403 Forbidden

Due to how quickly COVID-19 can spread among people, countries were forced to implement strict regulations that restricted movement and temporarily suspended business operations during the onset of the pandemic.

Businesses are now gradually resuming operations and assessing the impact COVID-19. Essential services like healthcare as well as delivery services saw an increase in demand during the last few months. Industries like apparel, tourism, and construction have faced several setbacks due to the pandemic, whether it is because shipments were delayed or because customer needs changed drastically.

Given that the pandemic will continue to affect industries in the coming months, business owners may show concern over their business not surviving the pandemic. If this applies to you, these are a few ways to ensure that does not happen.
 

1. Be a better leader

Leadership is a quality that can bring teams together and motivate them to meet organisation goals and targets. The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception and good leadership can help a business survive the health and economic crisis.

The skills you have as a leader must be adjusted and improved to meet the unique challenges posed by the virus and a reliable financial business partner can help you with developing a strategy in this regard.

A few things to remember are that your employees are currently facing great uncertainty and fear, especially regarding their future and safety. If they are returning to work after weeks of working from home, they will need reassurance that the workplace is safe, with the implementation of COVID-19 safety regulations. In addition to this, they may also need time to adjust to their new working arrangement.

While you may have decided to outsource your finance, there may be several other departments that operate in-house. These departments and teams need to have faith and trust in their leader during these difficult times.

2. Embrace the post-COVID-19 changes

Several changes have been made to the way businesses operate and adapting and adjusting to these changes are key if a business wants to survive the pandemic. Having smaller teams and encouraging remote work arrangements may be vital to the survival of your business. In addition to this, if your industry has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, you may need to downsize.

In this instance, you can opt for outsourced financial management services whether they are company secretarial services UK, statutory reporting services, or finance and accounting services. By outsourcing your finance and bookkeeping, you can lower your operational costs and still meet regulatory requirements. An accountant in Ilford, for instance, will take care of your bookkeeping without causing too much of a financial burden on your business.

While changes within the business are vital, a trusted business advisor will also suggest looking at changes in customer demands and purchasing patterns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study and analyse reports on changes in your business activities as well as industry data with a reliable financial business partner to understand the changes that will affect you and develop a plan on adapting to these changes.

3. Understand your customers

When exploring ways to survive the COVID-19 pandemic as a business, you may forget to consider your customers and what they are facing. If you are in retail, your customers may not be able to visit physical stores due to COVID-19 safety regulations. If your target audience are elderly persons, they may not have the knowledge or technology to purchase items online.

Understanding the challenges faced by your customers will allow you to make changes to your business operations as well as marketing strategy to accommodate the difficulties and needs of your customers.

If you are outsourcing your finance, the financial management service may consider the challenges faced by your customers when developing strategies that will help your business survive the pandemic.

4. Update yourself

One of the main things you need to do when assessing your situation and the impact COVID-19 has had on your business and will have in the coming months is to check in with your accounting team. If you have outsourced your finance, you may have access to a range of services. These include financial statement services, company secretarial services, and financial reporting services. You may also have an accountant for bookkeeping and it is vital that you talk to your accountant in Ilford to assess cash flow projects and the impact of COVID-19 on your business.