Smart Moves Your Business Should Do During Coronavirus Outbreak
Here are some suggestions on smart moves your business should do during the coronavirus outbreak.
24/03/2020
After the slumber of 2019 and the wake-up of 2020, a new viral epidemic struck the whole world, originating from Wuhan in China. By the first 3 months of 2020, it had become a pandemic, with new cases of infections being reported each day in more than 190 countries across the world. It was a simple public health crisis at first, but nations all across the globe are experiencing an economic crisis a few months later. Well, small businesses have not been spared by the crisis either.
Especially in some of the worst affected nations, people are being advised to stay at home to avoid catching or spreading the virus. Those who’ve been infected, of course, are receiving treatment in quarantine. It goes without saying that the situation is difficult for businesses, especially since some of the largest cities in the world are on lockdown. So what’s the way forward?
Well, here are some suggestions on smart moves your business should do during the coronavirus outbreak.
Have a Home Office
As earlier hinted, one of the best ways to protect yourself and your family is to work from home during these difficult times of the COVID-19 outbreak. If your business allows you to handle some operations from home, then it can be a smart move to covet that extra room or basement space into an office. As a matter of fact, it’s not all doom for businesses since when operating remotely from a home office, you may not have as many expenses as the original office, especially when it comes to energy, gas, rent, and such.
You can even save more by researching the various services provided by energy comparison sites so you can get the best quote out there. The best thing about this is that you can always choose from one plan or provider to the other without incurring penalties. All in all, your safety and that of your employees are of the utmost importance, and you don’t want to jeopardize that, which brings us to the next important point.
Set Up a Remote Workforce
If you used to operate a brick and mortar shop or a physical office full of employees, now is the time to improvise and see which operations can be handled remotely by your team. Departments such as customer service, delivery, accounting, and even procurement, all of these can have a team handling tasks from their own homes where they don’t have to constantly come into contact with others. To actualize this, however, you will, first of all, have to invest in technologies that encourage working from home. These may include project management software, online team communication apps, and productivity apps such as Slack, Trello, Basecamp, and Asana. All you need is to figure out which tools you’ll need for remote business operations depending on the products or services you offer, as well as your client base.
For efficient communication and project tracking, you may want to invest in tools like:
• Online communication tools
• Project
management tools
• Online video conferencing
Create an Emergency Fund
Considering how new it is, there’s absolutely no telling who recovers and who doesn’t after being infected by the Wuhan virus. This is not meant to scare anyone, but the world clearly knows very little about the outbreak. As a focused business, the best thing you can do is set aside an emergency fund for acquiring treatment and compensating your employees in case any one of them gets the infection or is affected by the lockdowns we’re witnessing in most places. Some companies have actually done this so that in case the outbreak lasts longer than the next few months, their staff will have something to put groceries on the table and cover other basic living expenses for at least two or three months.
Rethink Your Budget
In an unpredictable crisis like this, it’s obviously wise to be careful what you spend your money on as a business. It’s important to reevaluate your budget and stick to spending on purchases or expenses that are really necessary to keep your business operational and your staff safe.
Last but not least, if you currently have a loan, refinancing it can be a smart move too, especially now that most governments have requested creditors to extend their loan terms and possibly reduce interest/penalties. Also, it’s important to avoid panicking excessively as there have been tough times before the COVID-19. Stay hopeful, in business, safe, communicate with your staff, and keep your clients happy as much as you can. All will be well!