When I was appointed as the new managing director of Informed Choice last year, I couldn’t have imagined that one of my first challenges would be to lead the team through a global pandemic!
But here we are. And things must go on, regardless of how difficult ordinary life becomes.
As Martin explained in his earlier blog post and video, we’re well-positioned as a business to cope with this period of disruption.
Some laptop buying last week means the team is fully equipped to work from home, something we started across the business yesterday, as we do our part to slow the spread of Covid-19.
With all of our systems fully accessible remotely, including our recently activated Virtual Cabinet system for file sharing (entirely coincidentally one of my first projects as MD!), we can keep working even if we need to close one or both offices subsequently.
The offices in Cranleigh and Petersfield remain open for now, both running with a skeleton staff who are exercising very disciplined hand washing and surfaces cleaning. If one benefit comes out of this crisis, it’s a massive improvement in personal and office hygiene standards across the country!
We have, however, decided to cancel all face-to-face meetings with clients, instead offering a video or phone call meeting.
Nick has explained in his latest blog post that the software we’re using for video calls is handy and allows us to share screens, which means we can continue to present Financial Plans remotely.
It’s also worth noting here that we’re financially secure as a business, with healthy capital reserves in place for times just like this. Well, perhaps not for times just like this, but as a rainy day fund, in the same way, we recommend our clients hold cash for short-term emergencies.
This crisis, right now, is an emergency for many individuals and businesses. There’s no denying that.
With coronavirus-related restrictions in place around the planet and an already slowing global economy, we have no doubt this crisis will tip the UK and other developed nations into recession.
We’ve already seen the impact the uncertainty is having on global stock markets and other investment assets.
I’ll leave it to Martin to share more of our thoughts on the investment side of the coronavirus crisis.
But for now, I’ll leave you with these words from author Brian Tracy:
You have within you, right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.
