Preparedness Assessment- a Path Towards the Business Resiliency Blueprint: 5 Steps to Strengthen Lon
Yes, your business will get through the COVID-19 crisis, but how does your forecasts look for next year? How prepared is your business for the next major crisis?
Whether your business has been directly affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic or you have been in the periphery, you are certainly not alone. The pandemic has galvanized an array of resources to help businesses recover.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated a new weekly COVID-19 Surveillance Report to track the spread and impact of the disease. Access the weekly COVID-19 Surveillance Report here.
- The Small business Administration (SBA) now offers multiple funding options to provide relief to businesses. The available programs now include (1) The EIDL $10,000 Loan Advance; (2) Express Bridge Loans; (3) Paycheck Protection Program; and (4) Debt Relief. Access the SBA COVID-19 related funding options here.
- Each state have adopted independent programs apart from the federal initiatives. A comprehensive summary is provided by Forbes. Access the list of state programs here.
We would like to share the insights that we have recently gathered through client engagements focused on helping companies get through the crisis. We focus this article towards the future as many businesses who have been affected, are likely already inundated with resources for help.
We offer the 5 key criteria from the Preparedness Assessment Toolkit that will enable you to “self-diagnose” the resiliency of your business to withstand a future calamity.
Perform a Supply Chain Analysis.
Do you produce parts or products? Evaluate all incoming inputs for your company. This should include the raw material suppliers and THEIR supply chain! If you do not produce products, start with suppliers of your software vendors and understand their uptime and contingencies in place to protect YOUR business.
Evaluate your contractor management system (or companies from which you source your contractors).
Does your business model heavily rely on contractors? For companies with a high contractor work force, assess the contracting companies that you use and their health.
Determine the vulnerabilities with your customer acquisition strategies.
How concentrated are your customers (geographically or otherwise)? Determine your customer concentration (geographically and/or by type ie online vs foot retail), create uniformity in your sales tools, and transparently map out your customer engagement process.
Perform a cyber security audit. Recent news has suggested that certain video conferencing products are simply not secure.
Your staff is already working remotely, correct? Every company, especially those in the service sector, need to have a remote work policy. Review your remote work policy, review the tools and software to support the offsite work and stress test the cyber security protection.
Conduct a financial continuity appraisal of your lenders or investors.
This is the dreaded question- what does your rainy-day fund look like? Do you have the ability re-engage if times get bad? If you are an investment backed company, review your plan, create buy-in to your disaster preparation plans and get commitment on terms for continued financing, if needed.
We are in this together. To learn more or to start a Business Resiliency Blueprint for your organization, click below for the free Assessment Tool.
Copyright 2020 August Brown, LLC