Guy Fawkes tried to bring the country down on the 5th November 1605, the COVID Pandemic is more likely to bring this country to its knees in 2020/2021
Since March, companies throughout the UK have had to make some rapid decisions on how to cope with the immediate effect of this COVID pandemic and how they can operate and, more importantly, how they can survive.
The government came up with several very helpful support packages to help us get through the lockdown and since then we have been employing a number of these schemes to keep the business afloat. As a number of these schemes are coming to an end in October the big question now is, where do we go from here?
We talked about the new normal with people working from home. Initially, financially for companies this looked an ideal solution to cut costs and continue operating and great for the employees as they did not have to commute and could work flexible hours. In some cases, this has actually been really beneficial for everybody. Sadly, in other cases, people have found working from home has its distractions, as well as issues communicating properly internally and externally and has had a detrimental effect on the business.
Many businesses now have time to reflect. Initially, they reacted to the immediate issues threatening their livelihoods and put in tools to manage the position. Now, with a second lockdown looming in November, is this pandemic going to cause greater disruption than Guy Fawkes ever could by blowing up parliament?
It’s time to look ahead, respond to the position, accept that we are going to be living with this problem for quite some time and look at how we are going to operate in the future. What plans, business tools, cost cutting, and employment decisions need to be made to keep in business?
The major costs that spring to mind are the office rent, the wage bill and office operating costs. A number of these costs can be difficult to cut as there are long term agreements in place. However, there are several other hidden costs that can be reviewed and, in many cases, can provide valuable income back into the business.
One area that you can look at immediately is the office operating costs and, if you are having to sadly make redundancies, you need to look at technology that can help manage the new position. This can be in areas such as unique software that provides full document management, meaning information is available at a touch of a button with full security and compliance or internal leases like office equipment that could be refreshed at much lower rates and more suitable for your future operating requirement and needs.
Where is there help?
Our business, Document Workflow Solutions, was set up in a joint venture with Xerox UK to help companies see the future and adapt to the changes companies are confronted with, as well as providing unique and valuable business tools that will cut costs, increase business efficiency and help provide a very competitive edge in your market place. If this is something your business wants to look at, we are happy to provide a free office audit and look at all your document costs and processes. We have been very successful in helping many organisations make at least 30% savings and, in many cases, even greater cost efficiencies.
