With most of our clients being small to medium Enterprises we are well aware of the concern around how to stay productive during this time of crisis. There are concerns around how to keep business going, how to fulfil business obligations. Our advice is to not give up on trying to find solutions on how to stay in the game. It is important to take an approach of seeing this as a temporary situation and that when it does come to an end or when it becomes more manageable that your business is still be able to continue. It is however, important that we acknowledge that not all businesses will survive, that is the harsh reality, others have a fighting chance, and they should optimise those chances. So, here are a few tips on how best to stay productive during the crisis whether you are a small medium or even a large enterprise.
The approach to this situation is one of positivity; it is very important that the people in the business who are involved in strategy look not only at the negatives of the situation but also try to tap into what are the positives it could potentially hold. For example, although it may be impossible to meet your clients face to face, you might have to revert to and set up other means of communicating with them. These resources will be useful even after this whole pandemic, as it will allow you to make business with clients that are not necessarily within your vicinity it could actually set you up for future expansion because now you already have the resources. It is therefore vital that you look at it from your point of strategy as to how best to salvage the situation? What is there to be benefited from the situation? In other words, it’s going back to the good old SWOT analysis you look at the strengths and weaknesses of your business and then you look at what opportunities are there in the situation and of course the threats as well. If you look at that holistically you could actually counter the threats with the perceived opportunities presented by the situation
The most important thing at a time like this is to consider remote working for the safety of all concerned. Most businesses have been forced to send their staff members home due to lock down regulations. That is good in terms of taking care of your physical health, however, this will definitely affect the health of your business. What is important in this regard is to try and make sure that your staff can still operate while they are at home. Now this might be difficult for businesses in certain industries, where they need to be in a production plant for example. For businesses that offer a service or are more admin oriented you can continue to work from your homes. This means that there has to be some funds that you allocate towards setting up your employees in terms of laptops access to Wi-Fi and airtime. That way communications can be maintained and clients can still be attended to telephonically, via email or video conferences. Depending on the size of your business it might prove difficult to provide every staff member with these resources so perhaps choose a few key employees in key positions relevant to keep the business running.
Another important factor is to know the resources that are available to you. This one doesn’t focus necessarily on how the operations of the business are handled but more on resources of relief that are availed to businesses. A number of banks have extended credits to businesses, they have allowed for businesses to cover what they owe on more manageable payment plans. Even the government has provided some financial relief particularly for small businesses to ensure that they remain sustainable during as well as after the pandemic. SARS has also made provisions with regards to the payment of PAYE that allows for some temporary relief. It is, therefore, important to be aware of what resources are available to you? Which ones would allow you to save money? Which ones will allow you to redirect your money to what matters at the moment? The most important thing is to not approach this situation from a point of defeat but that of survival. If you want to know how this is affecting your business’ taxes and what provisions are have been made available in that regard, do give us a call.