data in a meaningful way to ensure everyone understands the priorities, how they can impact the numbers, and why it’s a priority. User customised dashboards offer a clear view into specific, customisable business information and tasks which simplifies new employee onboarding processes. The result? Happier workers, less wasted time, fewer missed tasks and higher engagement from the workforce.

How Can Organisations Overcome Challenges to Improve the State of Growth in 2021?

COVID-19 still poses a threat and businesses are not clear of the current crisis yet.

But clearly many have worked out how to thrive, with 78% meeting or exceeding growth targets. So how should they build on what has worked?

As the return to the office stretches on, the future of work is likely to be a mix of in-office and remote, with greater flexibility in working hours. Businesses have spent the last year working out the best tools to facilitate remote teamwork. With the world slowly opening up, they will now be able to supplement those solutions with the likes of on-site collaboration and lunch meetings.

Businesses are becoming more data driven and organisations have a unique opportunity to harness the engagement of workforces that are confident in their ability to adapt to changing realities. However, the decisions they make need to lead to growth – and that means having accurate data, that is easily accessible, to inform planning and strategy.

Businesses need to identify what has and hasn’t worked during this challenging time and decide what business processes they want to continue in future.

To do this, we recommend businesses ask themselves these questions:

1. Do you have a solid grip on your organisation’s cash flow situation? Do you have procedures in place should disaster strike again?
2. Have you continued to model scenarios through last year to present? How solid is the data that is feeding those outlooks, and especially the upside and downside risks to the plan?
3. Have you conducted a deep analysis of your particular market and its place in the economic recovery? And are you in a position to grab at least your share of growth?
4. What is the risk appetite of the organisation? Are you in a position to seize more than your share of the boom when markets and economies open up?

Contact us now to see how NetSuite can help you can reach your growth targets.