Bugaboo, AXA PPP Healthcare and ENGIE Pave the Way to Stabilize, Reopen Safely and Return to Growth

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed monumental challenges for businesses across every industry, with many forced to re-imagine how they do business in a new digital, work-from-anywhere world. Dutch design company Bugaboo, one of the leading UK’s medical insurance providers AXA PPP healthcare, and French electric utility company ENGIE have each shown what it means to be resilient in times of uncertainty. Strong leadership, the right technology and the capability to adapt quickly has enabled each organization to navigate a distinct phase in their respective response to the crisis and come out stronger.

Stabilizing in time of change

When the UK government took the unprecedented decision to take over all private hospital provision in response to the pandemic, AXA PPP healthcare needed to move quickly to ensure its members were still able to access the health support and advice they needed. The team worked at speed to offer new, complimentary services, including a new Clinical Support Centre to enable members to reach specialist consultants from the comfort of their living rooms.

Tracy Garrad, Chief Executive Officer at AXA PPP healthcare, said: “Despite having already defined a significant programme of investment to increase our digital capability, the pandemic changed everything seemingly overnight. Using a range of digital tools, we’ve been able to empower employees to work remotely, head off new business challenges and help our members to access the right experts at the right time. We’re setting ourselves up for success in a way that’s more sustainable and offers greater flexibility to customers as well as our employees.”

Reopening and recovery

Like many organizations, lockdowns across the globe forced ENGINE to close its physical workspaces and ask employees to work from home. With Salesforce Work.com, a set of solutions and resources to help businesses and communities to reopen and recover safely, ENGIE is implementing responsible procedures to help employees to return to work. In addition, ENGIE is also helping employees to reskill, utilising the myTrailhead online learning platform to create custom integrated training programs.

Yves le Gélard, Executive Vice President CDO & Group CIO, ENGIE said: “As lockdown came into force, it quickly became clear that the world of work was going to change. Being in a position to provide the right learning and development opportunities through myTrailhead was going to be essential for both our business and employees. With Work.com we’ve been able to make informed decisions, take practical steps that prioritise safety, and upskill our people. We believe that if you take good care of your employees, they will take good care of your customers.”

Returning to growth

By embracing ecommerce Bugaboo managed to grow their business during what was a difficult financial quarter for many other companies, and are putting in place the relevant digital infrastructure to prepare for potential periods of disruption in future. Using Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Bugaboo was able to pivot quickly to replace its whole retail and wholesale operation with ecommerce. In the context of lockdowns and social distancing, the company has been able to replicate its key in-store experiences with online substitutes and keep up with demand.

Adriaan Thierry, Chief Executive Officer, Bugaboo, said: “Many of our products are purchases that parents make only once, so sharing as much relevant information as possible with customers is critical. With Salesforce Commerce Cloud, we’ve been able to update our communications, online merchandising and landing pages faster than ever. Recognizing the value that these technologies bring in helping us to cater to the needs of every consumer, we’re adopting additional Salesforce products, like Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud, to transform how we do business, digitally.”