Restarting business post COVID19 Lockdown

Critical questions CEOs of Small & Medium companies should ask;

(An evolving page. Expect additions)

Fundamental thoughts

Have we been in touch with each of our staff during the Lockdown21 including those whose work is not feasible to be done from home? Beyond respective line managers have any senior managers reached out to them over phone or email?

Would it not be useful to know of the work and also of the personal concerns from the staff through a well prepared form to be filled by each of them online?

Have we been in touch with our customers? What did we talk to them?
Have the markets we serve shrunk? How would we know (assess) that? How and how much would that impact our sales?

How do we weather Covid19 negative impact? How do we work towards restricting the negative impact as least as possible?

Sales

Wouldn’t the business find its level as water would? How long would that take? Would sales be hard to come about or would it be harder to make supplies?

Is waiting for the supply chain to revive is all that it takes? How do we objectively work towards resetting the supply chain? How to fix priorities in planning the stock logistic?

In working towards regaining sales levels how do we work with our current customers in understanding changed quantity requirements and the likely time lines? How do we rearrange supply logistic in achieving all critical operation efficiency?

Sales forecasting

What kind of demand do we serve up to? With our products do we serve to the needs / wants / desires / wishes of the consumers? How would the current Lockdown21 and the unfolding covid19 crisis likely to impact consumers’ purchase decisions?

How do we understand the likely figures for the next 2 quarters talking to our trade channel partners and direct customers? How do we make a rough sales forecast segment-wise / customer-wise across the sets? What larger impact factors do we consider in making it a good calculation?

Cashflow

How to keep cash flow in the business happening? How do we talk and persist with active cooperation with customers and suppliers in inching back to the level? Who among them would need support? How best can we provide that?

Looking through the next 4 quarters

What are the operation break-even chances over the four quarters? How to make estimates on that with justified optimism? How do we review and understand fixed costs? What are the critical considerations in taking responsible decisions?

In resetting our costs to reduced revenue forecasts which fixed costs can we reset and how? What are the options on each? What are the ethical questions on each? Isn’t the least productive cost the first to reset?

Human Resource

How to consider superfluity of human resource in a situation of abrupt halt in operations and slow revival back to the level? Within how many quarters can we expect to regain the operation level and in what increments through the quarters?

How to assess the superfluous human resource cost? How are we to absorb this cost? How can we convert the cost as investment effectively drawing the return in the short to medium term?

How do we increasingly shift interaction with customers and suppliers over phone and online facilities?

With labour shortage highly likely and should we face the situation how do we manage to produce products when we have the raw materials to make them - to make all critical supplies? Can we motivate our white collar executives do blue collar work on the exigency?

What do we propose to the staff about the predicament on cash flow owing to crash in sales and the inevitable time to recover? Can we propose a partnering approach on the back-to-level challenge with a portion of the salaries scaling back along with and with the incentives for making it happen?

Pricing

What are the chances that we can keep the prices unchanged despite the chance to charge more? Are their distinct costs that have soared steep and that can be connected to supply lots?

How temporary are these surge in operation costs? Would we be able to spread it thin through the financial year?

Code of Hygiene

Including all government stipulations what are the considerations that are relevant to our operations in preparing stringent set of rules on staff interaction at all offices, production facilities and stores? How do we ensure our products are hygiene compliant?

How do we increasingly shift interaction with customers and suppliers over phone and online facilities? How do we leverage best practices we would impose on ourselves in creating awareness on the need to maintain good hygiene through and across our stakeholders?