The Green Sheet Online Edition
July 14, 2025 • 25:07:01
Lessons from COVID-19 can apply today
With today's swirl of trade shifts, tariffs, political uncertainty and recession fears, some unexpected forces are shaping business strategy. However, amid the disruption, I remain cautiously optimistic. We've faced similar challenges only five years ago—and not only endured, but used the opportunity to rethink and future-proof operations.
Recent conversations with sector experts, consultants and business leaders reinforce this view: with lessons from the past and today's digital infrastructure, we're better equipped than ever to respond with agility and resilience.
Consider COVID-19. Initially viewed as a monumental shock, it brought the world to a halt. Yet businesses reacted with speed and innovation. While today's pressures—tariffs, supply chain strains, inflation and shifting global dynamics—differ in origin, the response can be the same. And once again, this may be opportunity in disguise.
A crisis playbook
Why? Because during COVID, urgency drove unprecedented digital acceleration. In October 2020, McKinsey & Co. estimated three to four years of progress had occurred in just six months.
That same sense of urgency can serve us well in 2025. Tariffs might spark the change, but the bigger opportunity is to rethink how we operate, go to market with more bespoke offerings, and strengthen buyer relationships through consistent, experience-led loyalty.
When the pandemic hit, I was leading the digital transformation team at Forrester Research. To support our clients, my team met with leaders across sectors—from airlines to manufacturing to retail—to understand what made top performers stand out. Three traits consistently emerged: adaptability, creativity and resilience.
These findings, paired with insights into buyer-seller loyalty (see bit.ly/40dbcyf), led my colleagues and me to a new framework focused on four characteristics critical for B2B sellers in today's market environment. Those are to be trusted, adaptive, intelligent and localized. As we look to cope with new stresses, these tactics continue to be crucial.
T is for trusted relationships
Whether today or five years ago, trust remains the bedrock of B2B commerce. At an April 2025 Crossroads FinTech salon that brought together leaders in payments and digital transformation, trust emerged as a defining theme. One global payments executive noted, "Trust takes years to build, but seconds to break," while an ecommerce leader from a major electronics brand remarked, "Trust scales far better than features."
In a survey my team conducted before the event of 300 B2B buyers across the United States and UK, 90 percent cited trust as the most important factor in supplier selection, rating it above all other factors, including price and payment terms. Loyalty was also strongest among buyers who were offered their preferred payment methods (see bit.ly/44MAHYL).
In short, businesses must show up now, and they need to be the trusted adviser and partner who says, "We see your costs rising, and we're here to help."
A is for adaptive infrastructure
Think back to how businesses pivoted during the 2020 to 2022 global health crisis, and even during earlier events like SARS. Airlines repurposed passenger routes for cargo, retailers transformed storefronts into distribution hubs, and warehouses served as vaccination and treatment centers.
These shifts happened because leaders prioritized flexibility over rigidity. CEOs called for adaptable infrastructure that empowered experimentation under pressure. With rising tariff and trade uncertainties, companies would be wise to embrace that same agile mindset once more.
Organizations that can rapidly adapt to new pricing, extend trade credit and streamline settlement are best positioned to gain market share. In another study, McKinsey found that improving order-to-cash workflows can deliver up to $6 in return for every $1 invested, making this a prime focus for both consultants and ROI-driven leaders.
I is for intelligent decision-making
AI itself isn't new, but tools like ChatGPT have made it far easier to leverage for everyday work like understanding customer needs, personalizing offers, and modeling risk and market scenarios. New multimedia tools like Google NotebookLM and ElevenLabs, and specialized AI assistants now provide unmatched capabilities to create new tailored experiences and drive customer engagement. Make sure to take advantage of them.
To tackle today's challenges, businesses need to apply AI with urgency and precision, mapping buyer journeys, identifying friction points like pricing or sourcing shifts, and acting quickly.
This approach is especially vital in embedded finance, where smooth, flexible and transparent payment solutions are no longer optional. Companies that fail to deliver risk losing customers. As one payments expert recently told me, "If you're not at the AI table, you're on the menu."
L is for localized operations
Early in the pandemic, businesses saw the risks of single-region sourcing. Recently, a Gartner survey found that 51 percent of global supply chain leaders believe they could regionalize at least 25 percent of their supply chain within a year if necessary (see bit.ly/4kwg48Q). This signals that similar shifts may be imminent and highlights growing agility within supply chains that companies can leverage.
However, the real insight is that localization goes beyond cost savings or faster delivery; it's about building trust through proximity. Near-shoring and supplier diversification not only mitigate geopolitical risks but also enhance responsiveness. Organizations adopting these strategies now, as they did during COVID, will be better positioned to succeed amid future disruptions.
Moreover, the psychological benefit of being seen as genuinely "local" should not be underestimated. Buyers naturally trust suppliers who are nearby or culturally aligned, whether through shared language or common brand values. This closeness can create a strong competitive advantage for those who act wisely.
Meet the new crisis
The current tariff landscape may seem unpredictable, but we already know how to respond: by prioritizing personal relationships, staying operationally agile, leveraging intelligent tools and staying closer to where our customers do business.
Though the trade winds may feel stormy now, we've weathered similar challenges before. By revisiting and building on the lessons from five years ago, I'm confident we'll adapt and likely come out of this crisis both wiser and stronger than before.
Allen Bonde is the chief marketing office at platform leader TreviPay. He leads TreviPay's global marketing team and is responsible for the company's community, content, demand and product marketing functions. Prior to joining TreviPay, he was CMO at Synthesio, an Ipsos company and before then was vice president and research director for Forrester's digital transformation practice. A recognized thought leader on topics ranging from AI to ecommerce, Allen has been featured in more than 150 publications worldwide and has delivered keynote talks on four continents. Contact him via LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/allenbonde.
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