Tag: business continuity

Is it likely that there will be a permanent change in people’s behaviour post lockdown?

Post author By a.withers
Post date May 12, 2020
No Comments on Is it likely that there will be a permanent change in people’s behaviour post lockdown?

How people’s behaviour might change post lockdown is something that may be crucial for SMEs in planning ahead.
While it may be a long time yet before the Covid-19 lockdown is removed completely, following the Prime Minister’s briefing at the weekend, the process of relaxing the lockdown restrictions is now underway.
Despite the financial support that has been provided to businesses and workers it is becoming clear that we shall not return swiftly to a pre coronavirus level of business for some time and before we do many businesses will not survive, especially if the recovery takes a long time and the post lockdown landscape is substantially different.
Much depends on businesses’ ability to recover, on how long it will take them to recover and on how much people will change their behaviour as a result of the crisis.
A key to business survival is communication by leaders to deliver the information and direction everyone needs when a large scale crisis hits. While they are unlikely to know the answers, leaders reassure everyone by sharing facts and the rationale for decisions in a way that allows them to change direction as the crisis unfolds and more information is available. Essentially they need to be agile.
A PwC investigation of leadership behaviour during a crisis suggests “When disaster hits, an all-hands-on-deck, everyone-to-the-rescue reaction is understandable — but such good intentions will most likely lead to a chaotic response.”
The website emergency cdc emphasises the importance of clear, simple messaging from the start: “Because of the ways we process information while under stress, when communicating with someone facing a crisis or disaster, messages should be simple, credible, and consistent.”
Messages should be repeated, be supported by a credible source and be specific, it says, and should offer a positive course of action.
To this extent, this is exactly what the UK Government has done with its repetition of the simple message “stay home, protect the NHS, save lives” and its daily briefings reiterating the message as well as giving updates on the numbers of cases that justify the advice.
That it has been doing its job, perhaps almost too well, is indicated by the findings of an Ipsos Mori poll in early May that “two-thirds (67%) of Britons say they will feel uncomfortable going to large public gatherings, such as sports or music events, compared to how they felt before the virus.”
However, things become more difficult as the messaging changes, especially when it becomes more nuanced as we are seeing with the change of message to allow for a partial relaxing of the lockdown rules.
The proposed new message “Stay alert, control the virus, save lives” has already been rejected by the UK’s devolved governments (in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) as being too vague as well as being perhaps premature given the continued high numbers of positive diagnoses being reported. Indeed, the Evening Standard last night reported confusion over the “back to work for some” message that led to commuters being packed on the London Underground.
The packed tubes may be linked to other reports that the country’s transport infrastructure is operating at only 10% of its former capacity post-lockdown. The biggest four trades unions have united to warn that people should not be going back to work without adequate safety measures in place and despite the troubles in the High Street retail sector, the British Retail Consortium has also warned against allowing shops to open without clear and adequate safety and social distancing rules.
In addition to any return to work message, different age groups are interpreting the message differently with many young adults going out to meet each other while older age groups remain at home.
The longer that the return to post lockdown normality takes then the more likely it is that people will change their behaviour permanently.
It is becoming clear that it will take quite a long time before everyone will do all those things that they did before Covid-19 appeared so a return to normal is a long way off.
Therefore, it is highly likely that there will be a permanent change in many people’s behaviour post lockdown.

Tags business continuity, businessrecovery, post lockdown behaviour

Business Development & Marketing Finance General

How to manage an efficient online conference

Post author By a.withers
Post date April 14, 2020
No Comments on How to manage an efficient online conference

