COVID-19 response
you could tick the business continuity plan box and move on, but now you will have to test it. Insurers will want to know if you have done exercises on it, and to see your full pandemic plan and all the appendices in detail.
Do you have a salvage plan to reduce the effects of ‘traditional’ crises?
Overwhelmed by Brexit and COVID-19, companies must not forget the basics – or the other potential crises, such as fire or flood. The worst time to have a ‘traditional’ crisis is right now. You are on, or have been on lockdown; you may have warehouses mothballed; and then you have a fire or flood. You can imagine how complicated that would be. The next worldwide threat that every business will now have to plan for is cyber attacks, and we have already seen an uptake in scams and con men during the pandemic.
Have you assessed the resilience of your supply chain post crisis?
In the new world we are set to emerge into, businesses need to look up and down their supply chain. Are companies you rely on still going to be there? Is the IT company that has been looking after you for years still going to be able to do it? Ask those difficult questions.
You need to know if prices or lead times are going to change. Remember the well known adage: ‘It’s not the risks right in front, it’s the ones from the side that’ll kill you.’ In the pandemic, I heard that a car maker
had its vehicle sales brought to a halt because its key fobs come from China and they are waiting for them. It cannot ship anything, because although it has a good car, it has no key for it. That cannot happen in future.
Have you investigated recent events that have caused delays or problems?
Each company should be carrying out a formal debrief after the pandemic to find out what has worked and what has not. It needs to assess its performance and decision making to learn from mistakes. Has your communication been effective? Have you mothballed equipment? Companies should be preparing to be smarter next time.
Do you have access to staff welfare programmes for physiological trauma?
There will also be high levels of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), both in frontline workers and in people who have lost loved ones and have been unable to be with them or attend their funerals.
FOCUS
www.frmjournal.com MAY 2020
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