“It would be poor business not to prepare as best as we can.”
These were the words of an SME owner who learned the hard way when his toy store suffered flooding in 2009 while not being fully prepared. Now Cockermouth businessman Jonty Chippendale has a resilience plan and has successfully lobbied for flood defences – painting a different picture in 2015 when floods struck his shop a second time, re-opening much faster compared to his initial experience.
Having endeavoured to have a resilient business, he welcomes the rollout of a new tool by Business in the Community (BITC) – The Prince’s Responsible Business Network. It’s an online test called “Would You Be Ready?,” which evaluates SMEs’ preparedness in times of crises and provides advice on safeguarding assets.
Backed by the National Cyber Security Centre, as well as by the likes of Barclays and Aviva, the tool focuses on the threats of cyberattacks, civil unrest, and floods. Its launch coincides with Responsible Business Week 2018.
Aviva’s Gareth Hemming, director of SME, commercial insurance, commented: “Our aim, in a nutshell, is to help businesses keep on trading, and we are supporting the campaign because we believe, like BITC, that encouraging more businesses to be crisis-ready will help achieve that.”
For BITC, the repercussions could be huge, and it calls on SMEs to be part of the initiative.
“SMEs are the backbone of the UK economy, and the impact that an issue or crisis could have on a small or medium business is significant, with potentially life-changing consequences for owners and employees, as well as having a negative effect on the economy,” said Joey Tabone, resilience director at BITC, which was founded by HRH The Prince of Wales. “We are urging SME owners across the UK to take the test and use BITC’s free advice to scrutinise their own business practices to ensure they’re protected against future incidents that could put their business, and their livelihoods, in jeopardy.”
The sector employs over 16 million people, or 60% of the UK’s private employment, and makes up 99.9% of all businesses nationwide.
“It’s often not on people’s radar until they’re directly affected themselves, but we should all be talking about resilience,” said Chippendale. “It’s as important to a business as hiring good staff and paying taxes.”
