More than half (53 per cent) of small business believes we will never return to “business as normal” with over a quarter (27 per cent) believing we will be back to normal in 12 months, 14 per cent say within six months and an optimistic 6 per cent see that happening in three months, according to finding from the Titian Consulting State of Small Business in COVID Times survey released this week.
60 per cent of respondents believe their sector has been impacted forever by COVID, with ever industry sector represented in this belief.
However, 35 per cent of these companies feel COVID has had a positive impact on their business.
The top five changes to small business planning have been:
- An increased focus on cashflow planning (21%)
- Introducing new income streams (19%)
- Paying attention to discretionary spend and expenses that can be cut (14%)
- Taking on another job to supplement income from the business (15%)
- Creating a cash buffer to weather future lock downs (11%)
The most significant challenges in this COVID environment have been unsurprisingly the continued lockdowns (36 per cent), reduction of income (25 per cent) and the loss of the business (16 per cent) while the smallest challenges have been managing staff remotely and investing in IT to support remote working (1 per cent) and losing staff (2 per cent).
The Titian Consulting State of Small Business in COVID Times surveyed over 100 small businesses across Australia in August 2021. Respondents were based in ACT, QLD, NSW, SA, TAS, VIC, and WA and working across all industries. Provided by Titian Consulting.
