How to survive and thrive in a recession
How to survive and thrive in a recession
The Bank of England have warned that the UK could be facing the longest recession in 100 years. No business is completely immune to the impact of an economic downturn, but there are steps you can take to survive, and even thrive.
In 2021, despite the global pandemic, at Nuvias UC we saw 70% growth. So how did Nuvias UC manage to sustain business in such uncertain economic times? In this blog we share our thoughts, together with financial expert’s opinions, and tips on how Nuvias UC can support you.
Traditional wisdom states that holding reserves of three – six months will buffer your business against uncertain times, in case sales dry up. So how can you keep sales coming in to ensure your business succeeds in 2023?
Cash is King! Utilise Finance
Tightening budgets can be an obstacle to sales, and your customers may be hesitant to pay for everything upfront. At Nuvias UC, we can offer our channel partners Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) via Nuvias Capital which means… you receive payment in full on receipt of the final contract (from Nuvias Capital), but your customers, can make monthly payments with options up to five years rather than finding the cash up front.
Pause recruitment, but not productivity
Of course, in times of recession, businesses often – wisely – put a pause on the recruitment of new talent. Hiring and training is expensive, not to mention funding extra salaries and all the other associated costs of employment. Some companies look to reduce their overheads by reducing employees’ hours, using furlough schemes, introducing performance-based pay or letting people go.
With recruitment on hold, and the possibly a reduction in headcount, how can you continue to serve your customer base? Consider bringing in experts as and when they are required, and when you can guarantee the return on investment.
All Nuvias UC’s professional services can be white labelled, if required. For example, if you need engineers, the equipment can be left with us to deploy at the client’s business, as per the agreed plan, on an agreed date. This means you can offer an engineering service that is second to none, even if you don’t have the capabilities in-house. Not only does this provide an excellent service for your customers, it also means you can make extra margin!
If you would like to guarantee a certain level of support without the associated costs of taking on a new employee, services such as ‘Time Bank’ are available. This allows you to secure a number of engineering days across a 12-month period. Time Bank gives you the capability to leverage the skilled Nuvias UC engineering team – to complete tasks such as configuration updates, software upgrades, new feature rollout and network or system configuration audits – as an extension of your own engineering team.
Don’t let overheads burn your business out
Rising energy bills are a hot topic (no pun intended), and rising overheads are a concern for many businesses. There is government funding (such as the energy bills relief scheme) and charitable help available so be sure to utilise these, but also, make sure you are using energy wisely.
Connor Campbell, business finance expert at financial adviser NerdWallet, suggests you conduct an energy audit to assess where you use the most energy in your business. Doing this allows you to spot areas where you’re potentially wasting energy and make the required changes. He says: “If you noticed that your energy bill was still high overnight despite no one being in the office, you could be wasting energy on computers on standby or heating an empty office unnecessarily. By assessing how much you use energy—when you use it and why—you can plan for change.”
Look back to learn how to look forward
By looking back at your sales data from economically difficult times, you can learn which products and services your customers prioritised despite hardship. Look at ways that you can build value around these offerings and where you could generate new revenue streams or upgrades.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Make sure you have at least a few different revenue streams so if one dries up, you can still balance the books. For example, if most of your income is from hardware sales, could you expand your portfolio to offer full UC solutions? Selling software, cloud, contact centre offerings and services is margin-rich and low cost. Nuvias UC offers a full portfolio of solutions. Nuvias UC CEO Jeremy Keefe shared that Nuvias UC is focusing on supporting partners with margin rich offerings: “We’re currently launching a set of new services to help those who wouldn’t ordinarily play in these spaces, to help break into this market and take more wallet share!”
Looking to the year ahead, Jeremy explained “Nuvias UC is on hand to support partners through this slump. We have various services and financing options available to partners to help them to maximise their margin and overcome difficulties.”
To find out more about any of support discussed in this blog, contact our team on: info@nuvias-uc.com
Resources:
Professional Services | Nuvias UC (nuvias-uc.com)
https://www.nerdwallet.com/uk/business-energy/how-to-create-an-energy-audit/
https://www.ft.com/content/d68a4d1a-6ed2-4033-a5f0-e6093fe2799b
- English
lmitchell
