Less travel, huge cost savings – business post COVID-19
COVID-19 has certainly forced us to stop, think and also to review how we are operating in business and at home. The roads are less congested, transport is easier, pollution is greatly reduced and we are spending more time with families – surely this is all good ?
Perhaps we should be using this pandemic as an excuse to review how we are operating – I was supposed to travel to Perth in the last week of March – to speak at 2 breakfasts, meet with clients and spend some time with a strategic partner on a major project – of course I didn’t go! BUT – I still spoke at the breakfasts (and we had record attendance) held all the client meetings using teams and had a great strategic planning session (and a few virtual beers afterwards).
This probably saved approx. $4,000 in airfares, hotel rooms, Uber, food etc.
Now – I am very much a people person and it is far better to meet someone face to face BUT – this is substantial – $4,000 in saved costs, 10 hours less plane travel and more time at home (which can be both good and bad with 4 people WFH in my house during COVID). I think businesses will review how they work – I have just upgraded my home office with lights, podcast microphone and a second monitor to better enable use of teams, zoom, webex etc (far less than $4,000).
Our CBD office has been empty for nearly 6 weeks (I dropped in once to collect the mail) – this is another potential saving. In direct costs (rent) and travel time – up to 6 people traveling 60-100 minutes per day each doesn’t sound very smart thru the COVID filter – we are having a record month in spite of all these changes !
Definitely worth a review, rethink and plan for the post pandemic way of doing business.
How is your business going to do things differently post COVID-19?
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Craig West is the CEO of Succession Plus, a boutique advisory firm specialising in business succession and exit planning. In addition to earning some of the industry’s highest awards, he is also the author of ‘Enjoy It’, a business succession and exit planning guide for small and medium business owners. Craig received the Doctor of Business Administration award for his research thesis titled “Examination of the key factors driving business exit options in Australian Small and Medium Enterprises” in 2022. Craig is passionate about encouraging business owners to think strategically, maximise the value of their business and achieve a successful exit.