As we all adjust to the new realities of working remotely while we self-isolate during the Coronavirus pandemic, we still need to maintain contact with staff, clients, suppliers and others where online conference calls and video meetings are proving much better than the phone.
But how do you avoid an online conference descending into anarchy with people talking over each other?
There are some simple rules that are not so different from those we adopt during face-to-face meetings.
One of the meeting platforms that is becoming increasingly popular during the pandemic has been Zoom, but there are plenty of others such as Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business and even WhatsApp. Security is an issue and all are constantly improving their security measures following concerns about uninvited intruders, in particular for Zoom which seems to have become the most popular platform.
It is important that the chair should host (convene) and be familiar with the technology since each platform has tools to manage the meeting. Like all other meetings, they need an agenda and discipline over time keeping so it is best that those invited know in advance what topics are to be discussed and for how long. It also helps to ensure key contributors are prepared with any presentation material they need to share.
Confirmation of availability is no different to face to face meetings such that once the attendees are confirmed a notice of the meeting in the form of a Zoom or other invite, which for most will request confirmation of attendance and automatically update everyone’s calendar. The invite also includes a URL for automating the login to the meeting but it makes sense to practice setting up meetings so you are familiar with the technology and invitation settings such as the need or not for passwords and waiting rooms which are all features set by the host as part of setting up the meeting. Once mastered this is straightforward.
The notice should include an agenda, with notes and login details.
It makes sense that the organiser as host opens the meeting shortly beforehand monitors participants’ arrival in the waiting area so they can approve attendance although for large meetings I would recommend you don’t use the waiting feature since it will distract you.
Participants can normally attend meetings using any device they wish including via landline phones so organisers should specify if video is necessary with the notice. For team meetings and internal ones of fewer that about 40 participants I suggest everyone should be able to see each other as this reinforces involvement.
Everyone speaking over each other is a problem so the chair may need to manage this as a discipline to master. To help their is a Participant feature allowing each Participant to raise an electronic hand which the chair can see in the Participant’s video feed and invite them to speak.
Again, learning to switch your microphone on and off or in the case of the host, switching off everyone’s microphones centrally is another discipline we need to learn and is particularly useful for those at home with a noisy background or children in the house.
Taking notes is another discipline which can be done traditionally although most platforms offer a record feature and in some cases the host can allow or not Participants to make their own recording. It makes sense to cover this at the beginning of the meeting.
The chair essentially manages the online meeting or conference like they would do normally but everyone is logged in remotely.
While not being in the same room makes it harder to pick up the non-verbal signals that we take for granted in face-to-face meetings, video meetings are much better than phone calls because you do see everyone’s reactions.
In many ways, an online conference or meeting is no different from any formal workplace meeting, but it does highlight the importance of a strong chair and the need for courtesy, which, of course, should be features of all meetings.

Tags business continuity, online conference management

Accounting & Bookkeeping Cash Flow & Forecasting Finance Turnaround

Key Indicator: is the global supply chain too vulnerable to shocks?

Post author By a.withers
Post date March 3, 2020
No Comments on Key Indicator: is the global supply chain too vulnerable to shocks?

