Today we interviewed... Adrián Lozano, from NovaK Solutions Consulting (Vitoria)

Today we interviewed Adrián Lozano, responsible for the commercial area and business development of the consultancy NovaK Solutions from Vitoria. Adrián has a degree in Business Administration and Management and in Market Research and Techniques from the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) and Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) in Germany. Novak Solutions provides advanced digital services to SMEs and entrepreneurs in the form of advice, analytics, consulting and intermediation in tax, accounting, legal, labor, financial and technological matters.

During this health and economic crisis, what has been the biggest challenge you have faced in your office?

During this extraordinary crisis we have been forced to make an extra effort to maintain the level of service. From one day to the next, almost all of the firm's clients were in trouble and required individual solutions on how to manage a totally unexpected scenario. All this under immense legislative uncertainty, which underwent updates and modifications every day.

The biggest challenge for our office was, on the one hand, to provide adequate support to each client in their business reality, and on the other hand, to suddenly assume an immense workload of study and analysis, processing and management, communication, etc.

You have been a fundamental part of the pandemic due to the large number of benefits that you have had to manage. How did you digitally face this increase in work?  Do you consider the implementation of teleworking viable?

I consider that we have been a fundamental part not only at the beginning, but throughout the pandemic. It is worth remembering that the sector of professional offices and specifically consultancies and agencies, are the intermediaries between administrations and SMEs and the self-employed, with the importance that this role has had in a crisis like the one experienced.

The huge and sudden volume of telematic procedures posed a great challenge in two areas, on the one hand in terms of the digital support of the processing and on the other hand in the field of regulatory analysis that a new benefit entails. In our case, the first section did not require a great effort since we were adequately prepared for 100% digital management both in the section of the relationship with the client and in the section of our internal organization and intermediation with administrations and collaborators.

What was really complex was the regulatory analysis that this entire procedure entails as a previous step. In this section, the work of the mutual insurance companies was fundamental, and in the specific case of Fraternidad-Muprespa their support was excellent.

Of course, teleworking is one more work option that, when applied well, can have many benefits. In each business reality we must analyze whether or not it can be applied, in which positions and in what way.The hybrid formula is an interesting option, but in my opinion each company must analyze its options and use this tool as another option, assessing all its possible advantages such as making costs profitable, attracting talent, improving work-life balance, optimizing jobs, expanding the geographical area of personnel selection, etc...

I don't think there is a single valid formula for all companies, each one will have to analyze what benefit they can get from teleworking, an option that 10 years ago was unfeasible and that today is fully functional.

What were and are the main economic effects of the pandemic on your clients?

The economic effects have been very disparate depending on the companies' sector of activity. For example, the situation has been very different for a hospitality company or for an IT support company. In any case, exceptional situations have been experienced in all sectors, whether due to closures by decree, logistical difficulties, overflow of demand, etc... If the ERTES had not been approved due to force majeure with the covid peculiarities, thousands of layoffs would have been processed and many companies would have been extinguished and liquidated, without a doubt.

Has the aid that has been granted both at the national and local level to the different sectors arrived on time?

Aid has been arriving in dribs and drabs and on many occasions it has not been enough. It is understood that it has been very difficult to manage this situation for all the agents involved in searching, managing and implementing solutions. The easy thing is to criticize. You can always do better.

This situation has brought to light the problems that our companies and administrations have been dealing with for a long time and that we are not able to tackle: low level of digitalization, small size, unprofessional management, excessive bureaucracy and lack of knowledge of the needs of companies, etc...

More than sectors that benefited more than others, I consider that companies that did not really need it have benefited and others that were more worth helping have not been helped enough. I think that the aid has been too general without considering the peculiarities of each sector. It was not about help for help but rather about helping companies that really had meaning or potential for growth and wealth creation. Taking into account the situation in which each of these was in February 2020.

We all have great hopes in EU aid, if managed properly it can be a great opportunity to tackle the problems that our economy and our companies have suffered in recent decades.

The Business Creation and Growth Law contemplates the simplification of the procedures to establish a company___ How do you think What will affect the business productive fabric?

We should go into the fine print of this Law and assess whether it really proposes solutions for entrepreneurship and business development. From what has been analyzed so far, I believe that it does not contribute enough and remains on the superficial side of the problems.Simplifying the procedures to establish a company is of no use if, once established, it does not receive sufficient incentives and support to allow it to grow or help it try again if it fails. Of course we must improve and simplify bureaucracy, but above all we must help and support our companies once they start creating wealth.

Among the functions of the Mutual Funds Collaborating with Social Security, the role of preventing occupational risks as well as caring for the occupational health of workers stands out.  The pandemic has put a premium on prevention, do you think companies perceive it that way too? How do you value the work of training and dissemination of prevention in the different sectors of activity in which your companies operate?

Prevention of occupational risks is a vital section in companies, and managing this section appropriately makes a big difference. Truly responsible companies carry out adequate prevention management in all its aspects and the section on occupational risks is one of the most important. Perhaps the pandemic has provided a boost to the enhancement of this section which, on many occasions, especially in small companies, is not given the importance it should.

The work of mutual insurance companies in this area is very important, and tailored attention, agility in communication and simplicity in processing are key elements. In this sense