Pandemic Response in Government: Cutting Costs and Delivering Savings

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in major uncertainty for executives serving the government and public sector. In a recent article for Forbes, authors Ian McPherson and Bill Zizic explore how these leaders will need to respond in order to keep their agencies afloat amid the uncertainty.

“Leaders of government at state, county and city levels, as well as institutional leaders in the higher education and non-profit sector, need new perspectives and analytical tools to accelerate their time-to-results given this new reality,” explain the authors. The article explores strategies in two main areas: cutting costs and delivering benefits and savings.

Containing Costs – Leaders need to take decisive action to contain costs in order to maintain operations and mitigate both the short- and long-term damage of the pandemic. The authors offer recommendations for cutting costs in many categories, including staffing, purchasing, processes, projects, assets, balances, and performance. They emphasize the importance of employing a rapid approach in this area, explaining that they “believe a critical opportunity is present to catalyze and sustain an innovation agenda that has now met its moment of necessity.”

Delivering Benefits and Savings – “Pressure to deliver for your constituents, consumers, clients and students will only increase amid revenue and cost constraints,” write McPherson and Zizic. Their recommendation is that executive leaders turn to specialized tools for diagnosing their situation, developing solutions, and designing strategies for achieving benefits and savings in spite of the challenges presented by the pandemic.

For more details, click here to read the article in full at Forbes.