For years, businesses have seen the global supply chain as a means of keeping down costs through sourcing goods and services from low-wage countries and importing them often from across the globe.
This may work as a business model for manufacturers seeking to keep their prices as low as possible, and for retailers’ cash management where payment terms and just in time delivery often meant only having to pay for goods after they have been sold. Indeed, stock ties up cash in inventory and storage as well as incurring the cost of warehousing, storage and administering stock, the less stock needed then the less cash needed.
But what happens if events cause a disruption to the smooth flow of the global supply chain causing shortages of finished goods or the essential elements for their production?
The current Coronavirus outbreak that originated in China and is now spreading across the globe provides the perfect illustration of the knock-on effects of such disruption.
According to an Economist article this week, by using a just in time model “multinationals have left themselves dangerously exposed to supply-chain risk owing to strategies designed to bring down their costs”.
Furthermore, it argues that in the last 20 or so years, large multinationals have become much more reliant on China. “China now accounts for 16% of global GDP, up from 4% back then. Its share of all exports in textiles and apparel is now 40% of the global total. It generates 26% of the world’s furniture exports.”
Chinese manufacturing activity fell to 35.7 from 50 in January, according to the PMI index where above 50 is a measure of anticipated growth and below is decline.
Among the industries significantly hit by China’s containment efforts, from isolating regions of the country to closing down factories, have been the electronics, car and clothing industries but they are not likely to be the only ones.
Companies that have already reported significant negative effects have included Apple, Diageo, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen. But the impact is not just on manufacturing but also is on services with BA owner IAG and EasyJet forecasting significant reductions in bookings and cancelling flights.
The reduction in manufacturing output will also hit freight with both shipping and airfreight experiencing lower volumes that in turn impact oil prices that have fallen significantly to below $50 a barrel for the first time since the summer of 2017, according to an article in the Guardian.
Efforts to restrict the movement of people have already caused the cancellation of the Motor Show in Geneva, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and MIPIM, the annual real estate jamboree in Cannes.
All this has worried investors with stock markets plummeting around the world, in the case of the FTSE100, down 13% by the end of last week – a decline only last seen during the Financial Crisis of 2008.
Is it time to rethink business’ reliance on the global supply chain?
The current situation with Coronavirus illustrates the vulnerabilities in an over-reliance on the global supply chain and particularly the disproportionate sourcing of inventory from East Asia and China.
However, there are other potential sources of disruption to the supply chain. They include the ongoing tariff wars between China and USA, extreme weather events such as the 2011 tsunami in Japan, and armed conflicts.
Notwithstanding all these factors, arguably the greatest factor is global warming and environmental damage. The mood around the world is changing and people are becoming increasingly worried about this.
The fall-out from Coronavirus may be heightening awareness but demands from consumers and investors for a more ethical and socially conscious sourcing is beginning to concentrate the minds of CEOs on their businesses’ vulnerabilities to the global supply chain.
Indeed a knitwear manufacturer based in Leicester, UK, is reporting an increase in orders from more local retailers in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Will others follow suit?

Tags business continuity, Cash flow, global supply chain

Business Development & Marketing General

Disaster recovery – does your SME have a business continuity plan?

Post author By a.withers
Post date February 16, 2017
2 Comments on Disaster recovery – does your SME have a business continuity plan?

Very often when a small business is bidding for new business with a larger client it will be faced with answering a long list of compliance related questions before the SME can become an approved supplier.
Answering all these questions is usually a condition of the SME being eligible to bid for the work, even though many of the provisions covered may not be legally required. Sometimes, also, the compliance list forms part of the larger contractor’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy.
Much of this is about offloading responsibility and liability when something goes wrong but it is also perfectly reasonable for companies to want to preserve their own business continuity and this is, or should be, as important to the SME as to a larger company.

It is important to consider what you would do if…..

So much of business now relies on technology in one form or another that it makes sense to have a fall-back position to cover a variety of IT-related issues.
There are plenty of advisory services and example templates available to help with compiling a proper Disaster Recovery Plan (DCR) or Business Continuity Plan (BCP) but many of them are either expensive or needlessly complicated.
The origin of such plans relates to situations where there is either a loss of communication, such as emails or voice, or a loss or the corruption of critical information, such as data. The aim of such plans is to ensure there are provisions in place that minimise disruption and ensure operations can continue until a problem has been resolved or data recovered.
So, the essential elements to cover are to define all the situations that can potentially break down, define a clear set of actions for resolving them, to identify the relevant people to be contacted and who is responsible for overseeing the actions, as well as the people who will be responsible for fixing the problem, and to set a time frame within which the situation should be resolved. Contingency fall-backs for each situation are also crucial.
So, for example, if access to data is unavailable for any reason, the fall-back provisions would include a back-up file, such as an external hard drive, cloud storage, or even physical, paper records that have been kept up to date.
If there has been damage to the business’ physical premises and perhaps IT hardware, the plan should include a key person to inform clients, suppliers and employees of the alternative arrangements in place, such as employees working from home and relevant contact details. Contingencies or fall-backs for such a situation would also be having laptops available already set up for company use with the information that employees would need to be able to carry on with their work from another location.
Having business continuity or disaster recovery plans in place is not only about complying with “tick box” conditions when a SME is bidding for a contract, they are a sensible precaution that enables the SME to carry on operating whatever happens as well as providing a useful training exercise so that employees are informed and understand their roles and responsibilities in the overall structure of the business.

Tags business continuity, disaster recovery