We would emphasise the importance of preparing your business for exit now. Ensure you devise a plan/ strategy for resumption of “normal” business activities. This plan will likely include a number of assumptions and different scenarios depending on how the government exit strategy is rolled out of the coming days and weeks. What does seem likely is a phased return to the “new norm” for business resumption with social distancing measures being deployed for many months to come.
o What operational lessons have you learned about your business during lock down?
o What measures have you implemented and smarter ways of working have you developed during lock down?
o Ensure these new ways of working become the new norm and do not allow your business to fall back into old ways of working e.g. allow more agile and home working, reduced commuting time and business travel, more video meetings using MS Teams and Zoom, improved quality of family time and flexible working hours, etc.
Cash is still king
o Continue to prepare weekly cash flows.
o Assume a baseline of things continuing as they are now.
o Work out if your existing cash resources will be enough to sustain the business for the coming months after accessing the government support initiatives of the job retention scheme, the grants for small businesses, delayed VAT and self assessment payments and CBILS lending.
SME Support Forum Northern Ireland 