Should you do Business Planning during CoVID-19?

The past few weeks have presented unprecedented change in our personal and professional lives. Small businesses across Australia are already feeling the financial crunch from coronavirus (CoVID-19) restrictions that have millions of people taking refuge from the virus outbreak and avoiding unnecessary costs.  A pandemic such as the CoVID-19 challenges existing business continuity management initiatives in any organisation.

With a tumultuous and unpredictable year ahead how can businesses prepare and plan for business success in this new environment.

1. Scenarios

• Start modelling scenarios where some of your key people were ill for a significant period of time, what would you do?
• What if you needed everyone to work from home for greater than 6 months, how would that affect the business? 

Consider how these scenarios would impact the business and what could your response be to mitigate the risks associated with this. 

2. Save Costs

Look at all of your current and future business expenses. What are essential and what money can be saved? In this environment cash is king, so ensuring that you can maintain cashflow is imperative. Look for any opportunities to cut costs to help your business through this period. Get rid of all non-essential spending.

3. Risk Assessment

Do a risk assessment of your business. Use some of the scenarios we talked about in the first point and look at what would be the business impact. Assess your vulnerabilities as a business and any key dependencies such as supply. Look at your key roles and responsibilities in the business that if they weren’t filled would prevent you from trading. Are you relying on other businesses to be functioning in order to deliver goods and services to you before you can deliver your goods or services? Are you reliant on international trade?

4. Communications Plans

Ensure that you are clear and have a clear communication plan to address any business changes or disruption with all necessary. This will include your employees, customers, and suppliers. Ensure that all of your team are clear on who needs to be told what and when. Make sure you are upfront with all of your key stakeholders if you are facing issues or restrictions when it comes to supply or payments. You need to ensure that you maintaining good will with all of your stakeholders so that when we start to come out on the other side of CoVID-19 you have strong relationships to help you recover.

5. Cross training in critical roles

In your risk assessment you have identified the key roles within the business.

• What are the tasks that those roles perform that keep the business operational?
• Can you start now to train others in some of these functions? This will help mitigate further risk in the future.

6. Understand the peripheral impacts

In times of crisis our focus often narrows and we immediately focus on us and our immediate issues. However, in order to fully understand your own long and short term impacts you have to understand the impact on those around you. For the first time in most of our life times we have a health crisis that if not managed correctly can affect all of our staff, both in their own health and the health of their loved ones. Consider what external impacts may affect them such as working from home to care for children if schools and child care are closed for an extended period of time (6-18 months). Consider the full supply chain for your business and consider areas that may impact on your suppliers.

7. Review your current business strategy

Review your current business strategy and consider what strategies you will need to delay, such as product development or growth in new markets. Also look at what opportunities the current situation presents for your business and review if maybe now is the time to invest in new product development or perhaps new market opportunities are opening up as a result of the current environment.

8. Relocation of resources

Resources are finite, but you can move them around. Consider what functions in your business you can reduce in order to free them up for other critical functions.

We understand that this is a challenging and confusing time for business. Get in touch if you want to discuss how to navigate your business through these uncharted waters. Azure Group team are committed to working smarter and faster in helping you take advantage of the Stimulus and financial assistance you need to keep operating as best you can.

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Have you noticed our #FridayExpertTips... here's one that relates to #StimulusPackage

"Effective immediately and from the latest Economic Stimulus package: Until June 2020 the Instant Asset write off has been increased to $150,000 and the cap on business turnover has increased from $50 million to $500 million."

Disclaimer
This information is accurate on the day it’s published and is subject to change as the situation around Coronavirus (COVID-19) evolves. Our conclusions may not be valid if there is any change in those facts, circumstances and assumptions.  Accordingly, neither Azure Group Pty Ltd nor any member or employee of Azure Group, undertakes responsibility arising in any way whatsoever to any persons in respect of this alert or any error or omissions herein, arising through negligence or otherwise howsoever caused.