Lockdown Lessons: Keep an eye on the future, adapt and evolve: Sandeep Komaravelly

India is just emerging out of an over two-month long lockdown – a period that has changed our lives, behaviours and the way we conduct business forever. The lessons that we have learnt during the lockdown period and our experiences during the year so far, will help us navigate a world that we had never imagined. It has been a trying time for many of us, with everyone working from home and having to adapt to a new way of working and living. Adgully’s latest endeavour – Lockdown Lessons – is an attempt to present the key learnings that India’s business honchos have learnt and imbibed, and which can help the industry navigate the new normal better.

Also read: Lockdown Lessons: “Optimise what you have, don’t take anything for granted”

In this interaction with Adgully, Sandeep Komaravelly, Director of International Growth, Shopify, speaks about the ways in which business operations as well has his personal life has undergone changes due to the COVID-19 impact. These are the valuable lessons that he has learnt during the lockdown period.

What are key lessons you learnt as a professional during the lockdown period?

The lockdown period has been a learning for all of us. One of the key takeaways has been that as leaders, we need to be thinking about the future all the time, be it 6 to 12 months down the line, as much as we think about the present. This will help us evaluate and plan for situations as they evolve. Keeping an eye on the future helps us to be prepared for various scenarios as they evolve.

However, for the inevitable changes we must be flexible enough to adapt and evolve. Thriving on change is an important value that we at Shopify imbibe on. One of the ways we thrive on change is by collaborating with the strong ecosystem of partners that help us identify quick solutions to come to these situations and adapt better.

Please share some key takeaways in terms of life lessons during this period.

No one could have predicted the impact that a single virus could have on cities, countries and economies. While we slowly adapt to the new way of life, there are a number of lessons that we must keep in mind. The lockdown period has given us time to sit back and appreciate everything that we usually took for granted in the past – small and big. Be it social gatherings or taking a vacation with family & friends, the lockdown has made me think about how much more of this I want to do when the pandemic ends. It has also made me focus on some personal projects that I had postponed for long. 

How did you manage and achieve a work-life balance while working from home?

Even before the lockdown, remote working was something we, at Shopify, were well accustomed to. Post COVID-19, working from home has become the norm. At Shopify, we have offered allowances for everyone to set up a comfortable home-office. From my personal experience, managing my calendar better has become more important than before. As work can easily overflow into any time available, I have been putting hard ‘start & stop’ time for work. I plan my day carefully in advance, making sure I have clearly marked time for meetings, operational tasks, and time to focus or brainstorm with my teams, and taking timely breaks as well. Dedicating a fixed physical space at home to work has helped me create a better separation between home and work, and that has improved my productivity as well. 

It has been more than two months since the lockdown was enforced. How are you gearing up for back to business mode?

Our mission is to make commerce better for everyone. Since commerce is moving online today faster than ever before, our focus is to help businesses survive and adapt by setting up their businesses online. In order to find solutions, we have created solutions for merchants looking to set up and grow their online business. Shopify, through our partner network, is extending attractive offers from partners across categories that merchants can avail and save through partner credits. Over Rs 1 Lakh in partner credits can be saved with our carefully-curated offers from industry-leading technology, solution, and service partners such as Razorpay, PayTM, Shiprocket, Adyogi, and Delhivery, to name a few. 

We have also been hosting multiple webinar sessions that our merchants from across the world can attend and learn from other merchants.

Any lessons in financial management that you picked up during the lockdown period?

Hardship often arrives when you least expect and hence, it is important to always be prepared in advance. The lockdown period has taught me to never take future income for granted, avoid unnecessary expenses as much as possible and always plan for emergencies. Most of all, the lockdown has taught me that simple things such as home-cooked meals, board games, spending time with family and reading a book are as rewarding as some of the elaborate things we plan for,  and that, for me, is a key learning as well.