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Prepare for winter - NOW!
FSB
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Prepare for wintry weather
now through business continuity plans, small firms urged
A business support organisation is
urging small firms to ensure they prepare for weather-related
disruptions this winter by drawing up continuity plans.
Following the coldest winter for
three decades last year, which caused widespread disruption to
businesses, forecasters are predicting another harsh, snow-filled
winter in the coming months.
Positive Weather Solutions this
week said that the winter of 2010/11 was likely to see
similarly icy temperatures to last year and more of the ‘disruptive
snowfall’ which hampered deliveries, triggered heating and power
failures and left many employees unable to get into work.
According to a YouGov
poll, 58% of senior decision-makers at small businesses
said their companies suffered as a result of the snow last winter,
despite 78% believing their firms were sufficiently prepared.
And nationally, three quarters (74%)
of employees were affected by the snow, with more than a quarter (26%)
failing to get in to work at all. Crucially, 21% of those surveyed
found key suppliers and contacts were unavailable and 26% had to
postpone or cancel meetings.
As a result, the Forum
of Private Business is urging smaller companies to prepare
for any potential adverse weather now by putting in place business
continuity plans.
Spokesman Phil McCabe said: “I
think it’s fair to say that last winter’s extreme weather
conditions caught out many small business owners.
“A lot of small firms struggled to
continue trading as employees failed to make it into work, deliveries
were cancelled and freezing temperatures caused heating equipment to
fail, leaving their premises unusable.
“We estimated that last winter’s
snowfalls were costing smaller businesses across the UK around £230
million each day at one point. Obviously, in the current climate,
small firms can ill afford a similar expenditure this year so we’re
urging business owners to think about their contingency plans now to
ensure they aren’t put out of action by another icy winter.”
The Forum is also arguing that
smaller firms should consider investing in expert support services to
ensure they can continue trading when their premises are hit by
extreme weather conditions.
The Forum, which is a not-for-profit
organisation, has launched a new business continuity service for its
members in an effort to protect them against business ‘disasters’
such as snow-related problems or floods, burglaries, fires and power
cuts.
While small businesses will usually
get an insurance payout to cover damage to their property after such
an event, they are highly vulnerable to the steep drop in turnover
which often follows as customer records are lost, phone calls and
emails go unanswered and clients take their custom elsewhere.
However, the Forum’s new service
will ensure its members can continue trading through such potentially
crippling problems. The AssistPoint
service, which is designed especially for small and medium-sized
companies, starts at just £240 (+VAT) per year.
In the event of a disaster,
AssistPoint would give a smaller business:
AssistPoint is being provided
through a deal between the Forum and partner organisation Smartways
Technology – a leading IT managed services provider. Thanks to
preferential rates, Forum members can access discounts of up to £450
on Smartways’ services.
In the event of a major problem, all
AssistPoint services are guaranteed to be delivered within one working
day and can be activated with a single phone call.
Mr McCabe added: “While lots of
conflicting statistics on the issue are banded about, it’s fair to
say that a high percentage of businesses affected by a major incident
like a fire or flood either never re-open or go bust soon after the
event.
“This is often not due to the
immediate loss of goods and premises, which is usually covered by
insurance payouts. It’s because the company’s inability to resume
trading within a short space of time means clients and customers go
elsewhere, leading to unsustainable losses and potentially undoing
years of hard work spent building the business up.
“Our new service is designed to
protect against this risk and make sure that our members can continue
trading through virtually anything that’s thrown at them.”
MORE -
A Populus poll recently commissioned
by the British Insurance Brokers’ Association found around half of
SMEs believed it would take less than a day for a serious disruption
or disaster to have a significant impact on their business.
According to Environment Agency
figures, around 185,000 commercial properties are at risk of flooding
in England and Wales. The average loss to a business from a flood is
thought to be around £25,000, compared to £1,000 for a burglary. The
floods in the summer of 2007 affected more than 9,000 businesses, with
the costs to each business ranging from around £75,000 to £112,000.
Hardware issues also put countless
smaller businesses out of action each year, along with fires,
communications failures, power cuts, computer viruses and denial of
access to buildings.
AssistPoint is one of a number of
new services being provided through the Forum’s ‘Purchasing
Director’ solution – a collection of
specially-discounted products and services designed to save small
businesses money across all purchasing decisions.
Twitter account - http://twitter.com/the_fpb
Forum blog - http://blog.fpb.org
LinkedIn group: Small business forum
- http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2481461&trk=anet_ug_hm
Follow the Forum’s Chief Executive
Phil Orford on Twitter - http://twitter.com/philorford
(6/10/10)
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