Small firms in the UK are unprepared for recovery if their business is disrupted, a survey has found.
Just a third of small businesses have taken steps to ensure their business could continue to operate normally under any circumstances, revealed the imaginatively named ‘Bouncebackability Index’.
According to the Index, by business continuity firm SunGard, more than 80% of consumers would select another product or go to a different retailer if they could not get the goods or services they wanted immediately. Less than 10% said they would wait for a product to become available at a later date.
Stephen Rankin, regional director of the CBI, said planning for disruption should be a ‘key area of concern’ for small business owners.
“Companies cannot afford to be out of action for any extended period of time as they risk losing customers in the short term and damaging their reputation in the longer term,” he said.
“This survey highlights the fact that some businesses have a long way to go in getting their plans up to scratch.”
Keith Tilley, SunGard’s UK managing director, commented: “It appears to be a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ for small business managers.
“They admit to feeling pressure from customers to show their resilience and they clearly expect businesses to be able to provide them with the service or product they are seeking, and will go to a competitor if something is not available. Yet they are doing very little to protect their own business from this type of switching,” he added.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008
