These are challenging times for small businesses: from unprecedented foul weather to cyber blackouts, small to mid-sized businesses are beginning to put much more emphasis on risk reduction and mitigation.
According to RSA Insurance's national Risk Report Survey approximately two-thirds of Canadian small-to-medium sized businesses are confident that they can mitigate these threats. The Risk Report Survey collates the opinions of 600 small business owners across the country on how specific challenges have impacted their bottom line and what measures they are taking to mitigate those risks.
Here are a few more survey findings:
Talent and Succession Planning
Approximately four out of 10 small-to-medium sized businesses have been affected by at least one type of 'talent management and succession planning' challenge in the past year, and 42% of those affected identified the inability to recruit skilled staff as the most serious challenge.
Criminal Activity
Roughly one third of SMBs have been affected by some form of criminal activity during the same timeframe, with 18% of those businesses identifying credit card or cheque fraud as the most serious.
Business Interruptions
Technological malfunctions are yet another major source of business interruptions that can result in costly productivity delays. For 23% of those who have experienced significant business interruptions, network, broadband/computer issues or equipment failure were the most disruptive, while keeping up with new technology or managing problems with existing technology were central concerns for 19%.
Though a number of small-to-medium sized businesses have not lost their appetites for taking calculated risks, 58% foresee no change in their willingness to do so over the next two years. Across the board, however, the negative impacts that are consistently top of mind for entrepreneurs are increased competition, reduced profit margins and constrained business growth.
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