Continuity & contingency planning is an organic part of larger business policies.
These essential policies help protect businesses should something happen to the business owner or premises to stop the business from functioning.
However, what happens if you are a small business owner or sole trader and something unexpected happens to stop you going to work? What if your business website fails or falls over? What if your car breaks down? What if (if you are a parent) a child is taken ill & you are the primary carer? Are you protected? Do you have a continuity policy? What is your Plan B?
Having a robust Plan B in place can alleviate the pressure should an unforeseen situation arise. Some small business owners who have only a few employees could rely on them to a certain extent if they are called away unexpectedly.
This of course only works if there is a mutual trust and or if the employee given this sudden additional responsibility is accepting of a change in situation.
But, what if it’s just you? If you are a sole trader and you literally have no one to call upon or what you do for a living is a specific skill set which cannot be simply picked up by someone else?
Obviously, as a sole trader/business owner you cannot plan for every single eventuality, but there are a lot of areas which can be addressed easily & effectively.
The Covid19 pandemic taught us all a valuable lesson; expect the unexpected.
For business owners across the planet it was a time where adaptability was key. Many businesses were saved by savvy business owners adapting and diversifying quickly to keep trading. However, not all businesses survived and a lot of the reasons behind this was a lack of continuity planning or the ability to diversify in the face of a crisis.
Even as a small business owner or sole trader there are actions which can be put in place and adopted to cover unforeseen circumstances.
Simple things like accessing work phones and emails and adding an ‘out of office’ message to let customers/clients know you are unavailable but will come back to them. If you have a business premises and have trusted business neighbours, perhaps contacting them to ask for deliveries to be taken in and or if any customers/clients do arrive unexpectedly; to let them know that you will come back to them.
Other areas of the business to consider a Plan B are the company website, email and other communication devices. If the business website fell over for example, who is the right person to contact and do they have relevant access? If the phones fail, do you have the account numbers written down somewhere? and what happens if there is a power cut at your business address? Can you go home to work? Do you have a back-up generator?
Throughout the Covid19 pandemic many business owners learnt the very hard way about contingency/continuity planning or lack of it. Beyond Covid we do need to be mindful of our collective Plan B’s and ensure as SME’s, business owners, corporate business, sole traders, PAYE or self-employed entities build the necessary contingencies into their working practises.
Written by Katy Mason for & on behalf of Virtually Smart Ltd
