How to stay resilient
TIPS: SMES MUST SUIT UP AND SHOW UP
Business owners should focus on digital preparedness, budgeting, and employee wellness.
The past two years have been amongst the most challenging for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Many faced a maelstrom of obstacles in the form of the ongoing Covid pandemic, a record-setting petrol price hike, load shedding and the civil unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
This year, South African small businesses will be called upon again to “suit up and show up” if they wish to thrive in an evolving economic landscape.
In the last two years, we’ve seen small businesses demonstrate several amazing feats of courage, remaining resilient through the toughest of times. For a successful 2022, we encourage SMEs across all sectors to learn from 2020 and 2021, by making sure that they are as prepared as possible for the unexpected.
Tips for small businesses:
Tighten up your tech
According to Business Partners Limited Q3 (third quarter) 2021 SME Confidence Index, only 43% of South African small businesses felt they had the digital tools and measures in place to keep their businesses going when the pandemic hit.
And 25% of SMEs said they were not ready to meet the sudden need for digital competency required when teams started working remotely.
A further 32% responded that Covid was the wake-up call they needed to embrace digitisation in the workplace.
What the results demonstrated is that the majority of SMEs do not yet have the infrastructure and digital proficiency to adapt to the changing environment.
However, the tide of digitisation is gaining traction, so my advice is to conduct a technology audit, including aspects like security software, the use of cloud technology and available hardware.
Ask yourself whether your business has the digital capabilities it needs to reach your target audience using the right means and mediums.
Then consider costs like printing, insurance, data and telephone, etc and consider which costs can be decreased through innovation or negotiation.
Prioritise your budget
The index revealed the top three challenges SMEs predict they will face over the course of the next six months are: cash flow, economic conditions and funding.
Ironically, these challenges are reminders of the importance of budgeting.
Budgets need to perform two key functions – to plan and to project. As such, they should make provision for as many hidden costs as possible. These include membership fees for networking and industry bodies, licence fees, insurance, vendor fees for credit card payments, shrinkage (if yours is a product-based business), office sanitising and cleaning supplies, and stationery.
What we’ve learnt from the past two years is that it’s impossible to predict the future. It is, however, vital for small businesses to include some wiggle room in their budgets for the unforeseen.
Wellbeing of employees now employers’ responsibility
Brush up on your human resources skills
The importance of good employee relations has come to the fore. Across sectors, employees reported feeling burnt out, stressed out and disillusioned about their futures. Where previously the health and mental well-being of employees was an aspect assigned to the domestic realm, it has now become part of the responsibility of employers – to demonstrate empathy and instil a culture of mutual respect and support within the workplace.
Across the world, we’re seeing the effects of the “mass exodus”, where people are resigning from their jobs in pursuit of companies and brands that resonate with their personal values and goals.
SMEs will have to invest in becoming more human-centric, so they can retain talent in this competitive environment.