It’s hard to believe that we are at the end of yet another year. December is a time of deep reflection for many of us, an opportunity to review where we’ve been and what we’ve done while looking ahead to the new year and all that we hope to achieve.
I think it’s fair to say that the past two years have been trying. Individuals, families, and businesses have adapted to a new normal ushered in by the coronavirus. Many of the changes the pandemic wrought have been difficult, but I’ve been impressed with people’s ability to rise to the occasion, embrace new opportunities, and, often, exceed expectations.
This certainly holds true for Vision Net. As I take stock of the past year, I’m struck by the continued dedication, hard work, and excellence demonstrated by our employees. In our now 26-year-history, the operational and financial performance has never been greater at Vision Net. I am incredibly proud of this achievement. Underpinning this extraordinary success is a strong company culture of teamwork, self-reliance, and mutual respect. The Vision Net culture manifests itself across our high-functioning teams where tenacity and agility are encouraged and supported.
Agility—or more pointedly, the ability and willingness to pivot—has proven time and again critical to our success. A few years ago, we made the hard decision to exit two long-time business lines. Both had been central to our business model for decades. It would have been easy to stay the path, but the world—and the needs of businesses operating within it—was changing. To remain relevant—and quite frankly, solvent—we had to pivot away from what had become a low-margin business to higher demand and higher-margin products.
These were not easy decisions, but they were the right decisions for the longevity of our business. I take great pride in our employees’ willingness and ability to move swiftly to capitalize on these market changes while avoiding the self-defeating argument: “But we’ve always done things this way.” If I’ve learned one thing from the past two years, it’s that the status quo is never assured.
Looking ahead to 2022, I see changes on the near horizon brought about by the pandemic. More than ever, our clients are seeking simplicity. One example of this is the positive feedback on the Vision Net invoicing system that provides one easy-to-understand page rather than pages and pages of complex terminology. We want to make life easier for our clients however we can. And while this may seem like a funny thing to single out, I think it captures the sentiments of many: after two highly demanding years, the simpler, the better. For me, this is a bellwether of a growing demand for ease of use across all touchpoints.
As the pandemic continues to impact us, constantly shifting how and what we perceive to be our new normal, I think this idea of simplicity has tremendous value. Let’s make things easier for our clients, not harder. Let’s take some stress off their plates however we can. Baking it into the Vision Net experience—both for customers and our teams—is the goal that will guide us into the new year.
